How To Unlock A Locked Desk Drawer

Keyless Ways to Unlock a Drawer

Jan. 21, 1988

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January 21, 1988

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LEAD: One of life's minor difficulties is trying to open a locked drawer with no key. Luckily, many locks in old chests and desks are fairly simple and similar and often open if turned with a key of similar size.

One of life's minor difficulties is trying to open a locked drawer with no key. Luckily, many locks in old chests and desks are fairly simple and similar and often open if turned with a key of similar size.

If this does not work, and there is an unlocked drawer above, remove it. If there is no dustboard as a barrier, the lock can then be unscrewed from inside the drawer. Removing the drawer above the locked one works, too, if the contents of a drawer have been so tightly crammed in that the drawer cannot be opened.

If you have no luck, call a locksmith and hope your problems are over. However, if the mechanism is broken, with the bolt frozen in the closed position, even a locksmith cannot help. If the piece is valuable, call in a furniture restorer, who may be able to keep the damage to a minimum.

On a less expensive piece, you may want to try to salvage it yourself. Here are some methods. The screws holding a lock are usually short and driven in near the edges of the cutout for the lock. When the lock pin is tapped sharply with a cupped-end nail set, the blow usually will drive the lock back into the drawer. You then have to repair any damage and fill the screw holes.

If the furniture is wide enough and the drawer above an interfering dustboard can be removed, try this method:

Screw a block of wood with a protruding lip to the middle of the rail above the locked drawer. To do this, you need a stub-handled or offset screwdriver shaped like an L, with the tip of the blade at the end of the short length. You cannot use an ordinary screwdriver, for lack of space. Keep in mind that starting holes for the screws have to be picked out in the wood with either a pointed pick or a shortened screw starter or gimlet.

Secure a clamp on the lip of the block and the top of the chest (protecting the surface from bruising, of course). Exerting slight pressure on the screw of the clamp will bend the rail upward enough for the bolt of the lock to clear when the drawer is pulled out. You are left with only two screw holes to fill.

If the lock is in the highest drawer and the furniture's top is solid, there is no way you can ease the top up safely. The solution here is to chisel out a minimum amount of wood at the top of the lock to free the bolt. Damage then is repaired by inserting a splice of similar wood, dovetailed for neatness.

Another way to get into a locked drawer is to tackle the work from behind, removing enough of the backboarding of the piece to get inside, and hope there will be enough room to get to the lock with slim fingers and a long screwdriver. This is the usual method of getting to the lock on the side of a desk.

In addition to removing the backboard, it may be necessary to cut out a small section of the back of the locked drawer with a keyhole saw to accomplish the goal.

A backboard, however, can be an important mark of the authenticity of a piece, especially if it is held in by hand-forged nails that, along with the wood's patination, have been undisturbed for a long time. In this case, a restorer should be called in and a record kept of his or her work.

If you have replacement keys made, request two and keep one in a piece of furniture that cannot be locked.