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After browsing eBay a bit, I found an odd post for a "Lot of 1 Locks" that had a picture of a dozen locks attached. After questioning the buyer, I was assured that there were indeed 12 locks in the shipment, so I bid the $20 and waited for it to arrive. Thankfully, I wasn't scammed out of the locks, but they were definitely in worse condition than I was expecting.










All of the springs felt soggy, and most of the pins were visibly corroded or rusted, at the very least. In addition, a few of the locks had screws on the tailpieces that were completely immobile, so there went any hope of opening them up to clean the components individually. After searching around and asking in chat, I found that Brakleen is the product for getting gunk off of locks. I then soaked and scrubbed them a for a few minutes.





Once I cleaned them, they started to yield to my picking! I managed to get both Skillmans, both Sagers, and the Sargent open!

I only photographed one of the Skillmans (Skillmen?) but I did indeed pick them both. I beefed up the other one with a handful of spools just to keep it interesting.








The second Sager was my first encounter with mushrooms, and that keyway made it a little tough too, even though they do have some wafers in there.




Unfortunately, the Lockwoods, which seemed promising, have yet to open up for me, and I might soak them again just to clear out some more gook from inside. Hope this got a few of you , but if not, I will be trading/selling a few of these at a later date once I get them all picked and cleaned up inside. I may also include one in mistersour's pass along box, whenever that makes its way to me.

Thanks for taking a look!
-Colin

Awesome. I also bought a keyless cylinder batch on ebay. A lot of grimy pins coming out of the ones I have opened. I may have to try brakleen. Thanks for the tip.

Very nice!

Beautiful collection of mortise locks, I used brakecleaner for many years, but I now use 91% isopropyl alcohol instead, it just seems better for my hands and the desert environment & it costs much less money. I just put it in a old bouillion jar, it dries almost as fast and I don't think alcohol fumes are nearly as poisonous as brakecleaner. Brake cleaner I keep around for when a locking system cannot be soaked in alcohol and requires a spray.

I saw those locks and was tempted to get them myself. Glad a member got em. Nice post!