Spraying Wooden Drawer and Door Knobs
Jigs and tricks for holding wooden knobs for spraying and drying. June 18, 2010
Question
I often have to finish a lot of wooden door and drawer knobs and they are a real pain to do. Has anyone come up with some sort of fixture to hold these knobs for spraying them? I'm open to ideas on building a fixture or maybe buying one if there is such a thing. All of the knobs have either a threaded insert or hole drilled to accept a screw so holding them through this would probably be the best way to do it.
Forum Responses
(Finishing Forum)
From contributor R:
Drop them into a piece of peg board and secure with a small screw. Leave a bit of space between each one so you can spray the underside of the handle.
From contributor Y:
Two sided tape on raised wood (1x8-12's) will work, buying a couple dozen or more 6-8" screws and just hold them as you spray. 12-14" metal skewers for shishkabobs work well also - just put in hole with tape to make up the difference. Or learn how to spray them when on the piece (if possible) so you don’t have to handle them individually.
From contributor M:
The last I sprayed, I secured an appropriate number of # 8 wood screws through a jig board about 4" x 24". I predrilled a hole for the screws in the board, small enough that the screw would not turn freely. I flipped the board upside down so that the screws were sticking upwards. After driving screws thru the holes, I could take each knob, spin it around a time or two on a screw, so that it would hold. The board was large enough it wouldn't move during spraying. After spraying and drying, I could loosen the knobs by hand and go to the next project.
From contributor S:
I like to use a narrow scrap of wood and either drill a screw through every couple inches or just spray it with a wet coat of finish and set the screws on it spaced a couple inches apart. The picture below is an example.
I usually just get a strip of wood like this one and spray one face pretty wet with the finish I'm using. Then set the knobs on it and let it dry. After that I can hold the stick at any angle and spray the underside as well as the face. Once done, the knobs pop right off the stick.
Click here for higher quality, full size image
From contributor R:
I just put a bunch of screws in a 1/8 in ply and spray away. I have also heard of guys using the old school wooden clothes pins to hold them and spray.
From the original questioner:
I'll try some of these ideas and see which works best for me. As always, thanks for the responses. This is definitely the best forum on the web for finishing.
From contributor L:
Dip with screw in the hole and put the screw in a drilled wood base, knob up. I’ve used PVC plumbing parts, pipe and caps, for a dip tank.
