My husband who was a contractor passed away a few years ago and I've been learning how to do things for myself. This video was very helpful and I removed the old lock set and replaced it with a new one. Thanks!

Thanks for the video, the only thing I might do differently is to rotate the wood filler block 90 degrees so you do not have end grain showing on the side of the door. This should make filling, sanding and painting easier.

This helped so much. I was trying to figure out what I was going to do with the old doors in the house. Now I do not have to replace them. Thank you. Great video.

William, the best thing about the Irwin jig is that both the hole saws and arbor come with it. Search Irwin door hardware instillation kit and it should come up. I just noticed it's only $16.16 right now which is cheaper when I got it. The hole sizes are standard, but the backset of the door handle can be 2 3/8" or 2 3/4" depending on what hardware you buy. The nice thing about the jig is that it allows you to do either with the push of a tab. And yes, the gaps were filled in. Once they are it looks really nice. You could use lightweight spackle, bondo or wood putty. It's not a heavily abused area so you don't need to go to extremes. So use what you are comfortable with. Putty is a good choice though. :-)

I replaced a Mortise with a Cylinder deadbolt and handle this weekend. This video was crucial in doing that job. Given that this was my first time attempting something like this and i had to take care of every tiny detail including chiseling new holes and offsets for the strikeplates and latch/bolt wells, it took nearly 5 hours total of work (the new deadbolt and latch each required their own new sets of boreholes and latch/bolt wells). I'm somewhat experienced with standard cylinder knob replacement but this was a whole 'nother level. At any rate, thanks a ton for the video, as frustrating as the work was, it would have been much worse without this guide.

My home has all custom doors and mortise locks on all of them. I am about 4 months pregnant and of course I decided now is the time to start my home renovations, haha. I am big on DIY and do all the work myself. For not only cost of money but I love looking and showing my house off being able to say "I did that." When I saw that it was upwards of $35 a set for each new mortise lock set, I about fell off my chair, so I'm definitely going to go with this option!! Thank you so much for this video! I will probably take the extra step to use putty/wood filler and sand down the sides of the doors. so they look brand new.

I watched too many videos that weren't helping then... BAM! you had every answer I needed! My door thanks you, otherwise I might have accidentally destroyed it.

Wanted to say a big thanks, found your video and you saved me many headaches and a bit of money. We just bought a home with a large 8 foot door with a 30 year old mortise lock in it. after several quotes to replace the mortise lock with another mortise lock, i started looking online for help and found your video. it only took being locked out of the house 3 or 4 times. the final straw happened last week when the old key cylinder rotated and lock my wife out with groceries. it actually went much easier than i thought. thanks for the great video.

Was planning on buying new door but this video will hopefully mean I don't have to do that. Thanks for the posting this video.

Great video! Thank you for taking the time to do this. I have an old house built in 1890 full of these old mortise locks. I'm trying to preserve the door and hardware as much as possible, but no one seems to sell these anymore (our local Lowes stopped a couple of months back).

Fantastic. I'm in an old house, and the entire knob and lock set for one of the bedrooms was missing. I picked up a new one, got it home and realized that it was very, very different from what had been there before. Now I can make this work. :)

Great instructions - I had a basic idea, but it was certainly nice to see the walkthrough and get the tips. Thanks!

AWESOME!!!! YOU JUST MADE MY DAY! NOW I CAN KEEP MY OLD DOOR!!!

Wow. I had no idea what I was doing and how to start. This video helped me very much! Thanks for your assistance. Wish me luck!

I just wanted to say thank you for your great video. The step by step instructions and tips were exactly what I needed to change out these locks. I had to replace 6 sets in a property that I just purchased. So, thank you very much!

Good Morning Jamie ! Thank You I been put this project off for a couple of days cause i didn't have a clue about the block join inside of door now I can finally finish these doors this weekend. I'm going to use liquid nail to hold block in place. Once again Thanks for your Video it really help me see the finish work. Rodney

wow. thats was awesome! I had a similar idea but seeing it in practice was much faster than trying to reinvent the wheel. ty. I have 3x to do right now and 3x down the line. well done! j

Thanks very much for this, I am a new lock smith and find this invaluable, top man

Hi Jaime, you made this look so simple and easy to do, saving me alot of headscratching. Thank you

You're welcome! As I said, it's a work in progress and I'm sure there are ways of making it better. If you try doing it and come up with something, please come back and post it here in the comments!

Very good video. I will be updating the hardware in my apartment front door soon. I was a bit afraid since it has a deadbolt as part of the faceplate, but it seems I can fill it with a larger piece of wood than what you had to use. Thanks for the video.

Thanks for helping out the little people. Jamie for President !!!

I have been looking for a video just like this! Thanks. I rehab and all of them are old like this...and many have the mortise locks gone completely so I HAVE to replace/update.

Good points on this video. I was wondering how I was going to replace the old 5 Mortise locks with newer cylinder locks I have in my new house. This will be this weekend project. Thanks.

My house is filled with these old glass knob mortise doors. I hate them. Knobs constantly falling off and poor fit. Original replacement knobs are super expensive and the knockoffs are super cheap. Thx for this video.

