http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Extracting a bolt/lock mechanism from a timber door en Sat, 27 Jun 2026 07:35:17 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375971 Tue, 30 Jul 2024 07:20:16 +0000 gembo 375971@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>My dad used to use Araldite to repair golf club plastic inserts on wooden drivers. A skill no longer required. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375970 Tue, 30 Jul 2024 00:02:48 +0000 ejstubbs 375970@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><strong>@neddie</strong>: "Epoxy resin just colloquial for PVA glue, no?"</p> <p>Er, no. They are totally different substances.</p> <p>PVA is the abbreviation for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polyvinyl_acetate">Polyvinyl Acetate</a>. For use as an adhesive it is dispersed in water to form the familiar white liquid which is used directly from the bottle. It is available in available in various different formulations/strengths e.g. Evo-Stik Resin W wood glue, both <a href="https://diy.evo-stik.co.uk/sites/diy_evostik_uk/files/2024-06/diy-evo-stik-uk-wood-glue-interior-TDS00357.pdf">interior</a> and <a href="https://diy.evo-stik.co.uk/sites/diy_evostik_uk/files/2024-06/diy-evo-stik-uk-wood-glue-exterior-TDS00154.pdf">exterior</a> versions, and "school glue" (which I believe is a brand name in the US but a generic term over here) which is a less robust formulation intended for kiddies sticking things into books or on to collages and the like (hence the name).</p> <p>Epoxy resins are two-pack adhesives consisting of a resin and a hardener which must be mixed together to start the curing process. My Mum used to tear her hair out at students who complained that the Araldite (probably the best known brand) that they were advised to use for various practical exercises "didn't work" - because <em>they hadn't read the instructions</em>. Epoxy resins are available in different versions, mainly differing in the speed at which they reach full strength and how strong the resulting joint actually is. Epoxy putties are also available, which are intended primarily as fillers or for creating special shapes of robust material. Epoxy resin wood hardeners, <a href="https://www.makewoodgood.co.uk/product/wood-hardener-penetrating-epoxy/">such as this one</a> (note the two tins), are formulated to be quite runny when first mixed, so as to be able to penetrate the wood to stabilise the weakened areas.</p> <p>The single-pack wood hardeners typically consist of an acrylic plastic dissolved in a volatile solvent. When the product is applied to the wood, the solvent evaporates to leave just the plastic. (Think of how liquid polystyrene cement glues bits of Airfix kit together by dissolving the plastic at the joint and then evaporating to leave the parts 'welded' together. Polystyrene isn't an acrylic, but the basic principle is more or less the same.) </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375961 Mon, 29 Jul 2024 07:44:11 +0000 gembo 375961@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@neddie, you could be on to something there. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375958 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 21:14:39 +0000 neddie 375958@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Epoxy resin just colloquial for PVA glue, no? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375956 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 20:32:53 +0000 gembo 375956@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks @ ejstubbs. My friend says there is a thinnr type of hardener that is more watery then there is an epoxy resin </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375951 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 15:38:41 +0000 ejstubbs 375951@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Varnish is a cosmetic &amp; protective finish for wood which to a greater or lesser extent allows the colours of the underlying wood to show through - in contrast to paint which covers it all up.</p> <p>Wood filler is for filling holes and gaps in wood - most recently deployed in casa stubbs to repair an internal door lock (hey look, back on topic!) for which one of the mounting screws had lost its head. The screw was too skinny to cut a slot in its head so I had to excavate around it in order to get sufficient grip with a pair of thin-nosed pliers to be able to unscrew the thing. I then filled the resulting hole with wood filler, let it cure and then drilled a new hole for a new screw, et voila.</p> <p>I think a more common use for wood filler is to fill cosmetic holes &amp; gaps, because once cured it can be sanded and painted/varnished so that the repair ends up looking pretty much the same as the surrounding woodwork. I think that's one of the reasons why some wood fillers are available in different shades: so that it can be matched reasonably closely to the surrounding wood for cosmetic repairs that aren't going to be painted. Basically, it is a filler that once cured behaves sufficiently similarly to the surrounding wood to be dealt with using the same kinds of tools &amp; fixings, as opposed to things like polyfilla and caulk which can behave differently when cut or sanded and so not make as clean a repair.</p> <p>AFAIK wood hardener is usually intended to, er...harden i.e. make more robust wood that has become softened through getting wet and/or starting to rot. Wood with an isolated patch of water damage can often be repaired by cutting away the obviously unrepairable areas, applying hardener to stabilise the stuff around the 'wounds', filling the gaps, and restoring the cosmetic finish once the filler has cured. I treated the rotten corner of an outside doorframe that way once and it was fine for the next few years, until we replaced the whole door with a new uPVC framed one.