Old Keyhole Locks

[gort32]

A couple of hte interior doors in my parent's house came from an old church and have the old style of locks with the keyhole that you can peer through. They have never had the keys for these locks but they have no reason to assume that the locks aren't still functional.

Does anyone have any information about these locks? Diagrams and/or methods/tools required for picking and just analyzing these locks?

[gort32]

By the looks of it, these may be the same as the level locks described here:
viewtopic.php?t=10743

My parent's place is over an hour away so I'd like to do the research beforehand and hopefully know what I am doing before I get there so I am just trying to get any information that I can now.

[MacGyver101]

From your description, I'd guess that the locks are likely warded locks, rather than lever locks. This thread will give you lots of info on them:

viewtopic.php?t=7620

If you're interested in making a new key, there's a post part-way down that thread titled "Impressioning" that will give you the info you need.

[freakparade3]

That may be what they have. There is also a chance they may simply be warded locks with no levers, meaning their are wards or little areas that block a key from turning. Either way they are likely pretty simple to work with. Take pictures!! We love pictures of old locks.

freakparade3

[cheesehead]

If you live in the U.S. , you might just try going down to the nearest home depot. You can buy a set of two skeleton keys that will work on many if not most warded locks of that style and vintage. I have an old house with warded locks on the interior doors. A while back I decieded to clean them up (since they had been painted over countless times in the past 90 years...) - I spent something like a $1.75 at home depot, for the set of keys. They work like a charm. Of course, I'm not discouraging any attempts to opperate them via home brew methods! That's where the fun lies!

[gort32]

Oh, the locks on these doors are basically useless - all interior doors (bedrooms, etc). This is indeed purely for fun!

If I can get my hands on a digital camera I might even take some pics