Change or rekey · Six Points
Vintage Mortise Lock Service in Six Points
The 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.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 804-7704In plain words
Keys are the part of the job people expect to be impossible, and they rarely are. A bit key, the skeleton key style used on older doors, is cut and filed on the bench to the wards and levers of your particular case, so a lost key can be replaced from the lock itself. A round cylinder on a later mortise lock is rekeyed like any modern cylinder, or exchanged for a new cylinder of matching thread and cam if it is worn out. Either way the service ends with keys in your hand that turn the original lock, and a spare made while the case is on the bench.
How the visit goesYou bought a house with its original hardware and a bag of loose keys. Some open interior doors, some fit nothing, and the front door lock has a keyhole shaped for a key you do not have. You would like the original lock kept and made to work.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service · Six Points
How the visit goes
- 1
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.
- 2
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.
- 3
Watching the door through the seasons
The lock is aligned to the door as it hangs today, and a solid wood door in an older home will move again. Through a humid summer it swells, through the heating season it shrinks, and each year the hinges settle a fraction. Twice a year, close the door and try the latch and bolt; if either has started to scrape or needs the door lifted, the strike wants a small adjustment or the hinge screws want snugging, which is a five-minute job. Doing that early keeps the rebuilt case from being strained, and it is the single habit that makes a vintage lock last another few decades without fuss.
In the van
- Reproduction mortise case
- Deadbolt lever springs
- Warding files
- Cylinder set screw
- Mortise cylinder and cam
What affects the quote
- 1
Extras you choose on the day
A high-security cylinder, a lockbox for a spare bit key or a separate modern deadbolt above the original are optional additions. None is required to make the old lock work, and each is priced as its own line.
- 2
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.
- 3
Travel and access
Distance to the property and how easy it is to work at the door, on a busy entry or a third-floor walk-up, are part of any call-out and are stated when the visit is booked.
Same fees day, night or weekend.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service: questions
Which parts usually need replacing?
Springs, first and foremost: the latch spring, the hub spring that returns the knob, and the small springs on the deadbolt levers. After that, the spindle and knob set screws, a hub whose square has worn round, a worn deadbolt lever or follower, and on later locks the cylinder set screw or the cylinder itself. Bolts, cases and trim are almost always kept, cleaned and refitted rather than replaced.
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.
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.
Vintage Mortise Lock Service near you
Toronto, Ontario
Six Points information
- Town
- Six Points, Toronto, Ontario
- In business
- 16 years
- Hours
- Open 24/7 · nights, weekends and holidays, same fees
- Phone
- (289) 804-7704
- Visits
- On-site assessment preferred. Request a visit or call.
What the census means at the door
58%
Older homes. About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
Where most homes were built decades ago, doors often still carry their original mortise locks and brass knobs. That hardware can usually be cleaned, re-sprung and kept in service, with a modern deadbolt added above it for strength without losing the look.
23%
Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).
In a building, a lockout happens in a hallway rather than a porch, and the neighbours notice. A locksmith confirms you belong to the suite, opens the door with the least fuss the lock allows, and leaves the door and cylinder intact for the night.
Nearby
Open 24/7
Request a visit
The key turns freely in the round cylinder on the door, all the way around and back, without the bolt shifting at all.
Call now · open 24/7(289) 804-7704- On-site assessment preferred
- Same fees day, night or weekend
- 16 years in business