This is a traditional brass sliding combination lock for cabinets, boxes, and door latches. It works on basically the same principal as a regular combination lock, except that you match up four Chinese characters to open it. Guarding the sides of the lock are two lions' heads (often known as "foo dogs") that are meant to scare away evil spirits from violating the contents within.
Every lock we sell has its own unique combination, and we include a brief instruction manual with your individual code. Without the combination it can only be opened with a pair of strong bolt cutters. Note that this is a real lock, not a toy! Nonetheless it's a lot more attractive than a regular lock and looks great with fine furniture.
Chinese brass hardware is easy to install. The first thing to get familiar with are commonly used joining pins:
Soft Joining Pins Made of bendable metal tongs that can be bent and hooked into the opposite side of the wood. Normally used for pulls, handles, and other items where lateral pulling strength is required. | |
Hard Joining Pins Made of thick metal tongs that can be bent but not hooked around the opposite side of the wood. Normally used for bolts and hooks where vertical strength is required. | |
Nailing Pins Made of one long, straight metal spear that is nailed into the wood. Like hard joining pins, they are used for bolts and hooks where vertical strength is required. | |
You'll need a few basic tools:
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For this example, we've chosen a classic fish pull to install. | |
Drill a hole the same width as the pin. In this example we're drilling a 1/4" hole for a 1/4" wide pin. | |
Assemble your piece of hardware and insert in the hole. | |
Using the needle nose pliers, bend the tip of the pin over so that it's pointing towards the wood. | |
Making sure that the display side of the piece is pulled tight, nail the end of the pin into the wood. | |
Nail the pin flat. |
In this example we've chosen a cabinet face plate to install. | |
Drill a hole the same width as the pins. In this example we're drilling a 1/4" hole for a 1/4" pin. | |
Assemble your piece of hardware and insert in the hole. | |
Using the needle nose pliers, spread the pins flat against the wood. | |
Making sure that the display side of the piece is pulled tight, nail the pin flat against the wood. |
Note: Unlike soft folding pins there's no need to hook the end of the pin into the wood - just nail it flat.
In this example, we've chosen a cabinet strip pull to install. | |
Drill a hole the same width as the pins. In this example we're drilling a 3/16 " hole for a 3/16 " pin. | |
Assemble your piece of hardware. Hammer the nailing pin into the pilot hole. We recommend using a piece of wood as a buffer to avoid damaging the hardware. | |
It's usually a good idea to file or clip the end of the nailing pin down if it is protrudes out the opposite side of the wood (this can be done before installation as well). | |
Nailing pins are as strong as very thick nails. |