Wood and brass cabinet pulls are handles whose grip is a shaped wooden bar carried on two solid brass posts. Studio Timeless sells two of them, in walnut and in beech, and they are the only wood in a catalogue that is otherwise entirely metal. The useful questions are which wood, which size, and which of the two listings you are buying from.
In short
- Two listings, four shared sizes, and the cheaper one is $4.00 to $5.00 less at the same centres and the same overall length.
- Walnut costs more than beech on three of five sizes and the same on two, and the premium is largest on the smallest part.
- Forest Products Laboratory figures: beech moves 11.9 percent tangentially green to ovendry, walnut 7.8 percent, both 5.5 percent radially.
- Overhang past the screws runs 0.83 to 1.20 inch per end, the tightest spread of any pull family we sell.
- Neither listing offers a brass finish choice. This is the only family in the catalogue where the metal is not yours to pick.
What a wood and brass cabinet pull actually is
It is a two part assembly: a wooden grip bar and two machined solid brass posts that carry it, bolted through the drawer front on standard machine screws. The strength of such a pull is therefore a brass question and the feel of it is a wood question. The Scandinavian T bar pull in walnut or beech is the version with a choice of species; the brass and beech pull is the version without one. When a schedule says “wood and brass pull”, two different parts in our catalogue answer to it, at two prices, and neither page says so.
The two listings, size by size, and the one that costs less
Four of the five sizes exist on both listings at the same centre distance and the same overall length, and the cheaper listing wins every one. Prices read from the live catalogue on October 20, 2026.
| Centres and overall | T bar listing, beech | T bar listing, walnut | Beech pull listing | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 mm T bar | $15.90 | $17.90 | $14.90 | $1.00 to $3.00 |
| 96 / 140 mm | $21.90 | $21.90 | $16.90 | $5.00 |
| 128 / 170 mm | $21.90 | $22.90 | $17.90 | $4.00 to $5.00 |
| 160 / 220 mm | $22.90 | $23.90 | $18.90 | $4.00 to $5.00 |
| 224 mm centres | $24.90 at 285 mm | $24.90 at 285 mm | $20.90 at 270 mm | $4.00, and 15 mm shorter |
Read the last row carefully, because it is the one place where the two listings are not describing the same object: 285 millimetres overall against 270 at identical centres. Everywhere else the numbers agree exactly. We will not tell you those are the same part, because our own catalogue does not say so. We will tell you that if beech is what you want, the second listing is cheaper at every size, and that we will honour the lower price if you have already paid the higher one. It is the position we took on our edge pull handles: when one profile appears on more than one page, the page is the accident and the part is the fact.
Walnut or beech: a premium that does not scale
Walnut costs more on three sizes and exactly the same on two, and the pattern runs the wrong way round. The gap is $2.00 at the 60 millimetre T bar, $1.00 at 128 and 160 millimetres, and zero at both 96 and 224 millimetres. The dearest premium sits on the smallest piece of wood in the range.
That inverts a reading we published earlier this month. On all brass pulls the price follows the length of bar, because the bar is the cost: a long knurled T bar runs roughly $4.39 per inch of centre distance at 16.37 inches and roughly $7.67 per inch at 3.77 inches. On a wood pull the cost is the block, not the length. A short walnut bar is a small piece of a dearer timber machined on every face; a longer one is the same timber with less waste. If the budget is tight and you want walnut, spend it on the long pulls, where walnut costs nothing extra.
How much each wood moves, and where that matters
Wood changes dimension with moisture and it does so unequally in the three directions, which is the fact that decides whether a wood handle is sound. The Forest Products Laboratory states that wood “shrinks (swells) most in the direction of the annual growth rings (tangentially)”, “about half as much across the rings (radially), and only slightly along the grain (longitudinally)”. Its species table gives the figures below, green to ovendry.
| Measure, green to ovendry | American beech | Black walnut | What it governs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Radial shrinkage | 5.5 percent | 5.5 percent | Bar thickness, identical in both woods |
| Tangential shrinkage | 11.9 percent | 7.8 percent | Bar width, beech about half again as active |
| Volumetric shrinkage | 17.2 percent | 12.8 percent | Overall seasonal movement |
| Longitudinal shrinkage | 0.1 to 0.2 percent for most species | Distance between the two screws | |
The conclusion is arithmetic rather than reassurance. The dimension a pull cannot afford to change is the distance between its screws, and that distance runs along the grain, where movement is 0.1 to 0.2 percent: roughly 0.2 to 0.4 millimetre on a 224 millimetre spacing, inside the clearance of a drilled hole. What changes slightly across a heating season is the width and thickness of the bar under your fingers. The comparison is the part to carry away: beech is much the more active wood, and beech is the wood on the cheaper single species listing. That is a reason to keep it out of an unventilated bathroom, not a reason to avoid it.
