This is a lock made for a sliding door and it was conceived and made by my friend Ludovic as an entry for the best piece of work by a French locksmith in 2014 - it won first prize.
The lock is about 275mmsquare and made entirely from solid iron and brass machined by hand: the 'doors' - here they are open - are made of plexiglass to show off the internal workings of the lock and Ludovic's craftsmanship. As you can see, all the bolt heads have been fashioned into flowers, every petal made by hand. The moving parts were machined to an accuracy of one micron. From conception to completion this project took approximately 400 hours.
It took me rather less time to photograph it this morning but it was still rather tricky to do given the reflecting nature of all the surfaces. You can see how it was done in my 'Year of Days' entry for today here: http://365project.org/vignouse/a-year-of-days/2015-08-29
