I used a particular piece of hardware a couple years ago that looked and worked great, and I want to use one again. But I can’t for the life of me remember where I got it.

Have you ever done that? It’s a common piece of hardware – a keyhole escutcheon, to be exact – and you can get them from literally any supplier in hundreds of varieties. But after a lengthy search through my catalogs and on the Internet, I simply cannot find the source. I even scrolled through hundreds of photos turned up by a Google image search and didn’t see it.

It’s maddening, really. It wasn’t that long ago, just two years, that I completed the desk where I used it, so you’d think it would still be available. But even if it isn’t, some of my catalogs are two years old so I should at least be able to find it for piece of mind if nothing else. But it’s like it doesn’t exist, despite the fact that I’m looking at it right now.

Some manufacturers just stop making things for one reason or another, so that when it comes time to find one again you’re out of luck. But in this case the hardware is so common and simple, you’d think you could find it not just from one manufacturer, but several.

I’ll use a different escutcheon and I’m sure it’ll end up looking just fine, but it’s driving me completely nuts that I can’t remember or relocate where I got that first one.

I also can’t remember where I put my car keys, but that’s another issue entirely.

A.J.