Wanted: Latch for Fellini Case

[Slow Eddie]

Just came into the Fellini 1x2 that rodcar had for sale (in case you want to see pics). I am going to take it to a local leatherwork shop to see if the felt can be replaced; rodger mentioned that Fellini latches or something similar might be floating around.

How about it? Anybody got a spare latch that they'd be willing to sell? Doesn't have to be period-correct, although that would be preferred.

Thanks!

E

 

[batalarms]

Fellini latch

I don't remember the members name,but there were some complete sets of Fellini hardware for $75.00 that was last year.You may want to try a search for Fellini Latch or Hardware.Good luck.
BR,Marc

 

[jayman]

http://www.woodworkingparts.com/push-catch-924-brass-plate/

 

[half fast bankr]

I don't remember the members name,but there were some complete sets of Fellini hardware for $75.00 that was last year.You may want to try a search for Fellini Latch or Hardware.Good luck.
BR,Marc

I believe that was HangEmHigh, also believed to be casemaker Sam Engles. I also believe he disappeared like the wind after owing many people many dollars.

Further, the problem with his lock kit was that the rivets wouldn't fit as they had to be installed prior to later steps in the cases completion.

SO, alternative locks may be the only way to go, unless you want to do some serious work to the case. John Barton has discussed this before, and his info is usually dead on...

Good luck with your project.

 

[JB Cases]

I believe that was HangEmHigh, also believed to be casemaker Sam Engles. I also believe he disappeared like the wind after owing many people many dollars.

Further, the problem with his lock kit was that the rivets wouldn't fit as they had to be installed prior to later steps in the cases completion.

SO, alternative locks may be the only way to go, unless you want to do some serious work to the case. John Barton has discussed this before, and his info is usually dead on...

Good luck with your project.

Absolutely correct. The original rivets for this latch are small head and a shank just long enough for one layer of plastic. Those were made just for that latch and are not commercially available.

The problem is that since this case is made of one tube nested inside another one then it takes a longer rivet to repair the latch if the bottom section is the one that is broken. And longer rivets have heads that are far too big for this latch.

So even if you have the latch you are very unlikely to find rivets that work for it to go through two layers of plastic.

I guess I can say it now that hangemhigh has long disappeared. He was flat out scamming people trying to sell these latches for $75 each without disclosing that they couldn't be installed as delivered.

 

[Slow Eddie]

Thanks for the heads-up on the $75 latch kits. I found the listing and was actually going to reach out to him; glad I decided to sleep on it first.

Jayman, thanks for the link. John, any chance a GTF latch would do the trick? You are next on the contact list, and rather than a PM, perhaps this thread can serve as a resource for future case-restorers.

 

[batalarms]

Thanks for the heads-up on the $75 latch kits. I found the listing and was actually going to reach out to him; glad I decided to sleep on it first.

Jayman, thanks for the link. John, any chance a GTF latch would do the trick? You are next on the contact list, and rather than a PM, perhaps this thread can serve as a resource for future case-restorers.

Sorry about possibly misleading you regarding the latches.I knew that the guys price was sky high,but I didn't know he was "burning" people.If you find that a GTF latch will work for you, I have a New/spare GTF latch, WITH KEY.If you want it,you can have it cheap.Good luck in your search.
BR,Marc

 

[JB Cases]

Thanks for the heads-up on the $75 latch kits. I found the listing and was actually going to reach out to him; glad I decided to sleep on it first.

Jayman, thanks for the link. John, any chance a GTF latch would do the trick? You are next on the contact list, and rather than a PM, perhaps this thread can serve as a resource for future case-restorers.

Yes a GTF latch will work. The leather will certainly show the outline of the old latch but the GTF latch will work. You can install it easily but you might need to file down the tips on inside of the lid.

 

[Slow Eddie]

Yes a GTF latch will work. The leather will certainly show the outline of the old latch but the GTF latch will work. You can install it easily but you might need to file down the tips on inside of the lid.

Thanks, John! As you can see from the pic, I don't think there will be a problem with the outline of the old latch showing through, once I get the green felt replaced with leather.

Sorry about possibly misleading you regarding the latches.I knew that the guys price was sky high,but I didn't know he was "burning" people.If you find that a GTF latch will work for you, I have a New/spare GTF latch, WITH KEY.If you want it,you can have it cheap.Good luck in your search.
BR,Marc

No worries, Marc; I'm sure you didn't know that he was scamming folks when you mentioned him. And, check your PMs :thumbup:

Thanks all for the help! I will post up in this thread once the work is completed.

 

[JB Cases]

Thanks, John! As you can see from the pic, I don't think there will be a problem with the outline of the old latch showing through, once I get the green felt replaced with leather.



