Need help identifying an antique beer tap

[daviddingbro99]

crosspost from the equipment forum, apologies if this is misfiled-

I recently acquired this vintage looking beer tap, for free, from deep within a dank warehouse in upstate New York. I think it could be really antique and potentially worth a bit of money, but the handle is missing or broken. Has anyone seen this type before? How would I go about identifying a handle that'll fit on it? I literally don't even know where to begin looking, beyond generic ebay search terms.

 

[Broken Crow]

It looks to be chrome-plated brass with the entire threaded stem broken of at the base of the threads. For the most part, I'm sorry but that is usually an SOL situation. That said; I've had a mostly good succcess rate with 'fixing the unfixable'..You could try and drill and tap a hole into it if you can weld a 5/16" thread to a much smaller thread to go in the hole you need to tap and drill. Something like this:

But again: You will need to do a scavenger hunt for such an adapter or make it yourself.

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

I hope you have a great item there, and to me it resembles a pepper mill with an attachment.

 

[day_trippr]

If there is to be any hope of helping to find a replacement part it probably hinges on seeing a really good picture of the entire faucet. With that, at least, one could use Google Lens and hope to find a matching picture out there...

Cheers!

 

[Jim R]

If it were me I would first try to remove the broken off stem piece. If it looked like it was threaded on I would use a bolt extracting tool set. If not, I would try to drill the hole out on a drill press which would probably require removing that part and rigging up something to firmly hold it down on the drill press. Once I got that hole opened up, I would use my woodworking lathe to make a nice wood handle for it (that would be the easy part) and epoxy it into that hole. I would try to match the wood on the base as closely as possible.

 

[day_trippr]

My curiosity led me to find the manufacturer of that faucet. It's a Belgium company going by "V.V.B.".

Website: https://www.vvb-belgium.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AntoineBelgiumHarold/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/vvb/
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE_Z2sCC5cd3MZUSAy8DzrA

If that was my faucet I'd take a couple of really good pictures and attach them to an introductory letter explaining how and when the faucet was obtained and what it needs. Maybe ask if they know of anyone specializing in V.V.B. antique faucets and parts. You never know what might happen next

Cheers!

 

[Deadalus]

If it were me I would first try to remove the broken off stem piece. If it looked like it was threaded on I would use a bolt extracting tool set. If not, I would try to drill the hole out on a drill press which would probably require removing that part and rigging up something to firmly hold it down on the drill press. Once I got that hole opened up, I would use my woodworking lathe to make a nice wood handle for it (that would be the easy part) and epoxy it into that hole. I would try to match the wood on the base as closely as possible.

Right. And how I've seen some those work is that a reverse threaded screw is inserted and then as it tightens up it will spin the broken piece out. If it's metal, you may need to drill a hole and maybe tap it even, hence the kit. If it is wood, you can also do as mentioned by Jim and drill it out with increasing bit sizes. If you are getting close to any threads, you can sometimes gently crack the now ring of wood with a small chisel and remove. You might even be able to split it with a chisel a couple times and the slivers might fall out. Thing that has me wondering is that brass around it may be a way to hold it in if it is wood. The hole may be slightly thinner than the wood and the wood gets tapped in and the brass lip digs into it preventing egress.

So what material is in the hole? Is there a set screw on the other side holding the broken piece by any chance?

 

[daviddingbro99]

I think Broken Crow was right, it's solid brass with a chrome plating, as opposed to being a broken-off threaded part. Seems like my options here are to obtain a replacement part somehow or drill it out and screw some kind of stud into it.

I suppose there's a chance it's a threaded part, but I can't say for sure