Attaching Brass fireplace doors

[TASMITH]

Had a big indoor yard sale at our local arena a couple of days ago. I managed to pick up a few goodies but happen to see a set of solid brass fireplace doors for sale for $70. Didn't have enough money(after my other purchases) so had to pass them by. Well as luck would have it, I went down to the local arena with the wife(she happens to be the Recreation Administrator for the town:D) and here are these fireplace doors sitting out back by the dumpster. They had marked them down to only $10 and STILL didn't sell them:o. She checked with the people who ran the yard sale and they assured us that yes, they were out there for the dump and if we wanted them to take them. So into the truck they go!

Now for the problem! The doors are a little tall and a bit too narrow to fit my fireplace. The height is no problem as I can just remove the brick from the front hearth and put in thinner ones to fit for height. For the narrower sides. I am going to make a steel frame to fit in the fireplace opening (which is a steel insert) and weld it into place, with an opening to fit the doors properly.

All of that is not hard to work out. The real problem lies in attaching the doors to the steel frame. The outside face frame of the doors is 1/4" thick solid brass and as you can see in the attached picture there are no holes in it and I don't want to drill any and spoil the look.

Any thoughts on attaching the doors firmly to the steel frame so they won't move after installation? The doors weigh between 50 to 60# and are solid, with the glass in excellent shape(needs to be cleaned) and the interior screen doors are in perfect shape as well.

Would really compliment the fireplace if I could get them installed. Any and all suggestions welcome.

[Ten Hammers]

In my minds eye, the frame of the door assembly (the part that the doors attach to ) is recessed when installed and the door hinges make the doors open with clearance away from this assembly. Am I correct in thinking this ? If so, I would think you might have to build the steel frame with threaded holes and drill through the inside of the door frame assembly (only visible when doors open) to attach the unit to the steel. Countersunk machine screws through this unit into the (threaded) steel frame would only show as screw heads. My thoughts anyway.

Edited May 29, 2009 by Ten Hammers

[TASMITH]

Yep you are correct in the clearance for the doors. your thought of going through the inner frame to steel frame is a good thought. I may look at drilling and tapping some holes in the steel frame with corresponding holes through the inner frame of the fireplace doors. that way I could undue the bolts to remove the brass frame if necessary.

Good thought there Ten hammers. Sometimes you just need a little nudge to get the brain thinking in a different way. Sometimes I get focused on something and can't see the forest for the trees!

Much obliged.
Terry