E 2294 Vintage Style Indoor Mortise Lock Assembly Kit – Cast Steel, Brass Plated Finish, Antique Skeleton Key – Backset, 1/4” Max Square Spindle - Reversible Latch Bolt (Single Pack)

My old mortise lock on a beautiful 5 panel door I just bought and installed wasn't working with the key although it latched. Too much trouble trying to fix it so I bought this one. It fit quite well in the old mortise cutout, although I did have to grind off some metal top and bottom for a perfect fit. The spindle lined up as did the keyhole with my existing faceplate. It works great and locks great. Just a little chiseling on the door frame made it happen. And yes, it is reversible. I followed the video instructions. A piece of cake!. Some yokel here claims it can't work reversed. Obviously an incompetent mechanic. Now we know that it's easier to replace than to try to clean and fix the old lock.

This mortise lock arrived yesterday and it is already in the door! I bought a wooden door for my 1922 bungalow, and I had to get it from one of those salvage/antique shops because back then unlike today, they made doors out of actual wood. I so lucked out when it already had the cut out done for the mortise lock. The only thing is, I had to find the right lock to fit and had no idea there was such variation amongst them. This lock was a gem. I only had to use the chisel slightly as the face plate was slightly taller. But otherwise it just slid right in and I attached the screws. I still have to attach the strikeplate, as the old mortise lock's strike plate was slightly lower. Every door in my house has the same style locks, strike plates, door knobs and face plates, so I was a little surprised the existing one did not fit. I figure if I managed to get the door hung (having to switch the hinges from right to left facing) I can handle re-doing the strike plate insert. The lock seems well made (it is only $14!) and the keys work well. Alas, they did NOT work in any of my other doors, so the keys must be specific to each lock. The only complaint I have is that they do not offer these in different colors. I really needed a bronze so I am going to have to paint the shiny gold (oh well). But the door worked well with the turn rod that went with the lock I accident threw out ten years ago (gnash of teeth). It was a real antique. I can't find anything wrong. The lock is in an interior door, so i do not expect it to endure any undo strain and should last a very long time. I will upload photos when I get the strike plate in.

I needed one with left handing for a closet door that I wanted to add a lock to. I read that this one is adjustable, so I looked up how to do it. I already had one of these lock sets, but the screw on the side plate was beyond stuck and completely stripped for some reason (it needs to be removed so you can access the inner mechanisms to change the handedness) so I bought another one. Fortunately when it arrived, the side plate screw was reasonably tightened and I was able to remove it with minimal effort. That was the easy part... The instructions say to be careful when opening it up because basically everything in there is connected by springs and levers and what not - do not disregard this warning! Just remove it very slowly. When I opened mine, the latch cam dislodged slightly, but everything else stayed in place. I immediately took a photo of how everything was arranged just in case. There are written instructions included, but in my opinion they could be a lot more thorough. And the main thing they neglect to mention (in the instructions as well as on this listing) is that once you do get the latch turned around and get the spring back in place, it is darn near impossible to keep everything in place while trying to close it back up. It takes a little maneuvering to get the side plate to slide back into place, and it is all to easy to accidentally bump something or take your hand off of the part you are holding in place that can set off a chain reaction of parts decoupling and/or moving out of place. At some point you have to take your hand off whatever you are holding in place ao you can actually close it all the way, and that is definitely the hardest part (or it was for me, anyway). I was finally able to do it by putting a door knob spindle into the hole it goes in just enough so that it would hold the latch cam in place while I cautiously closed the side panel. It took a few tries. You can only insert the spindle a little because if it goes through too far, you wont be able to close the side plate. And you have to make sure it is centered in there, because if you let it tilt just a little in any direction it will probably knock the latch cam (and possibly other stuff) out of place. There is probably an easier way to do it, but this is what eventually worked for me. It would probably be easier if you have another pair of hands to help you. I'm rating it 4 stars because aside from the extreme (and mostly unaddressed) difficulty of re-configuring it, it is a nice looking and effective piece of hardware that is built to last a long time (if you don't destroy it!).

They don't make things like they use to but this replacement mortise door sets are pretty good for Made in China. Took old ones out. These fit in the door pocket ok but doesn't quite line up with the hole for the door knob and the connecting turn bar to go through. Will take some modification. The bar that is to connect the two door knobs are designed for a newer door knob. My old vintage brass knobs still have to connect to its original bar that has dedicated holes for the door knob screw to fasten to. The new bar is also way to short for the thickness of an old door. My old mortise locks lasted a 130 years. Doubt these will make it that long but in the mean time they work, install and appear just fine.

Worked as advertised.

NOT reversible. The design of the latch has a peg on one side that engages a slider inside the lock, the latch does not have the peg on both sides so when you reverse the latch it no longer engages with the slider and does not retract correctly. In addition to this pretty glaring flaw, the images are of an earlier version of this same item- which I know because I had purchased it before when the images did match & the latch was actually reversible. Don't buy this, its not what you are looking for.

If you need to open it up to change the direction of the latch, it can be a pain to get back together. There is a little rectangle of metal that gets pushed back by the latch spring. You will need something thin like a knife or tiny screwdriver to push it into place before you can get the case closed.

I have an old exterior door that uses old-style mortise locksets. Perfect fit.