The Anatomy of a 100-Year-Old Lock Box: A Step-by-Step Guide to Repairing an Antique Deadbolt

As a homeowner, there's nothing quite like discovering an old lock box that's been sitting idle for decades. In this article, we'll take a closer look at the intricacies of a 100-year-old lock box and provide a step-by-step guide on how to repair it.

Nathan and Chloe, two diligent homeowners, recently discovered that their antique deadbolt was in need of repair. The lock had been sitting idle for months, and they were determined to fix it themselves rather than replacing the entire door. After running into some trouble, they decided to take matters into their own hands and replace only the lock.

The first step in repairing the lock was to remove the green tape that covered the deadbolt. Once the tape was removed, they began by examining the lock box itself. It was clear that the lock had been damaged at some point in its history, resulting in a hole that was not receiving screws properly. The homeowners decided to use wood filler to repair this issue.

Next, Nathan carefully disassembled the lock box to access the inner workings of the mechanism. He began by removing the set screw that held the lock box together. As he removed the screw, he noticed that there were fine threads on the cylinder that required a bit of play to get lined up properly. To achieve this, Nathan threaded the cylinder in by hand while tightening it slowly.

Once the cylinder was properly aligned, Nathan replaced the damaged components with new ones. He carefully pressed the new cylinder into place and tightened the set screw to secure it. The final step was to add some lubrication to the moving parts of the lock box using white lithium grease.

To finish off the repair, Nathan applied a small amount of glue to the back of the new cylinder and set it in place. He then replaced the deadbolt cover and added a few dabs of glue to secure it in position. Finally, he tightened up the set screw one last time to ensure that everything was properly aligned.

The final result was nothing short of amazing. The lock box looked almost brand new again, and the homeowners were thrilled with their handiwork. They had successfully repaired an antique deadbolt without replacing the entire door, preserving the charm of their old house in the process.

White Lithium Grease: The Secret to Smooth Operation

When it comes to lubricating moving parts, white lithium grease is often the go-to choice for homeowners and DIY enthusiasts alike. In this article, we'll take a closer look at why white lithium grease is the best option for keeping your locks running smoothly.

The Importance of Play in Locks

One of the most crucial aspects of lock repair is achieving the right amount of "play" between moving parts. Too little play can result in a stiff lock that's difficult to use, while too much play can lead to misalignment and damage to the lock box itself.

In the case of Nathan's antique deadbolt, he carefully threaded the cylinder into place to achieve the perfect amount of play. This ensured that the lock would operate smoothly and quietly, without any jerky movements or sticking points.

The Significance of Fine Threads

Fine threads on a lock cylinder are essential for achieving the right amount of play. If the threads are too coarse, they can create friction and make it difficult to thread the cylinder in properly. In Nathan's case, the fine threads on his lock cylinder required a bit of finesse to get lined up correctly.

Using the Right Tools for the Job

When it comes to repairing old locks, having the right tools is essential. In this article, we'll take a closer look at some of the most important tools that you should have in your toolkit.

The Importance of Lubrication

Lubrication is an often-overlooked aspect of lock repair. However, without proper lubrication, moving parts can become stiff and difficult to use. White lithium grease is a great option for lubricating locks because it's non-stick and won't attract dirt or dust.

Using the Right Materials

When it comes to repairing old locks, it's essential to use the right materials for the job. In this article, we'll take a closer look at some of the most important materials that you should use when repairing an antique deadbolt.

