One of the most challenging jobs a professional locksmith will encounter is installing a full mortise lock. While talking with one of my mentor’s who fought in WWII, I was told the full mortise lock was a very common lock in the prewar era. The whole lock with solid brass handles could be purchased for about $36.00. And the lock was built to last, possibly forever if maintained correctly. I’m sure the labor to install these locks was a small fraction of what it cost today. However, a gallon of gas was less than 25 cents and a loaf of bread cost about a nickel. So all things need to be kept in perspective.
Mortise means the whole lock fits into a cavity cut into the door. The idea was to conceal the deadbolt and latch mechanisms while only showing off the beautiful decorative handle-set on the entry way of a home. Even today the front door is often the homes presentation (or first impression) to the neighborhood and sets the theme for what the decor might be inside.
Not all locksmiths are created equal. About 10 years ago I was called to a home to see if I could correct another locksmiths attempt at a mortise lock installation. When I arrived the handle-set was on an angle, as opposed to vertical and parallel to the door frame. I installed the lock so it would function as intended, but I could not cover some of the holes drilled through the door. Since the door was brand new and the door company provided the locksmith to install the mortise lock, the customer demanded a new door. The point is the locksmith was questioned by the customer, “have you ever installed this kind of lock before?” The locksmiths response was, “of course, I have installed many of these locks before.” Obviously the locksmith forgot the procedure or he might have been lying.
Any locksmith who has installed a mortise lock before should be referred by reputation, have photographic proof of his or her work, or be able to show the customer the specialized tools they have purchased to insure an accurate and competent job. In other words, don’t hire a locksmith on the fly to do such an intricate time consuming task.
The following is a small sampling of mortise locks I have installed on “virgin” doors, or doors with no existing holes. I have worked on many mahogany or special order doors where the installer only gets one chance to do a perfect job. Some doors were metal, these were especially time consuming. Metal residential doors must have a wood core to install the lock in. Commercial metal doors are usually prefabricated to accept a mortise lock. Only the cylinder and handle holes have to be drilled through. Another time consuming mortise lock installation are double-doors. These doors have an active door which gets the working hardware, and an inactive door which gets “dummy” hardware. The challenge of these doors is to get the dummy hardware level and symmetrical to the active hardware. These types of installations are especially stressful and time consuming. Everything must look balanced from the street to when a visitor is close enough to push the door bell button.
The next set of photos are of two mortise locks I recently installed this year. You may notice the door looks different from one photo to the next. That is simply because I forgot to photograph a procedure on the first door and was getting the images I needed from the second door.
