So you have an entry knob and you want to disable it for some reason? Maybe you keep locking yourself out or maybe you don’t want to pay a locksmith to rekey the knob since there is a perfectly good deadbolt just above it. This is the situation I found myself in today. My customer wanted to know if I could turn the Schlage knobs she had into passage knobs instead of buying new passage locks and also instead of rekeying the knobs to match the deadbolts. She didn’t want to keep paying $38 extra every time I came to rekey her rental house, and she didn’t want to buy new passage locksets.
The solution to this is simple, for the type of lock that has a spindle going through the knob to a bit on the inside of the door where the knob can be locked by turning something. This includes most cheaper knobs that can be purchased and installed oneself at the hardware store. All one need do is cut the thin piece of metal off that turns back and forth inside the knob. You can see in the picture above where the cut must be made. Make sure the metal spindle is in the unlocked position before cutting it off because it will be pretty hard to turn after you cut it off. If you don’t have a key that operates it you will have to pick the lock.
Once you put the knob back on the door you will notice that the inside locking mechanism on the knob will spin freely. It will be impossible for someone to lock the door without the key. Of course, you could just buy a passage knob at the hardware store for fifteen dollars or so and save your locking knob for replacement parts or sell it to somebody else on craigslist. Or donate it to my efforts to secure the homes of those in need.