</p> <p>Wood resin I've never heard of, apart from the stuff that seeps out of pine trees. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375948 Sun, 28 Jul 2024 09:22:01 +0000 gembo 375948@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>What is the difference between wood hardener, wood filller, wood resin, varnish etc Asking for a friend </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375929 Fri, 26 Jul 2024 20:48:27 +0000 gembo 375929@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Just in time </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375928 Fri, 26 Jul 2024 18:57:49 +0000 MrSRD 375928@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Mortice locks have been successfully chiselled from two doors. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375891 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 21:59:26 +0000 MrSRD 375891@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>No, I don't have a key. There are several mortice locks in the flat (internal and external doors) for which there don't appear to be any keys.</p> <p>I suspect it will come to chiseling ... </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375890 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 21:48:32 +0000 Dave 375890@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Otherwise I'd take a chisel, gently tap it behind top and bottom and lever on it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375889 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 21:47:20 +0000 Dave 375889@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Do you have the key? If you lock it the bolt will be easy to grab with pliers, and depending on whether you want to reuse it you could potentially hammer on it a bit up and downwards to free the casing </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375888 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:54:19 +0000 gembo 375888@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Yes both GT85 and WD40 are similar lubricants </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375887 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:52:40 +0000 MrSRD 375887@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Thanks. I took the thin (metal) plate out and can't see any other screws. But the mortice lock shows no sign of wanting to wiggle out. I'm reluctant to exert too much leverage and risk damaging the door.</p> <p>Is GT85 similar to WD40?</p> <p>Thanks again for the suggestions. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375886 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 20:33:18 +0000 Morningsider 375886@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>When confronted with recalcitrant hardware like this I tend to scoot a bit of GT85 (or similar light lubricant) into every available gap and then leave it a few minutes - often helps loosen things up.</p> <p>Also worth checking that paint hasn't seeped through the keyhole or door handle hole onto the lock mechanism, which could be gumming things up. A quick scrape with a pointy tool, a bradawl or similar, can help loosen up any such blockages. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375884 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 19:50:35 +0000 gembo 375884@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Not sure why I cant open the Cloud.</p> <p>A Morticed bolt usually has a thin plate, might be plastic might be metal that isn’t attached to the actual lock. This detaches first then the whole thing generally wiggles out like a sort of cartridge. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375883 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 19:35:02 +0000 bakky 375883@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>For levering out, I prefer either using a (spare / old / sacrificial) handle 'axle' (the square rod that was connecting the door handles to the mechanism) and then tapping the side of that with a hammer, towards the end of the door (i.e. where you want it to pop out of). That will at least get it started, though you may find in the process you need to widen the hole.</p> <p>Once it's started moving, you can take the rod out, and should be able to lever the lock free of the door by getting something down the back of the top or bottom wing as it emerges. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375882 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 19:31:33 +0000 Dave 375882@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>All the mortice locks I have experience of are just screwed in on the edge of the door (the holes you can see top and bottom of the metal plate) so it would be a case of levering it out somehow </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=21580#post-375881 Tue, 23 Jul 2024 18:53:03 +0000 MrSRD 375881@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Dear CCE DIY Hivemind,</p> <p>Ok so I'm dealing with a second door, and this time I got all the hardware off until I reached the sort of bolt/lock mechanism (see below):</p> <p><a href="https://share.icloud.com/photos/0aelUMPn8II9tY4vrGEW5jnxg" rel="nofollow">https://share.icloud.com/photos/0aelUMPn8II9tY4vrGEW5jnxg</a></p> <p>I've pretty much unscrewed everything that can be unscrewed and removed all the other visible fittings. I presume that the mechanism is just wedged in.</p> <p>Any suggestions for how to get it out? I'm reluctant to try anything more forceful until I'm sure I know what I'm doing ..</p> <p>Thanks,<br /> Bill</p> <p>P.S. And, yes, it was satisfying when the hinge screws finally started to turn in the previous door. So far at least, slathering the recalcitrant hinges with paint remover generally does work. </p>