yo /diy/, my 1950s house came with its original brass door hardware; trying to completely disassemble the doorknobs so I can remove all dirt and worn lacquer

the problem is that the doorknob is fastened to the backplate with a brass ring slightly larger than the diameter of the backplate opening. how can I remove this without damaging the doorknob?? (will provide some additional pictures for context)

two possible solutions I can think of:
1) cut the brass ring with a fine saw, gently bend and remove it. after cleaning, reinstall the ring and solder the cut
2) remove the ring with pliers and discard. after cleaning, replace with a new brass ring slightly larger than the old one, then compress around the doorknob stalk (???) with some kind of specialized tool

If option 1 is the best, then what tool do I use to cut and remove the ring? A jeweler's saw would be appropriate for the size and material I'm working with, but it's not the right shape to reach the brass ring without damaging any other parts

If option 2 is best, then what's the name of the specialized tool I would need to buy?

Is there some third solution I'm not considering?

here's a rough drawing of what the door handle construction looks like from the side...

>>2921188
and here's a pic of the whole assembly for context

Thin the swaged part with a drill or dremel and then use a slide hammer to pull the knob.

Replace the brass ring with a retaining ring of the same thickness.

>>2921190
how would I fasten everything back together after reassembly? maybe use a ball peen hammer to flare/swage the rim over the brass ring? or is there some other specialized tool that would be better? sorry this kind of project is totally unfamiliar with this kind of project

>>2921192
ok yeah I see how a tapered section ring or something like that would work here. thanks for the suggestion!

>>2921193
I'd stick something conical or spherical over the hole and tap on that, but yeah.

>>2921195
ok yeah I see how that would be more precise than just eyeballing the flare using a ball peen hammer, thanks

>>2921189
If you drill this, the knob will come off and there's probably a circlip or something holding the shaft on from the other side.

Honestly if I were you I'd clean it as best I could without disassembling it any further. Get in there with some q-tips and polish if you must. Dunk the thing in water with detergent or even gasoline and then blow it out with an air compressor and repeat several times and you'll get it all cleaned out without taking that apart any further.

>>2921203
This.
The knob's not going to go back together and work like it did. At best you'll get it reassembled and it'll be loose or too tight.
You could snip the ring off and put a snap ring in it's place but the thickness will probably be off, leading to the same problems.

>>2921203
>>2921434
yeah I see what you mean here, disassembling creates the possibility of errors when reassembling

something I didn't mention in the OP though is another reason I'd like to disassemble the doorknob is so I can swap the base plates between the knob with the keyhole and the knob with the twist lock; that way I can attach the keyhole knob (which will be visible from my hallway) to the base place without ugly screw holes

the doorknob is 71 years old and is already a little loose from decades of use... I actually think it would be beneficial to replace the current brass ring with a very slightly thicker circlip/section ring. I can measure the current ring to an accuracy of .01mm with my vernier calipers, then buy a new ring just barely thicker... maybe buy new section rings in a few different sizes (they're like 1.5 cents each so why not) to see which one works best. doesn't seem like it would be too difficult, or am I being naive here?

>>2921202
they're not visible in this pic but there are actually 4 of those indents in the doorknob, equally spaced at 90 degree intervals. drilling them like you suggest would definitely work, but idk what I would use during reassembly to fill the 4 drill holes because I am ignorant and have never done this before...

>>2921450
Just rotate it 45 degrees, I doubt the holes will be visible.

>>2921453
but whether they're visible or not I'll need to fill them with something after reassembly to keep everything from falling apart again. maybe some tiny brass pins soldered in place?

>>2921187 (OP)
Refurbishing door knob
Step 1: destroy knob

Poor op his knob is broken ahah

>>2921455
No, you just rotate the handle 45 degrees and then punch new metal into the same holes in the shaft underneath.

>>2921613
ah sorry I see what you're saying now, thanks for the explanation