Q & A FOR BUDDING LOCKSMITHS
These FAQ do not attempt to teach you locksmithing, just to answer simple questions, give you some hints on getting started, and point you to sources of information. Also included is a glossary of common terms .Here at locksmith training merseyside we will answer all your questions on your training course which is one to one so you can ask as many questions as you want without feeling arkward.
Questions Answered:
1. Where can I get a lock pick set?
2. How can I make my own picks and tension wrenches?
3. Is it legal to carry lock picks?
4. Where can I get the "MIT Guide to Picking Locks"?
5. What books can I get on locksmithing?
6. What are "pick guns" or "automatic pickers" and do they work?
7. How do I open a Kryptonite lock?
8. How can I get keys stamped "DO NOT DUPLICATE" duplicated?
9. Do Skeleton Keys Exist?
10. Should I bother with high security ("pick proof") locks for my home?
11. What should I do after I read a book?
12. How do I continue learning about locksmithing?
13. How do Simplex pushbutton locks work?
14. What is the "shear line".
15. What is Lock Bumping?
1. Where can I get a lock pick set?
Try a locksmith supply house. Look under "Locksmiths' Equipment & Supplies" in the Yellow Pages. The company may have requirements, such as having to prove you are a locksmith or showing a drivers license; call and find out. Also look for mail order firms in the Appendix,we give away lockpick kits as part of the tool kit you get with every course you do here at locksmith training merseyside.co.uk
2. How can I make my own picks and tension wrenches?
You can file or grind picks out of spring steel. It is best to use spring steel - sources include hacksaw blades, piano (music) wire, clock springs, streetsweeper bristles (which can be found along the street after the sweeper has passed), etc. In a pinch safety pin steel, or even a bobby pin (much worse) can be used. When grinding, keep the steel from getting so hot as to anneal (soften) it. You may have to re-harden/re-temper it. (See a book on knife making, gunsmithing, or machine shop practice for a discussion on heat treating steel.) Some people prefer a rigid tension wrench and just bend a small screwdriver for this, but many prefer a slightly flexible wrench and use spring steel. There are many places you can buy picks and tension wrenches. we will teach you the best way to make your own lock picks ,if you do a course with us at locksmith training merseyside .co.uk
3. Is it legal to carry lock picks?
This depends on where you are. In the U.S. the common case seems to be that it is legal to carry potential "burglar tools" such as keys, picks, crowbars, jacks, bricks, etc., but use of such tools to commit a crime is a crime in itself. In the UK it is illegal to carry lockpicks if you are not a locksmith .Call your local library, district attorney, or police department to be sure.
4. Where can I get the "MIT Guide to Picking Locks"?
You can't. The guide must exist in an online form, but no one seems to have it. Rumor has it that (one of) the author(s) is aware of this group and is unwilling to post the guide. The guide is copyrighted, so scanning it in and posting would, in addition to violating the author's wishes, be illegal.
5. What books can I get on locksmithing?
An excellent encyclopedic reference (based on reading the 1st edition - but people have said that the 2nd and 3rd editions carry on the coverage) The Complete Book of Locks & Locksmithing, 3rd Ed. C.A. Roper and Bill Phillips TAB Books ISBN 0-8306-3522-X (Paper) 0-8306-?522-1 (Hard) also many people think highly of: Eddie The Wire: How to Make Your Own Professional Lock Tools "Eddie The Wire" Loompanics Unlimited ISBN 0-685-39143-4 4 Volumes Your local book store should be able to order these for you. You can find other titles under "Locksmithing" in the Books In Print Subject Index, which any decent bookstore should have.
6. What are "pick guns" or "automatic pickers" and do they work?
A "pick gun" is a manual or powered device that uses a vibrating pin to try to bounce the pin tumblers so there are spaces at the shear line so the the plug can rotate. They are not a panacea, aren't always effective, and the net seems to feel that these are no substitute for a little skill with a pick and learning how locks work.
7. How do I open a Kryptonite lock?
Easiest: If you registered your lock, call or write Kryptonite for a new key. Or call a local locksmith, they should be able to pick and re-key the lock for you.
Easy: Get a car jack and jack it apart. Careful, otherwise it is very possible that you'll damage the bike.
Easy: Use a cut-off wheel in a Dremel tool to cut the lock at the hole in the shackle (where there is the least to cut.)
Harder: If it doesn't have the newer brass jacket, peel back the plastic coating on the key end, drill out the pin that holds in the cylinder, remove the cylinder, open.
Hardest: Chill the metal of the "U" with liquid Nitrogen or Freon, smash with hammer. While this is a "well known" method, it may be an urban legend.
8. How can I get keys stamped "DO NOT DUPLICATE" duplicated?
Some locksmiths will take the Nike approach and "Just Do It". Some will even stamp "DO NOT DUPLICATE" on the copy for you. If that doesn't work, label the key by sticking some tape on the "DO NOT DUPLICATE" stamp to hide it and try again.
9. Do Skeleton Keys Exists?
"Skeleton Keys" are keys ground to avoid the wards in warded locks. There is no analog with modern pin tumbler locks. Master keys may open a large set of locks, but this is designed in when the locks are installed.