Sizes, and the overhang you have to plan for
Every pull here is listed as two numbers, centre distance and overall length, and the gap between them is what ruins a layout. On the wood pulls that gap is unusually consistent.
| Centres | Overall length | Overhang per end | Clear face needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60 mm T bar | 60 mm | Single post | About 2.4 inch |
| 96 mm / 3.77 in | 140 mm / 5.51 in | 22 mm / 0.87 in | 5.6 inch |
| 128 mm / 5.03 in | 170 mm / 6.69 in | 21 mm / 0.83 in | 6.8 inch |
| 160 mm / 6.29 in | 220 mm / 8.66 in | 30 mm / 1.18 in | 8.8 inch |
| 224 mm / 8.81 in | 285 mm / 11.22 in | 30.5 mm / 1.20 in | 11.3 inch |
From 0.83 to 1.20 inch is a spread of about 1.4 to one. Set that against two families we measured this autumn: our appliance pulls run 0.20 to 1.18 inch of overhang at identical centres, a factor of six, and our edge pulls run 0.31 to 2.83 inch, a factor of nine. The wood range is the most predictable pull family Studio Timeless sells, and the easy one to specify from a drawing. Four of the five centres are multiples of 32 and land on the European cabinet drilling system; the 60 millimetre T bar does not. If the drawer layout is unsettled, start from our sizing and spacing guide and our installation guide.
The one family where you cannot choose the brass
Both listings offer exactly one option: species and size on the first, type and size on the second. Neither offers a finish. There is no antique brass, black or unlacquered wood pull, and no option value anywhere in the catalogue that would produce one. That is unlike everything else we sell: the linear handle and knob set gives three colours including gunmetal black, and the cross knurled T bar gives brass, antique brass and black. A schedule calling for a named finish code on every exposed piece cannot be answered here, which is better known before it is issued. We said the same when we audited the hinge range: sometimes the honest answer to a specification question is that the field is empty.
Where these pulls are, and are not, in our own collections
The walnut and beech T bar, the only walnut product in the entire catalogue, appears in exactly one collection: Extra Long Cabinet Pulls. Its longest size is 8.81 inches on centre, which is not extra long by any reading. It is not in Cabinet Knobs and Pulls, which holds 58 products, and not in Hardware, which holds 64. The cheaper beech listing is in both.
So anyone browsing the collections a buyer actually browses will find beech and never see walnut. We publish that because it is our defect and the third collection fault this Journal has reported in a month: Appliance Pulls holds a bathroom set that is not a pull, and Edge Pulls holds a butt hinge that the word “edge” dragged in. Until it is fixed, open the T bar listing directly to see walnut.
What the standards ask of a pull, and what they never mention
Cabinet hardware is governed, loosely, by two documents. ANSI/BHMA A156.9 covers cabinet hardware and asks that pulls support a 75 pound force test load without chipping, disassembly or breakage of the part or its screws. ANSI/KCMA A161.1 requires in section 4.0 that exposed cabinet hardware comply with the finishing standards of A156.9, and it puts doors through 25,000 cycles at 20 cycles a minute and drawers through 25,000 cycles under a 718 pascal load.
Notice what is missing. KCMA contains no test specific to a handle, and the finishing clause it borrows from BHMA was written for metal surfaces. There is no published industry test for the glue line between a wooden bar and a brass post, and no finish code for beech. So when we say the strength of these pulls is a brass question, that is not marketing: the brass is the only part any standard addresses. The posts are solid brass, a copper zinc alloy rather than a coating, and the Copper Development Association wrought brasses datasheet spreads the brasses across the C20000 to C49999 ranges with zinc from 5 to 39 percent. The BHMA finishes tables make the wider point, since they carry a base material column, and for a bright nickel plated code the base material is brass or bronze. A finish name describes a surface; solid brass describes the part.
