Barn-door rollers: cloning the classics

During a recent barn raising, I was surprised that the sliding doors were hung with traditional barn-door rollers, the kind with horseshoe-shaped brackets and wheels that roll along a horizontal track.

These were authentic, beautifully made reproductions of hardware found on barns, sheds and carriage houses dating back to the early 1800s. I didn't realize you could still buy true reproductions of this classic hardware.

Intrigued, I eventually tracked down the hardware to a small Connecticut manufacturing company, Better Barns Reproduction Hardware.

The firm offers a wide range of hand-crafted barn-door hardware, including four sizes of barn-door rollers, which are sold in pairs: mini 5-1/2 x 9-3/8 inch ($260), small 7-1/2 x 9-3/8 inch ($280), medium 9-1/2 x 10-3/8 inch ($300), and large 11-1/2 x 11-3/8 inch ($350).

Better Barns also recently introduced an attractive horseshoe hanger ($260), which is made from a real  horseshoe.

The original barn-door rollers were riveted, but Better Barns welds together the cold-rolled steel parts for long-life and superior performance. The wheels are made of high-quality ductile cast iron, making them virtually indestructible.

The steel tracks are sold separately and available in three lengths: 4 foot ($120), 6 foot ($180), and 8 foot ($240). A 3-foot-wide door requires a 6-foot track, and tracks can be mixed and matched to accommodate virtually any size door.

Pete Charest, owner of Better Barns, told me that while a vast majority of barn-door rollers are used on barns, sheds and other outbuildings, there's a growing number of builders who are using them on interior doors and sliding partitions.

More reproduction hardware:

Our gallery of exterior shutter hardware