Hardware & Brass

Our installation life revolves around objects, tools, and hardware. Whether we're doing an installation on site or working in our shop, we rely on having at hand a selection of hardware to meet the various needs of mountmaking. We get much of what we need from the local hardware store, mill supply, and ironmongers, and we encourage you to do so as well. For more specific needs, we offer raw brass in rods, strap and half-oval for mounts, MountBlanks to simplify the creation of custom mounts (click here to see our new overview of the MountBlanks), drop clip channels for wall clips, aluminum hanging cleats for securely hanging large or heavy artwork, cases or text panels, security head screws with screwdriver and brass security straps. All are designed to simplify your installation life, save time, and help your installation go more smoothly.

Bench-vise TIP

Raw Brass
Brass is the backbone of almost all of our custom mounts: hammered, sawn, formed, annealed and silver soldered to make the shapes we need. Our half-hard yellow brass is of mid-range malleability, supplied in manageable 35" lengths, in  rods,  strap,  and  half-oval  sections. 
As you may be aware, prices of metals have gone up quite sharply. We are holding prices where and as we can.

            Brass Rod              

What size 2:1 Polyolefin Heat-shrink should I get?

 
            Brass Strap          

             
            Brass Half-Oval       

        
T's:   PHOTOS  Brass rod stem for wall or deck mounting with a lighter weight cross-bar. Rod and cross-bar can be formed to support various kinds of objects, padded with heat-shrinkable tubing or sprayed with Krylon and painted-out to blend in with objects or background. 
        Sold 6 per package.

Spiders:   PHOTOS   Same as above but with three cross-bar arms for the support of objects with more complex shapes. 
        Sold 6 per package.

 

Hooks: 4" long rod stems with a 3" lengths of strap soldered to one end.  We provide them straight and annealed: you bend them to fit your objects. 
        Sold 6 per package.

strap stem
22-231	1/16" x 1/4" (1.59 x 6.35mm) Strap with 1/8" (3.18mm) Stem	$37.95
22-232	3/32" x 1/4" (2.38 x 6.35mm) Strap with 5/32" (3.97mm) Stem	$40.50

 

Hat/Helmet MountBlank w/ Ethafoam:    PHOTOS   A 1/4" (6.4mm) diameter, 18" (4.5 cm) long brass stem with pointed top end, fitted with a 2" x 3" (51 x 76mm) brass plate. Carve the 4" x 8" x 8" (10 x 20 x 20cm) Ethafoam block to fit inside your hat, stick it on the brass stem, bend that to the shape you need.  Install in deck or wall.
        Sold individually.

 

 

Bowl MountBlank.   PHOTOS  Used to securely cradle round bottomed bowls, etc.  Three fully annealed arms get shaped to fit the bottom of your bowl. Pad them, paint them, fix mount to the deck with a standard drywall screw. For top-heavy items, place a weight bag inside to help stabilize.          Sold individually.

 

Plate MountBlank.   Two styles: one to hang a plate on the wall, the other to tip a plate up from the deck. Two bottom tabs get shaped to your plate's profile and support its weight.  For the deck mount, the two tabs are adjusted so that the plate leans back into the mount. For the wall mount, there is a top tab that, after shaping to the plate profile, slides into a tube to lock the plate in place.
        Sold individually.

For Wall Mounted Plates    PHOTOS

22-261W	6" to 8" diam.plate (15cm to 20cm)	$26.50
22-262W	8" to 10" diam.plate (20cm to 25cm)	$30.95
22-263W	10" to 12" diam.plate (25cm to 30cm)	$35.95

         
For Deck Mounted Plates        PHOTOS

22-261D	6" to 8" diam. plate (15cm to 20cm)	$23.50
22-262D	8" to 10" diam. plate (20cm to 25cm)	$25.50
22-263D	10" to 12" diam. plate (25cm to 30cm)	$28.95

 

Leverage MountBlank.  PHOTOS   Used to support objects with cylindrical or oval-section shafts angled out or up from the wall or deck. We solder two straps one above the other on the opposite sides of a sturdy rod.  The opposing straps provide leverage to support the object, the lower one wrapping up and over the shaft and the upper one wrapping down and under.          Sold individually.  Rod: 5/32" diameter x 8" length  (3.97 x 203mm) Straps: 1/16" x 1/4" x 3" length   (1.59 x 6.35 x 76mm)

                              

Drop Clip Channels: When you need to steady an artifact up against the wall (either on a shelf or with its own bottom clips),  these little gems save more time and make an installation easier than you can imagine. With our brass strap, make a "drop-clip" fitted to the shape of your object (being sure to allow for padding as required). Screw the clip into the wall behind the object.  Put the art in place and slide the shaped "drop clip" into this channel. It secures the art gently but firmly in place.  
Fabricated here in Rosemont, NJ. (what? yup.)
        Sold 6 per package.

