We like Lane tables. They are extremely well-built and are one of the most attractive and unique lines of furniture. We found this end table with a “basket weave” drawer where the original wooden handle on the top of the drawer had been broken off and the drawer made functional again with a silver pull knob – a real sad sight to a Lane fan.
The original handle is very unusual and difficult to make, but I wanted to get rid of the silver pull and bring the end table
back closer to its original condition. My brother came to the rescue on this job. I told him what I was doing and sent a picture of the original table I had gotten on the web, along with estimated measurements. The next day he called and said it was in the mail to me – it only took him an hour to knock out a superb replacement!
After just a little sanding to fit, the drawer had a new handle. The silver knob was removed. the hole filled with matching wood filler, and the new handle stained. We also cleaned up the table and legs to bring some of the luster back. This turned out to be a quick project (thanks Richard!) and a piece that would have shortly met an untimely fate, was ready to sit there and look beautiful again!
Very great post. I just stumbled upon your weblog and wished to say that I’ve truly enjoyed browsing your weblog posts. In any case I will be subscribing in your rss feed and I am hoping you write again soon!
Can you brother make me one too?
Hi Christie! I checked with my brother and he would be willing to make another handle for your lane table. However, there is a bit more work involved in replacing this on the table. The handle and drawer are joined by a basic mortise and tenon joint – the mortise is the rectangular hole in the drawer, and the tenon is the “tongue” that is cut as an integral part of the handle. The tenon on my original drawing indicates that the hole (mortise) in the top face of your drawer is 1/2″ deep by 3 1/2″ wide. So the first piece of work is to clean out the hole if the old handle broke off and to make sure these are the proper measurements.
Some additional sanding may be required to properly seat the handle to the angle of the drawer face. Any chance you could check the measurements and send a photo of the drawer face? I’ll touch bases via personal email as well.
Thanks! Retro