Getting round a mortise lock with lost key :(

[Lobster]

Last week I managed to drop my back door key somewhere over the course of a several-mile dogwalk. Oh well; at least it can't be tracked to my house, so no security issue; and I have a spare key at home, so no worries there.

Except, of course, I cannot find the spare. Have searched high and low to no avail, and it's doing my nut in not being able to open the door, so it's time to do something about it.

Having read up a bit online I reckon I can get an angle-grinder blade to the bolt down the door jamb, and cut through it

However I'm a bit concerned about the presence of what looks like reinforcement down the middle of the bolt. Or, could it be ball-bearings designed to resist attempts at cutting? As it happens, I have an identical lock on another door - photo of the bolt is here:

I don't want to attack the lock and completely bugger it up - what do we think my chances of success might be, with this approach?

Thanks David.

[Bob Eager]

They are usually rollers designed to resist attempts at cutting. Angle grinder will probably overwhelm them.

I'd be worried about damaging the door, tough. Any chace of taking the hinge pins out? Unless you've fitted those security dogs to the hinge side, that is.

[tabbypurr]

AG would make a mess of everything. Grind the hinges off instead. If it's a 5 lever lock you can probably get a replacement lever set.

NT

[Tricky Dicky]

Leave the lock, a good locksmith should be able to match a key to the lever s or as with one we had rearrange the levers to suite a new key. Try drifti ng the hinge pins out, the ends of the pins may need grinding if they have been riveted over. Before you do anything though check how much it would co st to have a locksmith actually pick the lock it would save a lot of hassle at no great cost.

Richard

[Jeff Layman]

Would a Dremel with a tungsten carbide bit reach? I'd try with a 9910 shown here:

The next thing on your shopping list should be a key safe!

[Brian Gaff]

Might actually be the day to call a locksmith and put the cost down to experience. Of course it may well be a lock with only a few possible keys, do you know how many levers it has? Brian

[dennis]

Check your household insurance, many will cover the cost of getting it fixed after losing a key. The excess will vary though.

[Fredxxx]

How much is the callout charge for a locksmith?

[Fredxxx]

I have used an angle grinder with success to remove the bolt but the gap between the door an frame was quite large.

Do you have access to the hinges? One set of hinges I have has a peg and hole such where the hinge pins are removed the door will still stay put.

[Jethro_uk]

If it's a halfway decent lock, it's designed to be angle-grinder proof.

Depending on urgency a set of lockpicks off eBay/Amazon, and a few hours practice ? If you do go down that route be aware you must never tell anyone ever that you can pick locks (advice from my Dad which has servered well).

[Martin Brown]

Emergency ones tend to be quite expensive but if you explain what you want done and that there is no hurry they may be able to help.

Looking carefully for the other key might be worthwhile first.

[GB]

You may be able to jemmy the door away from the frame enough to just slide the bolt out of the "housing" (the metal plate screwed to the frame).

From the photo it doesn't look like there's much of the bolt in the "housing". You could measure the bolt length on the other lock to find out how much you would need to move the door for this to work.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Aboyt £80 typically

[newshound]

At the risk of being shunned for suggesting it, see if you can get a quote from a locksmith. A friend of mine had the same problem last year (except that he knew he had a key inside), I was thinking about forcing his smallest window (upstairs PVC double glazed unit) but in parallel googled for locksmiths. Turns out there is one less than a mile away, he was out and then in the house within an hour, even though it was a Sunday evening. For £80, which I thought was a bargain.

[newshound]

Ha! Just posted that this is what our local guy charged a friend for the whole job, on a Sunday evening. 5 lever security rated mortise, they obviously know a trick or two!

[Bob Eager]

I think I covered all that earlier on!

Those pegs are good for outside hinges, but not so necessary when the hinge pins are on the inside.

[FMurtz]

Why does it look as if something is in the keyhole?

[TMH]

£65 for my local one.

[ss]

eBay have banned selling lockpicks. As for lock picking it would be easier if it were pins but much more difficult with the levers in some locks.

[Jethro_uk]

this is uk.d-i-y, surely make your own is an option :)