Woodworking anyone?

In worst case scenarios we would use bondo for car repairs on wood when nothing else would do. That looks to be the same thing except made specifically for woodwork. If yo do something like that just make sure to isolate the lockset as much as possible in case it ever needs to be removed.

That's what I was thinking. You could wrap the lockset in saran wrap and after it has set up awhile take out the lockset and remove the wrap. Some parts may protrude a bit and that should remove any soft bondo in the way and leave you enough room if you have to remove it in the future.

Yes, it's a mortise lock set, but there are no screws going through the door at all.

Here's a better picture of the kind of handle that's installed at the moment (apparently called a "Bakelit Handle", I just learned):



As you can hopefully see, the only thing that goes straight through the door is the square rod that operates the mechanism inside. The rod has a small hole through side at each end that's used to hold the handle to the rod by use of a small metal pin that you can just take out using a pair of pliers. In the top of the picture, at the end of each handle, you can see an indentation. That's a broad plastic screw that goes over the pin to prevent it from falling out.

Like the keyhole covers in the bottom of the picture, the plastic "flanges" (for lack of a better word) between the door and the handle are held in place by small screws (about 5mm in length). They just have three holes instead of two and it's the wood that's supposed to hold those three screws that's all messed up. The handles work without those "flanges", but they keep the rod from sliding and jiggling, so if they're not there or if they're loose - which is the problem at the moment - everything jiggles around and makes a terrible racket whenever you operate the door.

I'm beginning to think the best option here is to get a completely different type of handle, as some have suggested. One with a plate of some sort that covers the original holes and where the screws that attach it to the door can go into untouched wood.

the last renters had kids like that. I don't think I could slam the doors as hard as they did if I took a two step lead on them.

The house itself is from the late 1800s and I believe at least part of the door is that old as well. I just finished stripping the paint off one side of it and it turns out it's been refurbished before. The outer frame of the door is still the original pine, but the middle of it is just some sort of plywood.

Started on the other side today and that seems completely original. I don't think that's ever been refurbished in any way, because there are at least 4 layers of paint slathered on to a combined thickness of about 2-3mm. Doesn't sound like much, but with good quality paint and a little skill, a single coat shouldn't even be much more than 0.2mm thick.

As for the repair part, it doesn't look like the lock set is coming out of the door without completely ruining the wood, but that might actually turn out to be a good thing. If the lock set is as big as it seems, there should be more than enough metal around all the moving parts to bolt new wood directly into without preventing anything from working properly.

I'm thinking cut out the cracked wood with the lock set still in place, saw out new pieces that fit into the holes, drill through the lock set and fasten the wood pieces directly to it with a nut and bolt assembly and some very large washers to take most of the load. Then, make room for the nut and bolt to be flush with the wood, spackle over them, prime it and paint it.

Any obvious holes in that plan?

What ^^^ he ^^^ just said, and also, the lock set is designed to keep the grease inside, so drilling through that lock set may introduce foreign objects into the sticky stuff that will jam the lock.

If it is "that old", I know a few tricks.
The lock may have been "Force-fitted" into a tight space by use of a rubber or wooden mallet, to keep it from moving about, so the first millimetres are key.

Put the square bolt through the door through the lock set and use a tap with a hammer on both sides at the same time to try and move it forwards.
If you can get a 'large enough to fit' chisel underneath the face plate at the same time [on the edge of the door?] and wiggle that gently but firmly?.. be careful to do that one the ends top and bottom of the plate and not the sides as that may just remove edges of the door.

Lastly, use of a flat waste screwdriver, the one you use to lever pain cans open with, or hammer between things that dont want to separate, "that" screwdriver that has been use for everything BUT screws, use that as a chisel in the part where the door handle bolt goes , but beware, excessive force may mean the need for a new lock set.

New lock sets are "pence" compared to a new door, you can get replacement without having to replace the whole handle set, as the square rod is a universal fitting.

Getting the old one "out"?.. I have doors 100 yr old that are solid, getting the one that jammed out took me three days a lot of swearing and eventually a lot of lard.
Yeah, I greased that sod up through the holes, managed to get it to move about eighth of an inch, got a pair of grips on it, and used a modified bottle jack and a crowbar lashed to the grips to get it all the way out.
Need is the mother of invention when the horned one drives slowly in front...

The fault?
Part of the inside gear assembly had snapped, cheap metal, suspect 1914-18 war period, very pliable and brittle, and one of the kids had forced it so hard, it had pushed the sides of the lock out, which had caught the wood.

Replacement part three quid, time spent three days wages, it would have been easier to buy a replacement door, but I wasnt letting this likkle sod beat me.

boxed chaos hides a multitude of sins.

nature abhors a vacant surface.

couple sheets of plywood and some angle brackets...