cannot remove rusted door knobs

[slootwater]

Hi,

I am having a bit of a fight with some rusted door knobs. The knobs appear to
be rusted to the spindle inside of the door. I managed to remove some rusted
screws (lots of drilling. . .), so there should be nothing preventing me from
removing the door knob. Except a lot of rust I guess.

I tried pouring some rust removal into the screw hole and whacking the hell out
of it with a hammer. Little to no effect, despite 3 hours of fun. . .

I am at a bit of a loss for the next step to remove the door knobs. Any
ideas? [ The door knobs are so rusted that I don't mind if they get severly
damaged, I'll throw them away anyway. ]

Thanks.

 

[inspectorD]

Are you sure the spindle is not threaded? Those old doors with the set screws usually had to be spun on, give it a try.

 

[slootwater]

Thanks for the tip. Unfortunately, these spindles are not threaded. (I was able
to remove the (unrusted) knobs from a few other doors, they were not
threaded.)

 

[handyguys]

Sawzall!!!

 

[slootwater]

This is a bit drastic . . . but I am at a complete loss by now. Just tried an
electric `massage thingy' in the hope that the vibration of that thing might
do something to the rust. Nope.

Perhaps I will try to saw through the spindle somehow tomorrow. . .

 

[oldognewtrick]

Try spraying the shaft with PB BLASTER. You can get it at most automotive supply stores or the hardware store.

 

[Wuzzat?]

Or heat them with a torch, in addition to using penetrating oil.

If there is a knob on both sides, applying enormous torque to each knob should free them from the spindle, or twist the spindle in half.
Sometimes applying a tightening torque frees the spindle so you can then use a loosening torque.
This 'tightening first' works for windows that are stuck together with paint. You drive them closed further by using a hammer and a wood block.

Hacksawing through the knob shaft will reduce the area of rust that is available for gripping the spindle but will reduce the ft-lbs of torque you can apply to free these two materials.

JCWhitney and some H/W stores sell cutting disks, 1/32" and 1/16" thk that mount with an arbor into elec. drills. Figure one disk per knob shaft.

You can also just drill a series of 1/8" holes through the knob shaft which reduces the surface area of the rust.

 

[slootwater]

So . . . in the end I decided to hacksaw through the spindle. There was a
tiny bit of space behind the doorplate, enough the cut through the spindle.
It took me 20 mins and one saw blade per door, so 1 hour and 3 blades later
I was done.

Thanks for all the tips!

 

[Wuzzat?]

So . . . in the end I decided to hacksaw through the spindle. There was a
tiny bit of space behind the doorplate, enough the cut through the spindle.
It took me 20 mins and one saw blade per door, so 1 hour and 3 blades later
I was done.

Thanks for all the tips!

What would Rambo have done?