Old Yale Mortise Locks — Anybody know anyone who refurbishes?
jn_freedman
| Posted in General Discussion on
I have a old 1921 fixer-upper and am almost at the end of a 5 year renovation. One of my last to-dos is fixing the interior door mortises. They are yale mortises with 5 3/8 tall face plates. Instead of replacing (and worrying about holes lining up), does anybody know anyone who would refurbish the locks?
Another option is to replace but I can’t seem to find anyone who sells replica replacements.
Thanks,
JNF
Replies
Interior locks are one of the easiest items to refurbish.
If ya really want a fancy schmancy job, disassemble and clean and send the exerior plates/parts to a plating shop for whatever the original plating was - nickel? if none, steel wool and wire brush and lacquer sealer.
Ditto what DianeA says. I've "restored" many dozens of the ol mortise locks in my time. As long as none of the cast metal parts are broken, a clean up and put em back together is ususally all that's needed. If a spring is broke, replacements can be found at any well stocked hardware store.
While you have it apart, lubricate any moving / sliding parts with your preferred lubricant, such as graphite, silicone spray, lithium spray or similar.
Pull one out and show a picture
Someone here might just be able to tip you off without a bunch of google guessing.
Lay it out with a form of measurement next to it.
thanks.
Yeah, what do you mean by "refurbrish"? Cleaning them up is generally a matter of paint removal. Most are designed to be disassembled and serviced by blacksmiths, so watchmaker tools are not required.
Hippo Hardware in Portland, Oregon had buckets of old mortise locks the last time I was in there. I think they also have replicas. They don't have all their stuff listed on-line, so you may want to call or email them to see what they have that can work for you.
http://www.hippohardware.com/index.htm?lmd=40243.458704
Mortise locks
I've cleaned up quite a few old mortise locks during the restoration of my bungalow and I've found them to be pretty simple to work on. In my case they are old Stanley locks and I have taken them apart, removed old paint etc, and reassembled pretty easily. In my case there is one main screw holding the case and removing that you have full access to the all the innards so to speak. The first time I took a picture on my cell for reassembly just in case things would not go together but after the first one, it's pretty straight forward.
That being said my locks were simple skeleton key locks so your mileage may vary. My experience with interior mortise locks is that they are pretty easy to clean up.