Posted on 01/05/2020 10:00:00 AM PST by ExGeeEye
I have inherited an old piece of furniture that has been in my family longer than I have. We called it a "buffet"; I have heard similar items called a "sideboard". It was part of the dining room set bought second- or fifth-hand by my newly-wed parents in 1963.
It has drawers, originally for cutlery, silverware, etc.; a long drawer, for table linens; and two side compartments for such things as candlesticks, salt-and-pepper sets, and the like. These side compartments close with swinging doors and spring-loaded ball-bearing (?) latches which engage brass concave plates in the doors.
BUT!
As long as I can remember, the latch for the left-hand door didn't work, and just stayed shut out of courtesy.
Today, finding myself idle, I took a look and found a round-headed wood screw in the place where the latch on that side should be. It wasn't even screwed in; it was just placed in the hole and had been there undisturbed for Spock knows how many years and moves (we were an Air Force family). I took it out with no effort.
I've taken a picture of the latch for the right-hand door. It appears to be a quarter-inch or so in diameter. i am in hope that this was a standard item of hardware and that a replacement may be found for the other side.
Thanks to anyone who can point me aright, and greater thanks to anyone who can reasonably provide one.
The door is quite openable :)
It just won’t latch shut.
Sir, this is a library.
A library? Definitely not all it’s baked up to be!
First, no ideas re the hardware. Second, your ‘sideboard’ sounds much like the one standing in our dining room. Our troubled door is on the right. DH purchased in the 1970’s at a Western Auto Store for $25 (upstairs: second hand furniture) either in Washington State or Oklahoma, forget which. In Texas Western Auto was exactly that, “Auto”. Memory of ever seeing furniture in these stores does not exist. Love that piece of furniture, even with the wonky door.
Try
Bullet-patch
I think Van Dyke Restorers has these.
Bullet latch
Sorry
This makes me want to ask about my Windsor chair. It’s back wood is thin (3/4” & 3/8”) and in two places has broken. Repair or leave alone. I usually put something in the seat so no one sits in it. Family heirloom (we didn’t break it).
It would depend on the break. Modern wood glues are incredibly strong if applied properly. Send me a PM with a pic when you can and I’ll have a look.
Povitica.
My family is Croatian.
I watched my Great Aunt Helen slave over povitica many times. It was an all day affair for her to make it.
Some of the finest dessert bread ever made. Fit for a king.
This place attempted to copy the recipe, even using the Croatian district in Kansas Cities name for their company.
https://www.strawberryhill.com/
Next door in Slovenia, the potiça filling is rolled in a thicker more bread-like dough, Povitica uses a thinner more filo-like dough.
Close cousins, and as always, a matter of taste.
I reckon the balance between expensive filling and cheaper bread drove the Slovenian recipe.
I don’t know what the then Austro-Hungarian Empire had to offer both sets of my maternal grand parents, but mining coal in Colorado looked like a step up!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RH_(company)
from link:
Stephen Gordon founded Restoration Hardware in Eureka, CA in 1979 while restoring a Victorian home and finding affordable, high-quality hardware and fixtures unavailable.
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I think they’ve gone up-scale but it’s a place to call - they might be able to point you in the right direction.
It would be in my "dining room" if I actually had one. It's one large-ish space comprising kitchen, dining area, and living room. My family dining table, bought at the same resale shop in Portland, OR, in 1963 is in the dining area.
Perhaps I'll live long enough and earn well enough to have a "dining room" worthy of the name again, and put the buffet to it's right use.
Very very similar. The two drawers, top one a shallow, bottom deeper. The doors Yours are more ornate. Ours have three curved carved lines on both; nothing fancy, but not plain, either. What you’ve done on the bottom rungs, we did similar. A glass shelf was placed on these. Knick Knacks were placed on these. Trouble was, it required a lot of dusting!
The top surface. Ours had an attached wooden “back splash”(centered) which was approx the length of the drawers. About 2-3 inches higher than the actual top surface
It eventually came off and was lost in a move.
Van Dyke sells vintage hardware.
You would probably have to make and send me a couple of pounds for me to make a judgement.
I remember ours having a lighter wood, but the general shape and design of the drawers is right on. Thanks
You speak in the past tense...you no longer have it? :(
Yes, there is a nice molding piece on the back of mine that did want to detach during its last move. A bit of glue and muscle and all is well. Since the buffet is now a living room piece the TV is on top, on a runner, and I didn’t photograph it.
The piece now sits in our dining room and is still fed with Old English lemon oil.
Looks to be from the 1930s.
I’ve ordered from Rockler a few times too. I did a quick search of their site but didn’t see any bullet catches listed.
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