Conclusion

Repairing an antique deadbolt can be a daunting task, but with the right tools and knowledge, it's definitely possible. By following these steps and using the right materials, homeowners can restore their old locks to working order without replacing the entire door. Whether you're a seasoned DIY enthusiast or a beginner, this article has provided you with a comprehensive guide on how to repair an antique deadbolt.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhi Nathan come on in hey Chloe this has got to be the lock that you wrote me about it sure is so we just bought the house a few months ago and like diligent homeowners we wanted to replace the keys and the locks when we moved in but we ran into some trouble okay so number one is that we don't actually have a key for this deadbolt okay um and so in order to open it we have to twist this dead bolt and pull it open the dead Bol down here doesn't work which is why we have the tape right here and the door knob spins okay all right we've gotten some quotes to try to fix it and everyone told us to replace the whole door which cost thousands and thousands of dollars we're just looking to try to replace the lock and keep that antique charm um and save some money too well we can absolutely do that there's no reason to swap out the whole door this is a beautiful exterior full morar lock set it's got the perfect patina to it and surprisingly just a few hand tools and some knowledge can get this thing tightened up awesome let me get some tools and we'll get started great we're going to remove this green tape all right so we can work our way from the top down first I back off the set screw holding in the cylinder then I remove the thumb turn next I remove the cylinder itself after that I take off the door knob and finally I can remove the lock box all right so as you can see there are a lot of parts and pieces so two things I like to do with any project like this is have some bins lots of screws lots of little pieces keep those organized but also I like to take my phone out and take pictures of things as I work along so when we open up this lock box I'm actually going to take a picture of it before we touch anything so we know how it goes back together that makes sense so to dive into it let's go into the anatomy of what we have um and to do that I actually need to remove these two set screws so that way I can open up the lock box only need to remove this one move this screw so we take this screw out here the screw out and then you open this up and you can see the inside of the lock box so this is the time you take the picture so cool okay all right so now we can go over the anatomy of it starting at the top we have the place where the set screws came in uh one of them is retaining this turn uh thumb turn cam up top the other one was keeping the cylinder in place the one we just backed out coming down further we have the dead bolt and then we have the strike this is actually reversible if you ever change the swing of your door you can swap this down here you have the push buttons that engage and disengage the outside thumb light latch this thing really is incredible it actually looks really good for 100 years old if you think about the engineering that went into this and how it stood the test of time and how you can still get parts and pieces for it it's pretty cool so to dive into it to find out what's wrong first thing I'm seeing up top is your thumb turn cam is actually starting to open up a little bit it's turning into a circle we want that to be a nice tight Square pulling it out I also noticed that there's a tab missing it should have one on both sides to hold itself in so this is something we definitely want to swap out if we can get it gotcha going down further the dead bolt looks fine we talked about the reversible latch that's fine um it could definitely stand to get lubricated in grease but we'll do that later your cylinder looks to have a piece of key stuck in it not all the way through but there's definitely some some some buildup inside there and what's nice is we could swap this out and have it keyed the same as your dead bolt up top so you only have one key that would make my life way easier so we'll swap that out too and the last thing I saw when I was pulling it off because it wasn't there is there's no set screw in your knob so luckily I have a set screw with me that can repair that these can be a little bit trickier but I know a great local place that I can go to to check in with him and see if he has them we need the new thumb turn cam which is tough but he should have it I'm going to go see if he has everything I'll be right back great Nathan welcome back I hope you have some good news for me I do here's that set screw that I already had and also here is the thumb turn cam this is the new one and this does not have the tabs on the back they don't make it that way anymore is that going to be a problem not too bad so we're going to press fit that we're going to tighten tighten up the set screw and then also I'm going to do a couple dabs of adhesive on the back and that's going to lock it into place and also down the road if someone did need to swap it out they could take it out and here is your new cylinder keyed like your dead bolt awesome nice so first repair obviously set this into place while we have it on the table so I'm just going to press that right in and then I will tighten up this set screw to lock it into place and the last thing I want to do before we close this back up is give everything some lubrication and they recommend white lithium grease so any moving Parts anything that c cause friction any Springs we just want to hit that with some grease then we'll close this up turn it over and we'll do the glue on the back to really lock this in awesome oh you want to grab that grease sure all right so this stuff can go all over so we're going to use the little nozzle in there so this hasn't seen any grease in about a 100 years so we want to be pretty liberal with this you can see here that there's going to be some friction near the slide so I'll put a little bit there over here where the toggles are I'm going to put a little bit where that comes back and forth here on the spring We'll add a little bit there we'll rub that right in on the dead bolt we have the spring here that is going to slide back and forth we'll put a little bit there and and then there's actually a lot of moving parts right inside here so we'll add some there and then I'm going to put this cover back on because if I flip this over right now all these little parts and pieces are going to want to fall out so we want to keep those in place after I flip it over I'll put the glue on the back the new cylinder and the set screw can get fixed over at the door okay good fit so I'm just going to do two dabs one there one there we'll let those dry before we install it all right so the final touchup before reinstall the lock set is this hole right here you can see that it's kind of hogged out over here and it's not really receiving the screws well they came out practically fell out when I was pulling it apart so I'm going to use a little bit of wood filler we're going to repair it pre-drill for the screws and once that's dry then we'll reassemble everything all right so we have that filled in we have the lock box in it's not screwed in yet I want to it to move around a little bit because where I like to start is actually by threading in the cylinder and this has really fine threads on it and sometimes you need a little bit of play to get that lined up but you want to go nice and slow and thread it in by hand what we do is we tighten that all the way up and then there's a little notch in this like there was on the other side so we are going to tighten up this set screw and it's going to fill that void and keep this from spinning after we have it lined up just right okay that's nice and tight let's come to the backside and we'll put the thumb turn in so we'll set this into that hole all right let's try the key that's awesome nice thank you so much Nathan I'm so excited to have a usable front door you're welcome it's awesome that we've been able to keep the charm to all the pieces and a whole lot safer too thank you you're welcome thanks for watching this old house has got a video for just about every Home Improvement project so be sure 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