Care and Maintenance For Rusting Padlocks

When to check and clean padlocks

When padlock are kinda hard to open, most people would use WD40. But here’s a do-it-yourself tip you can do at home. Just a quick advise, check and clean your padlocks at least once a year to avoid rust and other metal residue. It’s for your own safety.

How to open rusted padlucks

• Most often, rusty padlocks are very hard to open. All you need to have is your key to the padlock, any oil will do, vice grip or pliers and a hammer if ever.

• First, you must try to open the padlock using your key. If you successfully opened the padlock, then its time to clean them, but if it fails to open, then you’ll be needing the tools I’ve mentioned.

• Drip some oil on key holes for let it stand for a minute. Drip oil again to shackle toe and the hole the one that locks and the shackle heel and hole as well. Let it stand again for a minute till it drips on the drain hole at the bottom of the body case. You’ll see a very small hole at the bottom of the padlock near the key hole.

• Try again to insert the key to the key hole of the padlock and and twist to the open direction with a little force. Wiggle it back and forth a few times, using a little more force each time. Be careful not to break off the key.

• Repeat if you are unsuccessful. Sometimes, letting the oil seep into the lock and work on the frozen bearings will help. If the lock still refuses to break free, it may be necessary to use a Dremel, hacksaw or bolt cutters to open it.

How to clean rusted padlocks 

• You’ll be needing a bar of detergent, metal scrub, sand paper, oil, paper towel and the key.

• Clean the rusted part of the padlock and metal residues using metal brush or sand paper.

• Soak the padlock in water and wash using detergent soap and metal brush.

• Repeatedly lock and unlock the padlock using its key.

• Soak both the padlock and the key in oil for approximately 10 minutes to lubricate the pins and mechanism of the device.

• Use a paper towel to dry the padlock by gently tapping the device to remove the excess oil inside the mechanism. Make sure the key hole is underneath to effectively drain the oil from the padlock.

• Finally, lock and unlock the newly cleaned device several times to assure that it is working properly.