Newbie, old locks, fix and restore? Intro

[david mccullough]

Aloha all,

Posted this in the newbie intro area and the moderator also suggested I re post here.

I found you after I googled my Dad's Sargent & Greenleaf padlock 8088 that I knew the combination for but had forgotten the turn sequence. Thanks for a great forum.

Then I remembered that I have a bunch (over 20, have not counted in awhile) of very old locks. Some probably from the late 1800's and from the early 1900's. I live on my family Ranch about 2 1/2 hours North of San Francisco and we bought the ranch (about 150 acres) in 1963. I started living here full time last November. Till I got onto the site I never thought about actually opening and bringing these great old locks back to live. Most are key locks (please forgive my lack of proper terminology at this point) with no key attached. However, all the locks are in a big round cookie tin and there are literally hundreds of keys mixed in with them. No pictures yet but if anyone is interested I will take photos.

My idea is to fix one at a time and then display them or maybe even use them indoors? I am open to being educated and taught folks. I will read more newbie information soon. I am an Emergency Room RN and volunteer firefighter so I need to get ready to leave for work in the early a.m.

First lock I would love information on or know where to look is a combination padlock, brass (?), front of the dial says: Junkunk Bros. Mfrs. Chicago, Ill. Pat'd Oct 9, 1912 Others pending. On the back: F (at the top), then 4494. Below that someone scratched into the metal by hand: 865.

Apologies if this is an overly long first post. Other locks to whet your interest: New Champion 6-lever, Reese Secure Lever (with 2 keys!), Padlock in shape of a horseshoe that stays Good Luck on the bottom half, pat'd June 24, 1879 with a capitol H stamped on the right bottom of the hasp, an Imperial round lock that looks riveted together with a very small flat hasp (hope I have the terminology correct!) and for a total of about 30 old locks.

Just thought of something - if there is an antique lock site - point me that way. Thanks again to all who read this. Thank you very much, David

[thelockpickkid]

Wow, this is really neat, if you get time can you post pictures! This would be a great hobby, fix these locks up and get them looking really good, and then learn how to pick them.

[raimundo]

I believe there are a couple of sites, oldlocks.com or antiquelocks, In any case old and antique are the proper search terms on google.

YES, we definately want to see some pictures, if you have a digital camera, perhaps you could put it on close up and shoot perhaps four locks at a frame and shoot from an angle that can clearly see the side of the lock with the logo and the keyhole in the same shot, the easiest lighting would be in shade under sunny sky, do not put in the sun as this will darken shadows and perhaps have glinting highlights.