Danny D.:

You're not doing anything wrong.

It looks like someone has mixed plumber's putty with linseed oil, and used that to GLUE the lock nut you're trying to remove on. That yellow stuff in your pictures looks too glossy to me to be ordinary plumber's putty. Either it's plumber's putty mixed with linseed oil, or it's some kinda glue or something.

Normally, the plumber's putty goes between the flange at the top of the strainer basket and the flanged bottom of the sink. See the image below:

http://www.plumbinghelp.ca/images2/B...stallation.png

There shouldn't be any plumber's putty on the underside of the sink at all, and that yellow stuff in your pictures sure doesn't look like just plumber's putty to me. I'm thinking it's some kind of glue or maybe some one figured they'd mix linseed oil into their plumber's putty so that it would stick better and harden up over time, making it a bytch to remove that lock nut in future. AND, he appears to have used that linseed oil/plumber's putty on the threads between the lock nut and the strainer basket as well. That's why the lock nut wouldn't turn for you; it's glued on with linseed oil.

Look at the image linked to above. It's incorrect because it doesn't show the threads on the strainer basket or the threads on the lock nut. The OD of the strainer basket is threaded and the ID of the lock nut is threaded so that when you screw the lock nut onto the strainer basket, you squash the plumber's putty between the flange at the top of the strainer basket and the flanged bottom of the sink, making a water proof seal. You simply don't need any plumber's putty on the underside of the sink, so why that stuff is there is a mystery, and suggest to me that whomever did that work didn't know what he was doing.

Use a screw driver or something to pry one end of the broken locknut outwards to break it away from the strainer basket. Use two screw drivers to work your way around the lock nut, or better yet, just break the rest of it off too.

Then, use a small screw driver or even the corner of a wood chisel to pry the flanged top of the stainer basket upward so that it comes out of the sink. If it's glued on with linseed oil, you may have to take a torch to the strainer basket (ONLY!) to soften the linseed oil so that it lets go of the strainer basket. Maybe put some cardboard under the fulcrum of whatever lever you use to pry up that strainer basket flange so that you don't mar the bottom of the sink.

Then figure out what that yellow stuff is and get it off. If it's plumber's putty, you should be able to scrape it off with a putty knife. If it's plumber's putty mixed with linseed oil, you'll probably have to use a paint stripper or a heat gun (or good hair dryer and lots of patience) to remove it. If it's got linseed oil in it, then get a paint stripper that uses methylene chloride as it's active ingredient, like Polystrippa. If it's some kinda glue, I'd try acetone or lacquer thinner to dissolve it. Nail polish remover is acetone, so maybe try that first to see if it dissolves that yellow stuff. You may want to try carving most of it off with a cheap Stanley wood chisel for $5 from Home Depot, and then dissolving what's left with acetone or lacquer thinner.

Then, phone around to the plumbing wholesalers in your area and find out which of them sell Kindred 1135 strainer baskets, and replace the junk you have with the best strainer basket on the market that I know of. The 1135 doesn't use a lock nut. It uses a threaded hollow rod in the middle of the strainer basket that you tighten with a coin, like a quarter or Canadian "loonie" dollar coin.

You're not doing anything wrong. That strainer basket was a problem waiting for someone to correct it.