Living with a wood pull, and what not to clean it with
Dust it dry, wipe with a barely damp cloth, dry at once, and keep every brass product away from it. That last instruction differs from the rest of our catalogue, because our brass care guide is built around polishes and the fact that all cleaning removes some surface metal, none of which applies to a part with a glue line. Ammonia based cleaners are the specific thing to avoid. Expect the posts to dull where hands touch them and the wood to darken a little, walnut more visibly than beech. Neither is a fault and neither is reversible, the same honest answer we gave about unlacquered brass.
Wood, brass and the rest of the house
Our cabinet and electrical finish vocabularies meet at one word, black, and the wood pulls do not reach even that far: no beech bar matches a satin brass switch. What wood can do is sit in deliberate contrast, and that is how to specify it. For a house that reads as one family instead, use an all brass pull in a finish that answers an electrical finish, as in our whole house guide and our cabinet colour names article.
When a wood and brass pull is the wrong choice
Three cases, and we would rather name them than sell into them. A fully accessible project is the first: a slim bar on two posts beats a recessed finger groove, but where the specification is written to a reach and operating force requirement, specify a generous all brass T bar, for the reason we advised against our own edge pulls there. A wet, unventilated bathroom is the second, and beech is the wrong wood for it. A schedule demanding a named finish code on every exposed piece is the third. Everywhere else, this is the cheapest way we know to put a warm material exactly where the hand lands, from $14.90.
Frequently asked questions
Are wood and brass cabinet pulls durable enough for a kitchen?
Yes. The load runs through the brass posts and the screws, not the wood, so durability here is a brass question. ANSI/BHMA A156.9 asks a cabinet pull to hold a 75 pound force test load without chipping, disassembly or breakage.
Walnut or beech: which one should I choose?
Walnut for a darker grain and the more stable wood. Beech for a pale, even bar and a lower price at the smallest size. Forest Products Laboratory figures: black walnut 7.8 percent tangential shrinkage green to ovendry, American beech 11.9 percent.
Does Studio Timeless sell Scandinavian cabinet pulls?
Two of them, and they are the only products in the catalogue that use wood at all. One offers walnut or beech in five sizes, the other is described as beech and offers a T bar plus four pull sizes.
Will the wood crack, shrink or come loose from the brass?
The dimension that matters least is the one that moves least. Longitudinal shrinkage is 0.1 to 0.2 percent for most species, so on 224 millimetre screw spacing that is roughly 0.2 to 0.4 millimetre, inside the clearance of a drilled hole. The bar changes in width across a season, not in the distance between its screws.
Can I order the wood pulls in antique brass, black or unlacquered?
No, and this is the only family in the catalogue where the metal is not yours to pick. Both wood listings offer species and size only. For a named finish you have to move to an all brass pull.
What size wood pull should I use on a kitchen drawer?
Match the centre distance, then check the overall length. These pulls come on 96, 128, 160 and 224 millimetre centres plus a 60 millimetre T bar, with 0.83 to 1.20 inch of overhang per end. A 224 millimetre pull needs about 11.3 inches of clear face, not 8.8.
Do the wood pulls match your brass light switches?
Not as a finish pair. Our cabinet and electrical finish vocabularies meet only at black, and the wood pulls carry no finish name at all. Treat wood as a counterpoint to brass switchgear, not a match to it.
How do I clean a wood and brass pull?
Dry dust, a barely damp cloth, then dry at once. Keep brass polish and ammonia based cleaners away, because they reach the wood and the glue line. The Canadian Conservation Institute notes that polishing removes metal, and on a mixed material part there is nowhere for the residue to go.
The short version
If you want beech, buy it from the beech pull listing, which is $4.00 to $5.00 cheaper at every shared size. If you want walnut, one product in this catalogue offers it, the Scandinavian T bar, and it is the more stable of the two woods. Plan 0.83 to 1.20 inch of overhang per end and accept that the brass finish is not yours to choose. Anything not published here, an alloy number included, is missing because we have not verified it. Ask us and we will either find it or say so.
Last updated: October 20, 2026
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