Hi! Great video. I purchased an old door to go in my house, we took out a "wood box" built in and had a whole door put it in. It had a mortise lockset and I had the porcelain knobs and spindle. I really wanted to leave it and for it to be original to the door. I took the lockset and tried to have a key made. Nope. Isn't going to work. NOW, I have you to refer to and put a regular door knob in. (Love the jig.) ((I am a seamstress, but I am soooo into working with wood. Not a lot of difference in the process)) Thanks again.

Thank you for the helpful, clear instructions!

bro thank you so much you saved my project just finnishing up 😌

I'm a locksmith and he TOOK MY JUUURB!!!

FABULOUS-JUST WHAT WE NEEDED. THANK YOU.

So helpful--- thanks so much Jamie! I was unsure how to go about replacing my five circa-1938 mortise locks. I had planned to just try filling the cavity with wood putty -- but I presume solid wood will be much better. Do you agree Jamie? +Thomas Shue, I've maintained these old locks for 20 years now, but was always concerned that their key-and-deadbolt could be harder to unlock in case of emergency if key not in hand, e.g. for someone outside the door. Sometimes new is better imho.

Thank you! I had a hard time finding any info on how to do this.....now I just have to find all the gear >.>

This is just what I needed .. thanks

Great video. Going to use this on my 1920's front door so I can use a more update front entry hardware.

Thanks for this great video!

Thank you! This is a big, big help to me.

USE A 2 PART EPOXY INSTEAD!! Its the easiest and least time consuming way to fill a mortise.

Great video. Im going to try it on a entry door.

Thank you for posting this !!!

kwikset modernization plates. cover all existing holes.

Very helpful video! Two questions: What were the sizes of the coring bits you used to drill the holes for the new door knob? And two, did you fill in the gaps with wood putty, sand it down and paint over it?

great video, could you please write the names for the tools you used in the video?

thank you for this video! it helped so much!!

thank you so much for this!

exactly the vicdeo I needed!!! thanks!

is snugglieeee a word...lol - great vid.

Excellent vid. I have a door in which the old mortise lock is stuck in the door. The knobs are out. The mortise sticks out 3/4" but stuck, won't slip out!! Any ideas how to get it out without destroying the door?

Maria L. - You can get them all over the place. Lowe's, Home Depot or on Amazon.com.

fantastic video, thanks for posting

Or you could replace the locket. You can buy new mortise locks.

Hi. My door only has the latch mechanism with the whole mortise lockset. I was able to remove the broken mechanism and now wonder if a modern latch would fit right in the existing hole? Thanks for your help!

great video!! very helpful. thank you for making this video.

Hello there. Glad to find this video. So far the only one I seen that converts an old mortise lock to a modern cylinder set. However I specifically wish you worked on the second door you showed in the video with the skeleton lock. So my question is, like that second door, what do I do about converting an old mortise with the skeleton key hole(circa 1920) to a modern single cylinder? Is there a backing plate that I can install with a locking knob set that'll wrap the door and cover the second hole that I prefer not to reuse?? Or, am I limited to having to get a new mortise lock that will fit the old mount and wood space? (I have 10+ doors like this to update, for security, and efficacy. They are the oiled bronze finish style.

I like the video and plan to do this but I would like to see how to finish the project

this is EXACTLY something I was looking to do myself, and I see it indeed is possible. what is the exact measurements height depth and width of the piece of wood. is it plywood or solid pine?

Great video! Where could one buy that Irwin door hardware installation kit?

I do have a separate dead bolt and luckily my screen door has a lock. Going to be stripping the varnish off at the same time. So no from door for a day or two. How long for the glue to dry? A day?

Hi Jamie, At 11:51 there's a 'jump cut' from the wood board being flush with the door to it having a slight indentation to allow room for the face plate. I was wondering how you created this indentation. Did you just use the hole saw that was included with the jig?

Would Gorilla glue work better for the block of wood in the mortise? I realize you would have to clamp the door from being spread apart, because Gorilla glue does expand quite a bit as it cures, but is quite tough once cured. If anyone knows where to get a cylinder type lockset that looks retro, like with the plates that are rectangle, roughly 2" x 7"?

great video, bro :)

This is very helpful. What type of wood would you suggest for the filler?

Sorry, didn't realize that I was posting in my husband's name. :) Debbie Perkins

Hmmmm. We have tubular entry and would like to install a mortise lock. Possible? Impossible?

What kind of nail gun is that? brad or finish? thanks

mortise lock sets are far superior then cylinder locks. a cylinder lock will last for about 10 years while mortise locks will last forever. cylinder locks are not serviceable. if something breaks, you must replace everything where as a mortise lock is easily serviced. the only thing that will wear out with normal use is the spring which can be replaced for under a dollar. even the spring breaking is rare. is the issue is the lock is painted over, its not complicated to strip the paint and polish the brass or nickle. if its bare steel, a good automotive primer and paint will make them look good as new. many lower models were painted semi gloss black originally anyways. if there is rust, soaking it in vinegar overnight will fix that. replacing a mortise lock with a cylinder lock is as stupid as replacing hardwood with laminate.

hey there, thanks for the great video, i have one questions, im trying to fill up the gap after mortise lock with caulk rather than wooden piece, do you think it okay to use caulk?

Jaime, which Titebond glue did you use?

What kind of glue did you use?

Very good!!

what kind of glue did you use?

does 4" H x 3" D x 5/8" W make sense?

old stuff is better

Why would you ever want to replace those old locks with cheap modern door hardware from China??

Thanks for this great video!