Almost every time I go to Blackpool, Thornton, even Morecambe, I am amazed by the effect the sea salt has on the locks in the area. Even relatively new locks on high use doors are frequently worn out due to the corrosive effect of the sand and salt driven into every crevice by the often biting sea breeze. Preston locks don’t have this issue with jamming due to sand.

So, how can we protect our locks? Firstly, *don’t* use WD-40, especially if you have a wooden door. Penetrating oils are great at freeing things up, but they either leave a sticky residue that leads to clogging as sand, spiders and leaves get stuck in there, or they flush away all the grease that was still protecting the lock internals, especially the bearing surfaces.

Cast zinc and brass are both very good materials for resisting wear, as they are slightly self-lubricating. Steel, as we all know, rusts. For this reason, you rarely see much bare steel, with paints and zinc coatings being used to protect it. Normally, this lasts for years. In a salty environ, however, the salt reacts with the zinc, and forms a white oxide powder, which is called “blooming”. Alone, this still protects the metalunderneath, but, on a moving part, the oxide gets worn away rapidly, and the process happens again and again, until there is no metal left!

Lock curtains wear out in short time, and you start to need to jiggle the keys to get the lock to open. Pins and levers jam a little, and more jiggling is needed.

Tune in next time, for how to protect your locks from rust and decay!