Door latch problem

[Martin Noakes]

Hi all

Sorry if this is a re-post, but he first post didn't appear.

I have old fashioned wrought iron fittings on my doors and some of them have a problem whereby the bit the latch hooks over pulls out of the wood. (It's just a tight fit).

Picture

Can anyone suggest a glue that would be strong enough to hold this in place.

Many thanks

Martin

[CM]

Martin,

Why not drill a hole into the wood and thru the tang on the metal piece you are trying to secure. Then insert a small metal rod the same size as the drilled hole. Cut the small metal rod a little shorter that the thickness of the piece of wood so you can putty over it. I would think the rod going thru the wood and the tang of the catch would secure it.

Good luck,

cm

[Old guy]

The picture (how did you get a picture to come thru the news group???) seems to show a lot of junk on the wood and the metal catch. Looks like wood filler or putty.

If that is in the way, nothing will do the job, the glue will bond to the filler, the filler crumbles, and you have a loose latch.

If you can get at it :-) I'd try boring out the hole and the junk, inserting and gluing a dowel in the hole, then reboring the hole for the catch, and driving it back into place.

If I'm wrong, and there's good wood available in the hole, I'd use epoxy. It will grip both surfaces, and will bridge small gaps. I'd sand the metal surface, then clean it with lacquer thinner or acetone to get a good bond. Be wary--that darn epoxy is messy, I'd mask off finish surfaces with tape before I started, . It's not the drips so much as it is the mucky little finger prints that get left all over. DAMHIKT.

I'd also have some sort of injector or palette knife to get the glue deep into the hole, and not rely on slathering it on the end of the catch.

Good luck

Old Guy

[Bigpole]

You can try epoxy or one of the new Poly Glues.

[J.]

Sand the tang of the catch (the part that goes into the wood) down to bare metal. Try your best to remove any putty/crud/chips are in the hole. You want to clean out that hole down to fresh bare wood as best you can. Find a piece of wood of the same or a similar kind to the door, get some rough sandpaper, and make a small pile of sawdust from it. Wearing rubber gloves, mix up a viscous glob of two part epoxy glue in the bottom of a plastic drink cup. Add sanding dust to make a peanut butter like putty out of it. Using a plastic dinner knife, pack as much of the goo into the hole as you can. Insert catch slowly, keeping as much goo in the hole as you can. Let dry. Your grandkids will have to burn the door frame down to recover the metal; that latch won't ever pull out.

J.

Mart> Hi all

[Martin Noakes]

Thanks for that, I'll give it a go!

Cheers

Martin

[TH]