Running low on ideas for door hasp designs. I want to make something different. Any ideas anyone? Any good pictures? I need to make one on Saturday and I'm tired of making the same old hinged hasp. I'm thinking of something that swivels, or instead of a hasp maybe a sliding bolt design...

I know, maybe something that slides and swivels. Multiple complications like a watch.....

I would be grateful for any ideas...

have any pics of the ones you make? maybe if we see those we can give you a better idea

You could make one that rotates with a hook end that slips into the bale part of the hasp. I don't have a pic, I just had the idea but my brain camera is out of film.

Frosty the Lucky.

here's my idea, sliding bolt style but still fairly simple. no pics, just a sketch.

lock hasp.bmp

sorry, i don't know how to make it so the pic just shows up.

sorry, i don't know how to make it so the pic just shows up.

save as a .jpg file
Phil

I remember the coal bin door at grandma's had a pick axe looking part on a rivet on the hasp that would lock into the eye when the bin was closed. There was space for a lock in the eye too.
Phil

I always wanted to forge a rotating hasp. A blacksmith's version of what they use on the back of an 18-wheeler's roll-down rear door. I think it would look very cool, especially if you do a bit of twist in the arm.

Hi,

This was in my great grandmother´s house. It was the common type of "aldaba" as it was called in the old houses in Monterrey where I live. It must have been made in the late 1800's or the early 1900's(when her house was constructed). I remember seen them on every door in all the houses from that era. The house no longer exists but I kept this one because I wanted to try copying it someday. I took more pictures to show how the spiral is always in the same area where the lock (missing) was.

By the way, this is what I think a hasp is.

Hope it helps

Rubén

Hi,

This was in my great grandmother´s house. It was the common type of "aldaba" as it was called in the old houses in Monterrey where I live. It must have been made in the late 1800's or the beginning or 1900's(when her house was constructed). I remember seen them on every door in all the houses from that era. The house no longer exists but I kept this one because I wanted to try copying it someday. I took more pictures to show how the spiral is always in the same area where the lock (missing) was.

By the way, this is what I think a hasp is.

Hope it helps

Rubén

Thanks, Ruben! Those are some nice pictures of a great example of a hasp. I saw some similar examples at the mission in San Juan Capistrano where I used to work. They were interior door locks, and I made a few of them for a historic restoration on Los Rios Street in San Juan Capistrano.

Wow! You guys are great!! The ideas are starting to flow now. I must of had a brain freeze. Thanks for the pictures, drawings, and ideas.

Ruben, that's a neat old hasp.

Ruben, I like it! That is in concept similar to that was in my grandma's house. I did not have the foresight to save hardware before her house was torn down though.
Phil

Rubén & All,
That is a good example of an aldaba*. I have a couple that I have collected, and I have made a few. The ones that I've seen were not designed for padlocks. The curved portion goes through a hole in a flat headed (horizonal) clinch-nail. The flat head does not have sharp corners. Safety first. The curved keeper is a perfect circle until it gets near the pivot. Being circular allows it to go through the dead center of the slot. Years ago, I inspected the curve of one where it transitioned to a rivet, and it had a clever forge weld. The pivot-rivet was first drawn to a round section on the end of a bar, then trapped in the vise vertically at a heat. The native material above the vise jaw was bent left and right with hammer control so that it left a lay-back "lump" above the vise jaws, the rivet and native stock now being at right angles. When removed, the area was forge welded into a heading tool, the rivet down in the tool. The hammered area will spread and thin. If it's lopsided, it can be centered with cold work removal.
I think it's probably best to hang the hasp on the jamb rather than the door. It could be hung on the door, but the swinging back and forth might mark up the door. It's also good if the door and jamb are flush.

Aldabas are made right and left handed. However, I saw one U.S. manufactured one which was pretty cheesy looking and made of sheet metal, circa 1900? It had a short double-keeper slightly curving both ways, so that it could be mounted right or left.

*I am co-author with Simmons of "Southwestern Colonial Ironwork" which was first copyrighted in 1980. At that time, I thought the aldaba was called a tranca, and too late, after publication, I found out my error. A tranca is more like a crossbar. Don't trust everything that you read. Ha.

http://www.turleyforge.com Granddaddy of Blacksmith schools

Thanks Ruben! I've never seen an aldaba but it sure looks like it'd be a great door latch. The spiral is kind of what I had in mind when I mentioned a rotating hasp. The main difference is instead of a pointed end passing through a bail or a clinch nail (thanks Frank!) is larger in cross section with a hole, loop or such large enough to accept a padlock bail.

I can think of another alternative for the lock but need to think about it for a while.

I really like where this thread is going, this is exactly the kind of thing folk restoring a building are looking for and it looks to be an excellent demo project as well.

Okay, here is the hasp I made today. I haven't had time to clean the scale off yet, other than that it's about ready to go.

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/41

I made it to look a little rustic and I kind of made the design up as I went. Note that one back plate is a little different than the other. I wanted to make people think about that one!

Thanks everyone for the great replys! :D

I like it, and it looks like original work, as far as I can tell, not just a copy of someone elses. Good job!

wow that really nice, total diff concept than i thought you would go for, love the brushed metal look.

Probably the simplest traditional hasp and staple / doorbolt to make.

I hope there is enough detail on pics for anyone to see how to make them, and how they work,

Fit it to barn doors and rove over the staple ends to prevent forcing staples out of woodwork. Note the staples have uneven length points to allow easy positioning before driving them into final position.

Could easily be adapted with back plates on the staples to allow sucuring to door and jamb with screws or coachbolts.

If I was going to fit something that ugly to a door, I'd go and buy one! (sorry John, it's very nice really)

Thats Ok Sam, Looks better when fitted, and simple like me. (Might also explain why I still had it laying around doing nothing, as the barn doors it was originally going to be used on was replaced with steel faced doors)

John

I like it, If it is O K, I will make one for a small gate that opens in to my back yard.

LeeRoy

Here is a picture of the hasp on the door to my ghost town blacksmith shop. Sorry it's kind of far away.

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/42

And here is a picture of the completed hasp minus scale clean-up I made yesterday.

http://ironclad.shutterfly.com/41

Thanks again everyone for all of the great reply's! :D

John

I like it, If it is O K, I will make one for a small gate that opens in to my back yard.

LeeRoy

Feel free to try it, It was a repro for one that was fitted to a farm outbuilding from at least the early 1800's

I was impressed with the simplicity and effectiveness of it, true blacksmithing.