Pull up a chair, grab a cold one, and talk about life as a locksmith. Trade stories of good and bad customers, general work day frustrations, any fun projects you worked on recently, or anything else you want to chat about with fellow locksmiths.
Confederate wrote:Eh, money and time is important I guess. I used to not have an iPhone or OneDrive and never bothered to move pictures between phones or back them up. I did a killer dutchman repair on a door years ago. I wish I got to do more stuff like that. There's a guy in Atlanta and his business niche is literally antique and high dollar doors/door hardware. I think I'll get into that business when I retire - something to keep me busy a couple days a week.
Two of my favorite tools are my rafter square and plunge router. I wish I got to use them more.
I wish I had a shop to do this kind of work, but I do not see much in our small town for this. The first door could have used this technique, but the owner was on a budget as they were selling the house. And you can see by the carving on the door why they wanted to save the door.
Atlanta is no Boston but we do have a lot of late 19th, early 20th century homes with very ornate and quality doors. That's one of things I miss the most about being out on the road. I don't get to work on those doors anymore. My favorites were renovations - the foremen always had carpenters backgrounds and they would always want to chat with me anytime I broke out the chisel and hammer. I'd always pick their brain. I once saw a locksmith that did similar work on high-end residential doors and he would always use painters tape and make the marks on the tape and not the door. Probably one of my favorite techniques.
I also enjoy learning new ways to use a combination square. Some folks are pretty crafty with them.
I'm off all week on vacation and I'm already missing work. I've got 4 days left.
Woodworking was a hobby I never got into. But I finally may get to build a shop next year and start playing. I am a pretty decent "Handyman" but have just never had the work space to do anything fun. Just home repairs and a kitchen and bath remodel.
shutterstuff wrote:There are times when wraps have their place. A homeowner was putting a rental house on the market and the old doorknob was trashed by the previous renter:
I would have kept the original lock because it fits soo much better on that door from an aesthetic point of view. Where as the new lock doesn't really seem to belong.
DangerDane wrote:I would have kept the original lock because it fits soo much better on that door from an aesthetic point of view. Where as the new lock doesn't really seem to belong.
I agree with you, but the original lock was broken beyond repair. The metal face plate was in three pieces, hence the duct tape the renter used to hold it together. The knobs backset was also bent and not working correctly. The homeowner was putting the house on the market for sale and wanted the least expensive option. This is what I came up with.
DangerDane wrote:I would have kept the original lock because it fits soo much better on that door from an aesthetic point of view. Where as the new lock doesn't really seem to belong.
I agree with you, but the original lock was broken beyond repair. The metal face plate was in three pieces, hence the duct tape the renter used to hold it together. The knobs backset was also bent and not working correctly. The homeowner was putting the house on the market for sale and wanted the least expensive option. This is what I came up with.
That's a shame. God only knows how the renters managed that . Not sure I want to know.
That tall ship carved door must have been a popular choice in the sixties. I've scabbed in a dry rot repair on that exact same style.
DangerDane wrote:I would have kept the original lock because it fits soo much better on that door from an aesthetic point of view. Where as the new lock doesn't really seem to belong.
I agree with you, but the original lock was broken beyond repair. The metal face plate was in three pieces, hence the duct tape the renter used to hold it together. The knobs backset was also bent and not working correctly. The homeowner was putting the house on the market for sale and wanted the least expensive option. This is what I came up with.
That's a shame. God only knows how the renters managed that . Not sure I want to know.
That tall ship carved door must have been a popular choice in the sixties. I've scabbed in a dry rot repair on that exact same style.
I had a door last week, with an old credit card hotel mortise lock and it wasn't a big deal to refit it with 2 don jo push plates in oil rubbed bronze, deepen the mortise channel and install a don jo mortise cover plate with cutout, re-drilling the cross bore hole with a new hole saw and mounting a new kwikset passage lock on. My competition quoted $750, I charged $350 & it took me an hour to bring all the tools I needed to the door, remove the old lock, install the new one and repack the van.
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Eh, money and time is important I guess. I used to not have an iPhone or OneDrive and never bothered to move pictures between phones or back them up. I did a killer dutchman repair on a door years ago. I wish I got to do more stuff like that. There's a guy in Atlanta and his business niche is literally antique and high dollar doors/door hardware. I think I'll get into that business when I retire - something to keep me busy a couple days a week.
Two of my favorite tools are my rafter square and plunge router. I wish I got to use them more.
Nice job on that! If a door is painted I can usually put wood patches/plugs in to fill holes. If it's just stained and varnished, not so much.
If you have to put a tubular lock in in place of a unit lock or a Medeco Ultra 700, you're confronted with a square chunk just gone from the door! If it's varnished rather than painted, a wraparound plate is about all you can do.
I have seen work done on varnished doors by a specialist that were unbelievable. He would match grains, or if unable to match he would faux finish. He could even match old varnish, the guy was an artist and commanded big dollars for his expertise. That was his only specialty, fixing damaged doors.
There is a locksmith in Florida who does some repair work on wooden doors--filling in miss-drilled or unneeded holes is something that shows up on his site every now and then. He uses large wooden plugs and a router template: http://www.gaterslocksmith.com/blog/page/3/, scroll down to the December 1, 2013 entry.
. Not sure I want to know. 
