Brushed Stainless Steel Door Handles

A recent order prompted a return to the light box to see if we could photograph the luster of brushed rather than polished stainless steel. The lightbox had to be reconstructed to fit the 35” length of the Ergo Epic handle and even then, it was a very tight fit. The Ergo grip was photographed on a golden satin fabric using a Canon ESO Rebel with diffuse light created from overhead rows of LED light cells. The walls of the box are covered in a reflective foil to focus the light on the object and the floor and back wall are usually covered with a black or white backdrop.

How to Brush Stainless Steel

1.     Angle grinder with a blade attachment is used to cut off any gates left from the  casting stage.

2.     Angle grinder using a very coarse grit disk that removes any major surface imperfection. This sometimes will reveal a small crater or void caused by an air bubble that occurred during casting which will need to be filled with steel weld before going further.

3.     A handheld burnisher with an 80 grit sanding drum is next applied to begin buffing and refining the surface.

4.     A second burnisher machine is used with a dual grit scotch-brite sandpaper drum with successively finer grit drums.

5.     The final burnishing is done by hand with scotch-brite pads.

6.     Lastly the piece is passivated.

 Passivation

 316 Stainless steel is known for its rust resistance so what is oxidation and why is passivation necessary? 316 stainless steel is an alloy comprised of iron, chromium, nickel, molybdenum, and carbon. Chromium reacts to oxygen in the air and this oxidation process creates a protective layer on the surface of the stainless steel that acts as a barrier to corrosive forces like salt air. It is the iron component in metal that rusts and while 316 develops a protective coat, during the burnishing process contaminants can attach to the surface. Hence the final stage is to passivate the piece by immersing it  in a bath of citric acid solution which strips any iron contaminants from the surface and bonds with the iron elements to neutralize them and prevent future corrosion.

Classic Entry Door Handles

Thumb latch handle sets are often used in  traditional styles of door hardware to make a  grand entry statement. The thumb piece on the front side of the door is usually one small decorative detail on a much larger back-plate. The Hedgerow, Grapevine and Willow collections all contain a thumb-latch entry set and we have designed to be an integral part of each set.

We also use the same mechanism on the Lizard entryway set where a less traditional butterfly is the thumb piece.

Understanding the function of the thumb piece

The thumb piece is used to activate the door latch that keeps the door closed. Our thumb latch sets have been designed for use with mortise locks which house the latch and deadbolt mechanism within a solid 6”H x 3”D x ½”W metal case installed inside the body of the door. The thumb piece has a seesaw motion so pressing down on the exposed thumb end pushes up the end that sits within the mortise box underneath the toggle area. When pushed up by the thumb piece the toggle plate pivots backwards which triggers a hammer plate backwards thereby releasing the latch and spring which kept the latch extended and the door closed. The hammer and spring, when released allow the latch to return into the body of the mortise thereby allowing the door to be pulled open.

Orchid Door Handle

Last year I had the pleasure of working with Kellie Beaubelle a designer in Orinda, CA who was  looking for unusual hardware, what followed was a highly imaginative collaboration of design talents.

The project began with a finite plan for one entry  handle set, but once installed, the scope was expanded to include all the exterior doors that were fabricated by the door maker with Anderson multi-point locks. To accommodate the multi-point mechanism, we created a new turn piece design that has been added to our Hedgerow and Willow multi-point sets and which we will be expanding  to our other multi-points collections.

The project did not end with the entry doors as once the creative genie was out of the bottle Kellie wanted to see what artistic pieces could be added to the master and guest bedrooms. In a previous post we have documented how the Venus slipper orchid was redesigned by Martin Pierce to create a grand scale door pull which for Kellie’s project has been used for 3 large vanity drawers.

Once the concept was approved, we worked with Kellie’s vanity plan to create a mock-up idea showing how the orchid would look on the cabinet drawers. The pattern development and mold creation have been documented in 2 previous posts but now we can share photos of the piece cast in bronze and also nickel plated in a satin finish.

Plan drawing courtesy Kellie Beaubelle

Orchid handles added by Martin Pierce

The Venus slipper orchid has a pronounced stamen and labellum that project out from the body of the flower and in the casting, it is these points that are gripped to pull open the door or drawer.

Nature an aid to designing long door handles

Nature an aid to designing long door handles

Having the luxury of enjoying a solitary walk in the Hollywood Hills with 50 minutes free from the demands of technology one’s mind is able to consume the smaller details that otherwise would go unnoticed. I do mean smaller details as without a scale reference it can be impossible to judge the size of a flower from a photograph, so would you be surprised that the buds of the flowers shown below are less than .25”? While Martin Pierce tries to be true to nature when it comes to realism and to the scale of his lizard and butterfly hardware, he often employs considerable latitude when designing plant door handles or cabinet knobs as can be seen in the larger than life daisy flower knob.

We are presently developing a series of long door handles for both hospitality and residential projects and to create functional pulls that are easy to grip and meet ADA standards we are using considerable artistic license. Working with a narrow 1.5” diameter our creative canvas is extremely limited, so we are looking to nature for ideas. As the door pulls will be 60” in length the initial designs have been for vertical and elongated filigree but by segmenting the pull into decorative and non-decorative areas we are able to create vertical bands of decoration and these will be more geometric and abstract.

The elongated floral designs are being sketched and will be reviewed soon before a final selection is made.