Why use mortise lock

A common question in our industry is whether to use mortise locks or cylindrical locks on the doors within their facility. This should get you up to speed on the basics. Now that you have that out of the way, we can get down to the good stuff.

With a mortise lock, you have more functions available than you would if you went with a cylindrical lock. If options are something that are important to you, you want to stick with the mortise lock. A mortise lock is sturdier than a cylindrical lock.

Many people will argue this point, but typically they overlook a very important component—the door itself. A wooden door has to have so much cut out of it to accommodate the mortise lock, the door can split if too much pressure is applied say from a kick or a shove and the door will break open. If you need a door that has a lock with a separate deadbolt and latch, only a mortise lock will work. Mortise locks can function in multiple, enigmatic ways. Entrance, classroom, classroom security, office, passage, and storeroom functions are most common for schools and hospitals, however, there are myriad other operations available for locking and unlocking doors.

Mortise lock cutouts may weaken the structure of the door— yet mortise locks are mysteriously stronger than bored cylindrical locks! They give more leverage and last longer than cylindrical locks, and their versatility allows more architectural conformity to existing security hardware.

Mortise locks found on older buildings are typically operated with a skeleton key. Previous Post. Grid Back to all Posts. Next Post. Timing a Lock Do you have a door handle in your commercial building that you are always struggling to lock and unlock? The mortise is an accumulation of many different pieces that must be placed into a pocket also known as a mortise in the door. A preassembled lock will also fit into a notch in the door, but a mortise must be assembled around the pocket.

The parts of the lock are:. By looking at the bolt work inside of the lock body, you can see that the mechanisms are larger. And by simply holding the parts you can feel their weight. The size and weight allow the lock to withstand more use. There will be two holes in the lock body. One is for the spindle and the other is for the cylinder. These holes will be different sizes the larger most often being for the cylinder.

The body will be placed into a pocket that has been cut into the door. Then the cylinder will thread into the lock body, through the door, and the knobs will thread onto the spindle. The spindle will have been fit through the door and lock body before the knobs are threaded. Turning the key in the cylinder will rotate a cam on the back of the cylinder and unlock the latch.

From here the handle or knob will retract the latch, or in some cases the key will need to be used to fully retract the latch, and the handle will exist only to retract the unlocked latch. Because these locks are often antiques it is very important to know how to service them and find out if they do have some flaw.

Often these locks are found in older homes with quite a bit of rust. To give these locks a second life you can remove the rust, clean the bolt work, and polish the metal. As discussed above, the mortise lock can be disassembled separating the handles from the bolt work, and the bolt work from the lock cylinder. The oxidized solution rust can prevent mechanisms in the lock from functioning smoothly, even stopping them from functioning at all.

So to remove it there are several things you can do. You can use vinegar, store bought polish, and electrolysis. Then leave the container sit for about a day. The metal should appear to be visibly bubbling, and this indicates that the process is working. What is happening chemically is that that acidic vinegar acetic acid is reacting with the rust. I will not bore you with the formula, but the end product is a solution of water and iron three acetate, which is water soluble it dissolves in water.