Furniture experts opinion needed....knobs.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I'm in the process of turning 12 knobs out of bubinga for someone. Question for you furniture experts before I get too far into this. How do you attach wooden knobs on your projects?.....wood screws..or..metal threaded inserts in the knobs and machine screws.......Your help would be greatly appreciated.

[Jamie Buxton]

If you see face grain on the front of the knob, I drill and tap an 8-32 machine thread into the back. 8-32 is the standard machine screw for knobs and handles. Into face grain, it is very strong.

If you see end grain on the front of the knob, I'd bore a matching hole into the furniture and glue the shaft in. You do have to turn a consistent diameter on the shafts of the knobs to make this easy.

[Brad Schmid]

Ken,

I drill a proper size hole in the door/drawer. Then I turn a matching tenon, grip the tenon in a chuck, and finish turning the knob. Then I cut a kerf in the tenon, dab of glue on tenon, push the knob into the door/drawer, drive a wedge in the tenon, then cut flush. I prefer to avoid scews unless using store bought hardware.

Brad