The brass knob on the front door of your century home turns, but nothing happens on the other side. The latch stays tucked in, the door swings free, and the only thing holding it shut is the deadbolt and a bit key that has worn down to a nub.
Where the door has moved, the lock gets blamed. Solid wood doors in older houses swell in humid weather, shrink in winter and settle on their hinges, and a mortise lock that was set decades ago ends up with its latch and bolt aiming a little below the strike. Part of every vintage lock service is reading how the door hangs, tightening or packing the hinges, and moving or filing the strike so the latch catches and the bolt throws without lifting the handle. Often that alignment work, plus a clean and new springs, is the entire repair, and the customer gets back a door that closes with one hand.
Sound familiar?Lucan Biddulph
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · Lucan Biddulph
Scene 1
Older mortise locks come in two families, and the check sorts out which one is on the door. A keyhole shaped like a small keyhole silhouette takes a bit key, the skeleton key style, and the case works on wards and levers that the key's bit must match. A round face on the door with a slot for a flat key is a pin-tumbler cylinder threaded into the case. The distinction matters for everything that follows: how a lost key is replaced, whether the lock can be rekeyed, and what to do if the mechanism is worn out. It also settles whether a spare can be filed on the bench or cut on a key machine.
Scene 2
With the cover screws out, the case opens like a book: the latch bolt with its spring, the hub the spindle passes through, the deadbolt with its lever or tumblers, and the springs holding each in place. The locksmith notes what is broken, worn or merely stuck, then cleans the case with solvent and a brass brush until the old grease and rust are gone; old paint on the hardware is treated as a possible lead hazard and cleared with contained, lead-safe methods rather than dry brushing. Parts are cleaned individually, burrs are dressed off the bolts, and the hub square is checked against a fresh spindle to see whether it has rounded.
Scene 3
You are handed keys made to the restored lock, counted into your hand, and each one is tried in the door before the locksmith drives away. For a bit-key lock that means keys filed to your case; copying one needs the right blanks and equipment, which most hardware counters do not stock, so the locksmith keeps the record needed to make more. For a cylinder lock it means keys cut to the new combination, with any old keys now useless. Keep one spare somewhere other than the door, ideally with a neighbour or in a lockbox, and treat bit keys gently: they bend in a pocket and a bent key is how most of these locks become stiff again.
What shapes the quoteCalamity Corners Locksmith Co.
FeesSame any hour
A single entry lock that needs cleaning, springs and a strike adjustment is generally done in one visit of an hour or two. Filing a bit key adds bench time, and a set of interior latches is longer simply because there are more of them. A case that needs a part fabricated, or a replacement case that has to be ordered to size, may mean a second visit; the locksmith says so at the assessment.
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.
Often, on cases that already take a threaded cylinder. Mortise cylinders are made in standard thread sizes and lengths with different cam shapes, and a new one is selected to match the case and the door thickness. That gives you keys cut on a machine and the option of keying the door alike with the rest of the house. A bit-key case has no cylinder to swap; its keys are made on the bench instead.
MiddlesexOntario
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · London, Middlesex Centre, Broughdale, Calamity Corners, Masonville, Orchard Park, Sherwood Forest, Stoneybrook, University Heights, White Hills, Northcrest
Every square is one home in a hundred.
On-site assessment
The brass knob on the front door of your century home turns, but nothing happens on the other side.
(226) 271-6061, open 24/7.
On-site assessment preferred · (226) 271-6061, open 24/7
