Advice on brass masonry fixings?

[Martin Pentreath]

Hi

I need to fix a fairly heavy bronze lion's head to my brick garden wall (don't ask!). I've just got myself some of these 68mm M10 shield anchors

they're the right thing for the job, but the hex heads on the bolts are not very appealing and don't go with the bronze. So I'm looking for alternative ways of fixing the thing.

Ideally I would like to use the sleeve of the shield anchor, but put a brass bolt in it in place of the bolt supplied with it. This sort of thing would be great

Screwfix only supply them up to 50mm which isn't long enough for the sleeve - I would need 75mm. Anyone know where I could get any longer ones? I can't find anything on the internet.

Otherwise perhaps I could stick with the 50mm brass bolts from Screwfix and use these fixings instead

they suitable for the job? I've never used them before. If I do it's all going to get expensive - I'll have to buy a bag of 50 of them plus a "setting tool".

Or any other neat solutions?

[Chris Bacon]

Pictures of the bronze head (back and front) might be quite useful.

[Stuart]

So you are saying the heads on the brass bolts are more appealing than the heads on the 68mm M10 ones ......scratches head ...?

Stuart

[Rob Morley]

Get someone with brazing gear to melt a bit of brass onto the heads?

[Martin Pentreath]

Hi again,

The lion's head looks like this

's the only picture of it I have. It weighs around 10kg and is about 300mm square. The back plate (which goes against the wall) is about 15mm thick.

Stuart, the heads on the brass bolts and the ones I have are the same size. It's just that (I think) the colour and quality of the brass will match the lion's head better than the existing bolts which are a bit too shiny looking, and have some numerical code stamped on them!

Many thanks for any suggestions.

Martin

[Chris Bacon]

Go somewhere you can physically handle the Rawlbolts you mentioned, such as an ironmongers. You might find once they're pulled up that your brass bolt will do the job. If so, you can pull 'em up with the supplied bolt and then substitute the brass one. IIWY I'd file the head of the brass set bolt to resemble a countersunk screw, then slot it, and screw it in. Bolt heads will look absolutely ghastly. I had some other idea, but I've forgotten it. Drat. If I remember will psot it.

[Rob Morley]

Better to go for this sort of effect (but in brass, obviously) IMO.

[Martin Pentreath]

Thanks Rob, I can see the image, but what is it??

I've just been trying to find it on the Diytools website to no avail.

[Chris Bacon]

false for this.... perhaps some sort of "bronze" nail? I wonder whether this thing's going to be somewhere that it might be stolen, and sold for scrap...

[Rob Morley]

It's a decorative door stud:

good for your application - I just think that sort of head shape would look a lot better than a hex.

[robgraham]

Have you tried these people - they advertise being able to produce anything !!

[Steve Firth]

If it is bronze then you should really be using bronze fasteners, preferably in silicon bronze. These used to be widely available from chandlers in many different types, but are getting harder to find. You can order them by email from:

for "bronze screws" and you'll get a long list of countersunk, panhead and hex headed screws and carriage bolts.

Personally, I hate shield anchors for this sort of use, much depends on how heavy, heavy is. But since you say it's door furniture it can't be into the 10s of kilogrammes.

[Martin Pentreath]

Many thanks Rob and Steve.

Just been looking at the Jamestown Distributors site. Looks like they have what I need, but can anyone translate the US thread dimesions?

What does 1/2-13 X 1-14 mean for example?

The holes on the lions head are the right diameter for a European M10 thread, and I was looking for something 75mm long. The shield anchor sleeves I have have are M10. If I didn't use those what other sort of fixings would work? Are wall plugs available that big? The lion's head weighs in at around 10kg, maybe a bit less.