No worries, Marc; I'm sure you didn't know that he was scamming folks when you mentioned him. And, check your PMs :thumbup:

Thanks all for the help! I will post up in this thread once the work is completed.

What would be cool here is to do a really nice shape around the rectangle and cut it out. Then replace it with a different type of leather or even a tooled piece that incorporates the GTF latch.

 

[Chopdoc]

I thought long and hard about getting this case myself. I really did. I love tube cases in general. I really dig Fellini cases. And I love rescuing old things. I can see several ways to patch it up...but none of them would seem right to me. Kind of like bondo on a Ferrari if you get what I mean.

JB made some good suggestions...

Good luck with it.



.

 

[rodcar]

Thanks!

Thanks for chiming in Mr. Barton. Some excellent suggestions. It's no wonder you are the Premier case builder.

 

[Slow Eddie]

What would be cool here is to do a really nice shape around the rectangle and cut it out. Then replace it with a different type of leather or even a tooled piece that incorporates the GTF latch

I thought long and hard about getting this case myself. I really did. I love tube cases in general. I really dig Fellini cases. And I love rescuing old things. I can see several ways to patch it up...but none of them would seem right to me. Kind of like bondo on a Ferrari if you get what I mean.

JB made some good suggestions...

Good luck with it.

I feel the same way on all counts. As I've matured, I have begun to see the beauty and practicality of restoring high-quality vintage pieces rather than purchasing new, derivative, and often inferior quality products. It has guided me through a lot of purchases in my other two hobbies - bicycles and watches. As far as cue cases, however, I kinda threw my own advice out the window and own, among an It's George, Whitten, and Super Mac, a Kopy Kat 1x2, and a very spartan JB 2x3 vinyl case, and I love them. They see more use day-to-day than the fancy leather cases do.

As far as what to do with the not-so-Faux-lini here, at first I thought about getting a piece of tooled leather in a darker color, shaped to it the cutout exactly, to act as sort of a grip to help separate the lid from the case. Now that I've decided to reinstall the latch, I have been thinking, as JB suggested, about excising more leather and replacing it. Perhaps a longer strip, symmetrical in length above and below the seam. Or a diamond that reaches around to the lateral edges of the case. Or maybe even a band going all the way around. If you guys have any other cool ideas, I'd love to hear them.

Once I get the case and latch in (Thanks, Marc!) I'll take a trip to the leather shop to see what they say as well. I think this will be a cool project to document, as we already have a slew of photos around of the case as found originally, and after Rodger's light refinishing.

Keep the suggestions coming!

E

 

[Chopdoc]

I'll give you the idea I was considering and the reasoning behind it.

Replacing the latch properly is probably not an option. Changing it to something else would "destroy" the originality of the case. That's why I actually don't consider putting a "closely matching style" of latch on it as satisfactory. I would not try to imitate the original.

That being the case I would definitely think "outside the box".

Riveting a new lock on properly is not an option without disassembling the case, and disassembly is hazardous.

This is my idea:

Cut the leather all the way around on both the lid and the main tube. Cut it straight. You don't need to extend the area already damaged though. Have some leather of similar color and thickness cut to fit and have it tooled. The latch part is where we go outside the box though.

JB does a really cool Magnetic Puzzle Latch. Have him do this for you. The shipping back and forth would suck but I don't think anybody could do a cleaner solution than him.

(Image shamelessly stolen from JB Cases web site.)

Have the lid leather band cut so that there is a flap left or have a flap sewn to it that will overlap onto the main tube in the area where the lock would have been. Have one of JB's magnetic latches installed using the flap.

Lastly, have JB put his stamp on the work if he is willing. You then have a hybrid case with two great names on it.

I thought about this case a lot as I said. It's a shame that somebody chopped it up, but there are solutions. I don't like any solution that attempts to imitate the original and to me it would stand out like a sore thumb as a repair.

The suggestion that I made is my idea of the most elegant solution. I have never spoken to JB about it and don't know if he is willing to do it. But if I had the case in hand I would be humbly asking his assistance in that matter for sure.

 

[Slow Eddie]

That is definitely an outside-the-box solution. And the magnetic latch is pretty sweet. It looks to me that in order for it to work well, there needs to be some thickness in the area of the latch, not only to create enough height for the male and female pieces to interlock, but also to accommodate the magnets in the case body and the flap.

One of the things I like so much about tube cases is their clean lines; I wonder if the magnetic puzzle latch, as innovative as it is, would look out of place on a slim 1x2 case (I think it's an awesome idea for those big tooled leather cases, though).

That said, it would certainly make for a unique case, a hybrid of two very well-regarded marques in the field. Thanks for the input!

 

[Chopdoc]

The magnetic latch likely won't be any thicker than the original lock. It may maintain the clean lines more than one might suspect.


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