Years back I removed an old curved staircase from a victorian that was being torn down for a parking lot and am finally getting around to putting the thing together.
I recall then seeing this curly wire thing sticking out the base of the newel. Suspecting it is just something someone once stuck in there but not knowing for sure I thought to post these pics in hopes someone might be able to clarify that it is not some old mechanical device that has to do with the newel, as the post is selfcontained and impractical to open it to find out.
Thanks
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‘Nemo me impune lacesset’
No one will provoke me with impunity
Replies
Hey razz:
I have an older mansion type building built in the mid to late 1700s (converted to apartments) and the basement has a system of thin mechanical wires and levers running through it to call the servants. When you would step on a button in the dining room, for example, it would pull a wire and ring a bell in the kitchen. There were at least a half dozen different places for the pulls and the bells.
Maybe what you have is something like that?
"Let's get crack-a-lackin" --- Adam Carolla
Don't recall seeing anything out of the ordinary in this house along those lines.
As Ralph alluded to I'll be removing the thing less a hazard. Just thought to run it by here in the event it was something necessary that perhaps worked loose.
Got a nice 15something beveled glass oak door with the hardware out of it that will go in sometime.
One of these years.
be build to fit
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
What gives century old mahogany that distinct perfumy aroma when cutting or drilling?
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
pets...
or the rain forest it grew up in.. each forest smells different...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!<!----><!---->
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
It's odd because cutting down the base of the newel gave no perfumy odor but drilling baluster holes deeper did.
be bottling it and selling
'Nemo me impune lacesset'No one will provoke me with impunity
Straighten the hook out and see if it unscrews.
Is there another, or a hole, at the top of the newel?
It's probably a fastener that used to hold a protective gate to keep the kiddies from tumbling down the stairs.
It also might be a leftover fastener for the end of the Christmas decorations that adorn the stairway during the season.
If it was on my stairway it would be a dangerous projection that would automatically snag and lacerate my wife as she passed within ten feet.