Vintage Hardware SCORE!

A few months ago I was lucky enough to get my hands on about 50 lbs worth of antique wood screws in almost every conceivable specification. I knew I got really lucky linking up with the older Vermonter who was selling the batch, but I really didn't know how often I'd have a use for it. It has been absolutely indispensable on a near daily basis and pretty much priceless in my world. This stuff was all made here in the USA, back when we made the little things and the big things. The quality of the steel and even the style of the hardware just has no parallel.

One of the most satisfying uses I've found for these classy bits is for attaching pulls or handles on my vanity drawers. Even a discerning manufacturer or artisan producer of hardware will ship their product to you with phillips head (booooo) screws and expect you to be ok with using that - even when the head of fasteners are meant to be seen.  The pull shown below is a shop fave, the Dakota Cup Pull from Restoration Hardware... its a great pull but yes, it comes with sacrilegious phillips heads.

This is just such a huge oversight in my small world, as there is nothing attractive about that type of screw... and the phillips head is also something that was popularized in the 60's .... putting it further out of place and at least 30 years ahead of the antique pieces I work on.

You can tell me I'm crazy, but replacing those phillips with slotted screws definitely adds something that was otherwise discarded. I am happy to pitch that garbage and replace it with authentic Americana. I owe the gentleman I got these from a bottle of something....!