Older cylinder locks

[Jim Palmer]

Recently I acquired several older cylinder locks without keys at an antiques store for practice purposes. Several opened readily without much effort. But a few proved especially stubborn, especially the Corbin-Russwins. I'm wondering if the disparity might result from the fact that several of the locks appeared to have been removed from the doors with a crowbar. Could this have damaged the pins? I tried a little powdered graphite, but this didn't help too much. Are these older locks much different from the ones being manufactured now? Picking them feels similar. A couple of them are larger, as if they were designed for a school or office building. When I say old I'm thinking most of these locks were from about 1940-1960. Any suggestions welcomed.

[cheesehead]

any pics available? You may want to try flushing them out with a teflon or silicone spray. If they haven't been used in years (or maintained) they may have excess derbis build up, and graphite powder would only add to the problem. of course, they could be damaged if they were removed with brute force

[Squelchtone]

Recently I acquired several older cylinder locks without keys at an antiques store for practice purposes. Several opened readily without much effort. But a few proved especially stubborn, especially the Corbin-Russwins. I'm wondering if the disparity might result from the fact that several of the locks appeared to have been removed from the doors with a crowbar. Could this have damaged the pins? I tried a little powdered graphite, but this didn't help too much. Are these older locks much different from the ones being manufactured now? Picking them feels similar. A couple of them are larger, as if they were designed for a school or office building. When I say old I'm thinking most of these locks were from about 1940-1960. Any suggestions welcomed.

If they are the Corbin "Jumbo" cylinders which use the Master Ring Cylinder principle, they are in fact more difficult to pick. Not impossible mind you, but they will be harder than a 1950's Segal rim cylinder, etc.

good pics can be found here: http://ericschmiedl.com/locks/index4.html

got any pics? I'd like to compare to the ones in my collection.

Squelchtone

[Shib]

My school uses Corbin locks.. I've got a few keys kicking around here and they look pretty secure (most have 7 pins).

[Wolf2486]

Corbin-Russwins have given me a lot of problems in the past. They have ball bearings in the pin stacks that can make picking them feel awkward. I have a feeler pick with a round notch in the tip, it really helped with those ball bearings in the stack.