10. Should I bother with high security ("pick proof") locks for my home?
Why not? If you are installing locks, the better quality ones are not much more expensive, and are physically more secure (e.g., have hardened inserts to protect against drilling.) However, note that protection against picking doesn't add a large amount to your security since burglars almost always go the brute force route. Regardless, you should have a deadbolt, and check your window security.
11. What should I do after I read a book -
Read the rest of my website before doing anything else
After some reading, then the next thing is some experience. Buy a deadbolt lock, and take the entire thing apart (you'll need tools like screwdrivers, and perhaps a pair of pliers) to see how a pin tumbler lock works. K-Mart carries a clone of the Kwikset which is made to be very easy to take apart. (Key-in-knob locksets are both more expensive and harder to take apart.) You then can practice picking this lock by leaving out all but one stack of pins. This will be exceedingly easy to pick, and will mostly provide experience in manipulating the pick and tension wrench. Then put in one more pin stack and try again - feeling when one stack is picked and then the second one will let the cylinder move. Keep on adding stacks. Try picking with the curved finger, and also raking.
12. How do I continue learning about locksmithing?
GET YOUR SELF BOOKED ONTO A REPUTABLE LOCKSMITH TEACHING COURSE IN YOUR AREA
IE IN THE NORTH WEST, www.locksmithtrainingmerseyside.co.uk
13. How do Simplex pushbutton locks work?
They are complicated, and it takes a rather long discussion to cover their operation and how to manipulate them, here at locksmith training merseyside.co.uk, we teach all about digital locks.
14. What is the "shear line"?
Visualize a door lock - there is a fixed block (the lock body) of metal with a cylindrical hole in it - the axis of this hole is horizontal. It is filled with a "cylinder", which is the part which turns with your key - and something attached to the rear of the cylinder actuates the latch/bolt when you turn the cylinder. There are some small vertical holes drilled in both the cylinder and the fixed block so they match up - and they are in a straight line which is the same line as the key. Each hole (pin chamber) is filled with (at least) two pins (small cylindrical pieces of metal) but the pins are of varying length, and there is a spring at the top of the chamber so that the pins are pushed away by the spring. The bottom pin is short enough so that it will be pushed completely down within the cylinder and the top pin (imagining right now there are just two pins - extra one are only used for master keying) goes from inside the cylinder to inside the fixed block. Now the cylinder can't turn, because in each pin chamber there will be a pin blocking the "shear" line - the line where the pin chamber would "shear" apart when the cylinder turned. You put your key in - and the different heights on the key are made to "complement" the different lengths of the bottom pin so that all of the bottom pins are raised up just to the "shear line" between the cylinder and the fixed block part of the lock. Then the key can turn the cylinder around its axis and actuate whatever internal mechanisms are inside,here at locksmith training merseyside.co.uk , you will learn all about shearlines and repinning locks.
15. What is Lock Bumping?
Lock bumping might be referred to as lock picking’s lesser known cousin. It’s an unfamiliar term at best. It is, however, at least as big a problem as lock picking, and perhaps even more sinister for what it entails. Bumping is a type of lock picking. Instead of using typical lock picking tools though, all that is required is the use of a bump key. It has, for this reason, the potential to be much more sinister than lock picking.
One of the biggest problems is that few locks are immune fromlock bumping. This is because most locks work on the same principle. The most common type of lock, found on every home and business in the world, is the pin-and-tumbler lock. To understand how lock bumping works, it helps to understand how a pin and tumbler system functions.
Inside every pin and tumbler lock is a cylinder (or key cylinder.) Within the cylinder is a chamber (the plug) containing stacks of pins. The pins it contains vary in length. When the correct key is inserted into the cylinder, the ridges or teeth on the key match the pins inside. Rotating the key causes the pins to spring apart and the plug to rotate. This rotation releases the latch from the door jamb.
Trying to insert the wrong key will produce one of two results. Either the key will not enter the cylinder at all, or, it will enter the cylinder, but won’t be able to rotate the plug because the match is incorrect.
Old-school lock picking usually requires a broad range of tools. Lock bumping, in contrast, requires only one special key. A lock bump key looks like an ordinary door key. It would be unlikely to draw any suspicion, were it to be used to gain illegal entry to a home.
To the untrained eye, a bump key might pass for a regular key. A closer inspection, though, would reveal that the teeth (or ridges) and the notches are even. All of the cuts, in fact, are made to maximum depth. They may also be referred to as “dummy keys” or “999″ keys. The number “999″ is derived from the fact that the cuts are all made to a depth of nine.
Opening a door lock with a 999 key isn’t as simple as simply inserting and turning. It does take a particular feel and a certain degree of practice, just as old-fashioned lock picking does.
What is alarming about lock bumping is that only two tools are required: a 999 key and a small “bump tool, we teach trainees everything you need to know about bumping locks as part of the training courses at lockmith training merseyside.co.uk, because if mastered correctly a locksmith can use bumping to gain entry when a person is locked out very quickly .
