Change or rekey · Richmond Hill
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
The old skeleton key still fits the keyhole, but it now needs a jiggle, a lean on the door and a little luck before the bolt moves.
In plain words
Most old mortise locks fail for boring reasons. A coil spring that has been compressed a hundred thousand times since the house was built finally breaks, or the grease inside the case dries into something like wax and the levers stick in it. Neither justifies cutting a new hole in a solid oak door. The service opens the case, cleans out the old lubricant, replaces the springs with the right size, matches any worn follower or lever and lubricates the mechanism lightly. The same case goes back into the same pocket, and the knob returns to level with the crisp snap it had decades ago.
How the visit goesThe key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all. The cylinder itself wobbles slightly when you press it, as if it has come loose inside the door.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
How the visit goes
How the knob and key actually behave
A short conversation with the hardware comes next. The knob is turned and released: does it return smartly, sag back, or not return at all? Is there free play before the latch moves? The key is tried in the deadbolt with the door open: does the bolt throw fully, catch part way, or ignore the key while the key turns? The thumb-turn gets the same test. Each answer points somewhere different inside the case, a latch spring, a hub spring, a worn hub square, a deadbolt lever, a cylinder cam, and the locksmith is building a short list of likely parts before the cover ever comes off.
Cutting a bit key to the lock
For a bit-key lock, keys are made to the case rather than copied from a pattern. A blank with the right bow, shank and bit size is chosen, then the bit is filed by hand to clear the wards inside the case and to lift each lever to the correct height. The key is tried, marked, filed again and tried again until it turns the bolt cleanly from both sides. A second key is made to match while the first is fresh. Where a working original exists, it is used as a guide and the new key is cut to it, and a worn original can itself be gently restored if the customer wants to keep using it.
A lock that feels new and looks old
What you get back is the door you had, with the lock working as it was designed to. The knob returns level with a snap, the latch catches when the door is pushed shut, the deadbolt throws with a light turn of the key or the thumb-turn, and the key goes in and out without a wiggle. Nothing on the face of the door has changed except that the brass has been cleaned where it was handled. The locksmith runs through each function with you from both sides before leaving, so the standard of what has been done is something you have seen, not something you have been told.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In the van
Hardwood dowel and wood glue
Dry graphite or PTFE lubricant
Light lock oil
Spindle and knob set screws
Deadbolt lever springs
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
What affects the quote
Condition of the wood
Stripped screw holes, a loosened pocket or a split at the door edge need dowelling, shimming or gluing before the case can be trusted. That woodwork is quoted once the locksmith has seen the pocket empty.
Parts that must be ordered
A reproduction case or an unusual cylinder size may have to be ordered to measurement, which means a second visit to fit it. The quote separates the first visit from the return.
Replacement cylinder
When a pin-tumbler cylinder is past rekeying, a new mortise cylinder of the right thread and cam is fitted. A standard cylinder and a high-security one are different hardware and are quoted as such.
What to have ready
- Can you send a photo of the plate in the door edge and one of the keyhole?
- Roughly when was the house built, and is the door original to it?
- How many keys would you like to have afterwards?
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
QuestionsCan my interior doors be serviced too, and can one key work all of them?
Usually yes to the first, and to the second once the locksmith checks the locks. Interior mortise latches with privacy turn buttons are lighter versions of the entry lock and respond to the same clean and re-spring. Interior locks in a house were sometimes supplied to one bit key, and where the key sections, warding and levers actually match, the locksmith can restore that arrangement so a single key opens several bedroom and bathroom doors. It is a practical thing to have when a child locks a bathroom from inside.
Can the work be done with the lock left in the door?
Rarely, and it is not the better route. Almost everything that fails is inside the case, and the case only opens once it is out of the pocket, which takes a few minutes and leaves no mark. Working through the keyhole with an unapproved or over-applied spray tends to wash out what little lubricant should stay and gums the levers later. Removing the case, cleaning it properly and refitting it is the repair that lasts.
Can you match a missing knob, plate or thumb-turn?
Often, yes. Locksmiths who work on older hardware keep salvage and reproduction trim in the common patterns and finishes, and a knob, rosette or escutcheon can usually be found close enough that the pair on one door match. Where nothing suitable exists, the trim from a less visible door can be moved to the entry and the reproduction fitted where it is seen less. Bring or photograph the surviving piece so it can be matched.
Related services
- Deadbolt InstallationThe front door has a handsome lever and a keyed knob, and that is all.
- Lock Replacement & UpgradeThe century home's original mortise lock takes a key the size of a spoon, sticks in humid weather and has worn its strike to a groove.
- Smart Lock InstallationArthritis has made the small house key hard to grip and turn, especially with gloves on in January.