Change or rekey · Glen Leven
Vintage Mortise Lock Service in Glen Leven
After a wet summer the entry door sits lower in its frame. The lock works perfectly when the door is open, but with it shut you have to lift the handle and shoulder the door to get the deadbolt to throw.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In plain words
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.
How the visit goesThe knob flops loose on its spindle and never springs back to level. When you turn it the latch pulls in, but you have to push the knob back yourself, and lately the latch has started staying inside the door instead of catching.
Glen Leven
How the visit goes
Which keys exist and who has them
The locksmith asks to see every key that goes with the door: the one that works, the ones that used to, and the bag of loose bit keys that came with the house. A worn original is still the most useful pattern for a new key, and a bent one explains why the lock has become temperamental. For a cylinder lock, a lost or stolen key is a reason to rekey while the case is out, and a key that only a former occupant holds is worth retiring. The count of keys wanted afterwards is settled now too, so the spares are cut while the lock is on the bench rather than on a return visit.
Cylinder work on a later mortise lock
A pin-tumbler cylinder on a mortise lock is serviced the same way as a modern one. The plug is pushed out with a follower, the old bottom pins are replaced to a new combination, and keys are cut to match, so a lost key stops mattering. If the plug is worn past rekeying, a new mortise cylinder is selected with the same thread length, the same cam shape and a finish close to the trim, and threaded into the case to the correct depth so the cam swings the bolt without binding. The set screw is seated into the cylinder's groove, and the key is tested with the case in the door.
Keys that fit the lock, and a spare
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.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service
In the van
- Warding files
- Reproduction mortise case
- Light lock oil
- Mortise cylinder and cam
- Spindle and knob set screws
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1Replacement case
A case that is cracked or worn through is replaced with a reproduction or modern mortise case sized to the pocket. The case itself, any trimming of the pocket and the refitting are itemised separately from a repair.
2Keying doors alike
Bringing several interior locks onto one bit key, or several cylinders onto one flat key, is extra bench work per lock and is simplest to arrange while all the cases are out on the same visit.
3Bit key or cylinder lock
A bit-key case has keys filed by hand on the bench, while a cylinder lock is rekeyed or fitted with a new cylinder on a key machine. The two take different time and materials, and the quote follows.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
Will the door look any different afterwards?
Usually not, when the original case is repaired: the same knobs, escutcheons, faceplate and strike go back on in the same positions, and the only visible change is paint or grime cleared from the edges that were catching. A replacement case is chosen to match the pocket so original trim is reused wherever spacing allows, though an occasional case needs a small pocket or fixing change, explained beforehand.
What does the service visit involve, step by step?
The locksmith checks your authority to request the work, examines the door and lock, and tells you what it needs. The knobs, plates and cylinder come off, the case slides out of the door edge and is opened on a bench, cleaned, re-sprung and repaired. Keys are made or the cylinder rekeyed, the door pocket is tidied, everything goes back on, and the strike is adjusted. You test the finished lock from both sides.
Can a modern cylinder be fitted to my old mortise lock?
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.
Change or Rekey Locks
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Vintage Mortise Lock Service near you
The pages linked here cover each lock service available in Glen Leven in the same plain format: the situation it solves, what the locksmith checks first, how he does the work, and how to care for the result. Pick the one that sounds like your door, then reach out to arrange a visit.