Acorn Entry Door Hardware: Door Pulls, Knockers, Push and Kick Plates and Clavos

You want the pull, the knocker, a push or kick plate and a row of clavos to read as one set on a plank front door. Acorn offers all of them in black, and its item pages give the size of each piece and, where Acorn states it, the material of that item. The Acorn products we carry are on our Acorn brand page.

Acorn door pulls: sizes and projection

Some of Acorn's pull names include Light Weight, Heavy Duty, Hand Forged or Cast. The table is a selection from Acorn's list, eight heart and bean pulls and one Agave pull, with the sizes printed on each item page, in inches.

Read the material line, not the name. Acorn calls the RPLBP a Cast Large Bean Door Pull and the RPCBP a Hand Forged Large Bean Door Pull, yet both pages, like the other seven in the table, say the pull is made of steel and finished in matte black. The RPCBP and RPKBP pages also list hand forged among their features.

The RPLBP page carries one line the others do not: "Top portion is designed to fit over a pre-drilled hole". The RPKBP is listed as a heart pull for a predrilled door, and its page says nothing more about the holes. Screws come with each pull. For a new installation, all nine pages say to predrill with a 7/64 inch bit in softwood or a 1/8 inch bit in hardwood, and to tighten the screws by hand so the finish is not damaged.

Door knockers: heart, bean and ring

Acorn's knocker list includes heart, bean, Sonoma, Tuscan, Bell Back, Grapevine and Palm Tree knockers, along with five ring knockers in smooth and twisted versions. Sizes of three of them, from their Acorn pages:

• RMXBG heart door knocker: 7-1/4 inches long, 3-1/2 inches wide, 1-3/8 inch projection.
• RM4BG bean door knocker: 6-1/2 inches long, 3-1/2 inches wide, 1-1/2 inch projection.
• PU012 twisted ring knocker: 5-1/2 x 7 inches with a 1 inch projection.

Acorn describes the heart and bean knockers as "completed in rough iron with a matte black finish". The PU012 comes from the Agave Ironworks line on Acorn's site, and its page says it is made from forged iron and finished in Agave's flat black powder coat.

Push plates and kick plates

Acorn presents its kick plates as protection for the door's finish against scuffs and scratches. The RMRBP is 5-7/8 inches high and 30 inches long, the RMMBP 7-3/8 inches high and 40 inches long, and Acorn's list adds 7-3/8 x 34 and 7-3/8 x 38 inch plates. The RMRBP and RMMBP pages say both are steel with a matte black finish and a rough iron textured surface, come with decorative pyramid head screws, and are normally used on the exterior of entry doors. The IMCBP Iron Art Push Plate is 3-1/2 inches wide and 15-3/4 inches tall, smooth and matte black; its page names no material. Kick plate sizing in general is covered in our guide to kick plate, push plate and pull plate sizes, and commercial plates in our ABH guides to push and pull hardware and kick, mop and armor plates.

Clavos: shapes, sizes and how Acorn says to set them

Acorn calls clavos a decorative accent for doors, gates and other projects. The clavos on its list:

On the pages we checked, the size in the name is the width Acorn gives. The CL7BP pyramid clavo is 1 inch wide with a 15/16 inch stem and a 1/4 inch installed projection; the CL2BP round clavo is 3/4 inch in diameter with a 1/2 inch stem and a 3/8 inch installed projection. Both are solid steel, matte black, with a hammered texture. The Agave pyramid clavos (CL012, CL013, CL014) are rough textured with a flat black powder coat, and their pages name no material.

The installation tips differ between the two groups. For the CL7BP and CL2BP, Acorn says the clavo needs predrilling: to choose the bit, measure the diameter of the nail part midway up the shank. For the small 3/4 inch round clavo the page adds that you may also want adhesive. The Agave pages call their clavos simple to install with just a hammer. All five pages recommend a rubber mallet and a rag over the clavo while you hammer it in, so the finish is not marked.

Keeping one style across the door

Acorn notes on its pull pages that many of its pulls are available with matching hinges and hardware sets. Shape names repeat across pulls and knockers:

• Heart: light weight, heavy duty and hand forged pulls, among them the rough RPABP and the smooth APEBP, and the RMXBG knocker.
• Bean: the rough RPJBP, the smooth APFBP, the RPBBP, RPCBP and RPLBP pulls, and the RM4BG knocker. Acorn also lists a heavy duty bean strap hinge, the IHLBP, made of steel per its page.
• Agave: pulls such as the Twisted L, Grapevine and Palm Tree pulls on Acorn's Agave list, the PU012 knocker, the Agave clavos and Sonora flat end straps like the 12 inch ST017, whose page describes it as a decorative strap hinge from the Agave line, made from forged iron.

Check the finish name as well. The nine pulls in the table, the IMCBP, RMRBP and RMMBP plates and the CL7BP and CL2BP clavos are matte black, while the PU012 knocker, the ST017 strap and the Agave pyramid clavos carry a flat black powder coat. Agave does not always mean powder coat: the PU034 on Acorn's Agave list is steel in matte black. These pieces share the look of hand-forged iron hardware, but the material differs from piece to piece, so go by the material Acorn states for each item, given above wherever Acorn names one.

Questions about a piece or a size before you order? Our customer support team is available Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4 PM Central Time, at 1-888-800-7789 or [email protected].