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How I Solved It
MPLs should never be installed on real wood doors,
says Matt Raw, owner of Locksmiths of Knutsford.
»»Matt, whose story featured in
the November-December 2014 issue of
The Locksmith journal, tells us why he has
come to this conclusion after tackling one
particularly challenging job – among the
many he takes on.
Every once in a while, a job comes along
that makes you stand scratching your head
thinking ‘this one may prove to be rather
disagreeable’ or words of other similar
,
meaning. It is indeed a long-standing joke
with my suppliers that I seem to get all
the oddball and unusual jobs, and with
an unfortunate degree of regularity. In
many cases, it is a question of trying to
find obscure or obsolete parts so as to be
able to effect a repair, rather than replace a
door (or leave it looking untidy).
When one considers the bizarre,
strange, weird, and ridiculous locks
and mechanisms that I’ve encountered
over the last few years in this affluent
neighbourhood, my most recent problem
job proved far more vexing than all the
others put together. Perhaps this was
because it wasn’t just a question of
palming the problem off onto one of my
long-suffering suppliers, saying ‘can you
find one of these before tomorrow for
me?’ Far from it; this was a lock that had
decided to quit on its perturbed owner
whilst in the locked position.
I arrived at the scene on a soggy and
cold December morning, just before
Christmas. Having been told on the
phone that the front door was locked and
wouldn’t open, I walked around to the
back door and knocked. My client invited
me in, showing me to the inside of a solid
wooden door. The door was in a very
narrow frame, flanked by two solid brick
walls and no windows on either side.
Then my eye caught sight of the door
handle… the euro cylinder… then ‘oh
bother! Someone’s stuck an MPL in a solid
wooden door!’ Many of you will likely be
aware of the problems that can occur as
wood swells and contracts, frequently
crushing poorly fitted mortise locks. MPL
in wood is altogether more finicky.
Indeed, the key turned, but the handles
just wouldn’t budge. The gap between the
edge of the door and the frame was less
than 2mm, and the hinge pins couldn’t
be removed. In situations such as this,
snapping the lock generally serves no
useful purpose as we have already proved
that the fault lies within the gearbox.
Occasionally, it does allow for a broken
piece of the gearbox to fall down, thus
unjamming the mechanism, but in
this instance, I wasn’t able to feel any
obstruction in that area of the lock.
It should be noted that the proud owner
of this ‘problem’ had only just had the door
tailor- made but a year- and- a- half ago. It
had cost a fortune, and he was most insistent
that no damage be caused to the door.
So how do you get past such an
issue when dealing with a four- hook
mechanism in a solid wooden door with
no play to be able to wedge and airbag
locksmithjournal.co.uk | mar/apr 2015
Sponsored by STANLEY Security
it?! Well, sitting on the floor caressing a
cup of tea is usually a good way to start! I
had tried banging the hooks up using my
wedge, but it just dented the wedge. The
gap between door and frame was much
too narrow to get a screwdriver through;
and then the imaginary light bulb
appeared above my head. I keep a steel
bar in the van. It’s about 3mm thick, an
inch wide, and a meter long (they usually
sell them in B&Q at the end of the locks/
nuts and bolts aisle). Using my wedge
to pry open the gap slightly between the
door and frame, I was able to slide this
bar in, just below the top hook. I tried in
vain to clout it as hard as possible with
my hammer in the hope that the hooks
would retract, yet even with this force, the
gearbox refused to give.
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