Security Head Screws     Disclaimer

These stainless steel screws have relatively uncommon screw-heads which may help deter casual tampering.  All are "flat-head", with either spanner heads or pin-head Phillips. Both configurations are available in wood screws or machine-threaded screws.   
        Sold in boxes of 100. 

            Spanner Head         

            Pin-Head Philips       
 

22-341	No. 6 Wood x 3/4" (19mm)	$54.95
22-342	No. 6 wood x 1" (25mm)	$54.95
22-343	No. 6 wood x 1-1/2" (38mm)	$56.25
22-344	No. 8 wood x 3/4" (19mm)	$54.95
22-345	No. 8 wood x 1" (25mm)	$54.95
22-346	No. 8 wood x 1-1/2" (38mm)	$56.25
22-347	6-32 machine x 1" (25mm)	$54.95
22-348	6-32 machine x 1-1/2" (38mm)	$56.25
22-349	6-32 machine x 2" (50mm)	$58.95

Security Head Screwdriver

You will need this screwdriver handle and your choice of driver bits to fasten and unfasten our security head screws. Choose the No. 6 Spanner Bit for No. 6 wood and No. 6-32 machine screws, or the No. 8 Spanner Bit for No. 8 wood screws. The Pin-head Phillips Bit fits all pin-head Phillips screws. The handle is sized for 1/4" hex shank  (which is what matches our bits).

23-330	Magnetic Driver Handle		$18.25
23-331	No.6 Spanner Bit		$6.25
23-332	No.8 Spanner Bit		$6.25
23-333	Pin-head Phillips Bit		$7.50
Please note that these bits are somewhat dainty. When subjected to too much torque or other misuse they can break.  We cannot take broken returns or make refunds for broken items. It's a good idea to have more than you need if you are on an installation.

Security Straps Short brass straps countersunk on opposite sides for securing framed works of art to the wall. Straps are screwed to the back of picture frames using No. 6 wood screws so as to leave the opposite ends of the strap exposed at the edge of the frames. When hanging your pictures, screw the exposed end of strap to the wall with a security screw. Paint-out the brass to blend with the wall color or leave exposed, as you wish.          Sold in packs of a dozen.

22-321	1-3/4" Length (44.5mm)		$23.95
22-322	1-1/4" Length (31.8mm)		$23.95

Brass Insert Nuts

These threaded brass inserts are a must if screws are to be repeatedly fastened and unfastened in wood. Drill a 7/32" hole (#2 drill bit) and screw the inserts in. Threaded for 6-32 machine screws.
        Sold 50 per pack

Aluminum Hanging Cleat A strong, thin, two-part cleat designed for hanging text or photo panels or wall cases.  Supplied as a single 6' length (1.8m) which, when cut in half, supplies 3' (0.9m) of mated cleat. One length is mounted to the wall, with the slot facing up (that's the bottom half of our drawing...we are the wall's-eye view);  the other is mounted to the panel or case with the slot facing down. Hanging your panel is a now simple matter of lowering it onto the wall-mounted cleat so that the two cleats interlock. The joined profile is only 1/4" thick (6mm). The extrusion has holes at 1" intervals (25mm), ready for drywall screws. No countersinking is required.  Oversized shipping for this item.

22-360

Aluminum Hanging Cleat (6' length) (1.8m)

$26.50

Home
Benchmark Butterfly Bookmounts   Padding   Pinning   Poly Strap
Fabric: Working & Case Dressing   Relative Humidity  Tools   Hardware & Brass   Other
 Site Map   Oddy Test Results   Glossary
New Products  Payment Terms & Policies  International Customers

phone: + 609-397-1131                    fax: + 609-397-1159           e: see home page

Benchmark  PO Box 214, Rosemont, NJ 08556 USA
 

Copyright 2002 Benchmark

Questions?  Problems (see below)?  Email the vebmeister at psiphim6@yahoo.com
Mac Users: If you are still having problems viewing our site, using Netscape should help for now.
Sorry for the inconvenience.