How busy are you?

[Marcus27]

Interested to see how busy some of the UK locksmiths are at the moment.

[p1ckf1sh]

Interested to see how busy some of the UK locksmiths are at the moment.

Locked out?

Or thinking about becoming one?

[Wrenchman]

Very busy!

http://www.lockpicking101.com//viewtopic.php?t=4708&start=15

pinky says that he is busy, so start practicing"

[zeke79]

I know that chatting with alot of UK lockies that do not know me by screen name here say they are swamped with lockouts at this point. I guess some locks are getting problems with high low keying problems (lever locks) after wear and that has caused some problems after time.

If you are in the UK, practice up on common locks!!

[NickBristol]

Not very... but still new to the business so guess I have to be thankful for ANY work. Been doing one or two lock replacements a day - all installing BS locks to complement cylinders already on the door.

Only done one lockout so far where I had to pick anything... a cheap Yale padlock to let a dog out of a shed and took under 2 mins.

[zeke79]

Great job picking the yale mate . Keep us informed of your progress both in the industry and outside of it in your hobby picking .

[Marcus27]

Ive been learning to pick locks for a while. Ive recently considered it as a job but dont want to enter a dying trade. How has locksmithing changed over the last 20 years? I guess you are still busy because of increased population but do less masterkeying etc because this has been replaced by assecc control systems etc. Am I right?

Im also concerned by the number of training courses available. I always thought locksmithing was a family type business and to get into it you had to know someone who would be prepared to teach you.

From my experience of other trades once training courses etc appear and the trade is hyped then the bottom has already dropped out of it.

Is there a shortage of locksmith here in the UK?

Sorry for the questions but Im just trying to gauge the situation.

[Shrub]

There are enough locksmiths but far too many door openers,

What you need to do is look in your yellow pages and turn to locksmiths, look at all the companies there and think to yourself if you can compete with them and get to the top of that list, thos adverts cost a lot of money as well,

I would suggest you need to look at the training threads and the tool threads on whats needed to get going,

You can go out with a drill and a few locks in a bag and get some money but you wont last long, to set up properly you need to be spending thousands and thousands of pounds to just set up (10-15k ish)

[taylorgdl]

There are 14 pages of locksmiths in my YP.

[Mark A]

I agree with with Shrub about too many door openers.

Locksmithing is a huge subject and covers many different areas of work, trying to survive on just lock outs would be a very big ask, if you could identify a specialist area which is lacking in your Yellow Pages then you could maybe concentrate on filling that gap.

BTW I am very busy at the moment and have been for the the last few months. (Mainly jammed UPVC Doors).

Mark

[taylorgdl]

...

BTW I am very busy at the moment and have been for the the last few months. (Mainly jammed UPVC Doors).

Mark

Snap.

Lacking up here in the North East? Vehicle entry (done properly, and not by dynolock etc).

G.

[Marcus27]

What problems do UPVC doors give Mark A?

I have looked in YP and there are a few pages of locksmiths.
Some adverts look like they are the same person working under a different name.

What was the trade like in the 70s and 80s? Anyone old enough to remember?

[Mark A]

Marcus27

UPVC doors having mutipoint locks with numerous locking points are prone to expansion and contraction caused by heat and cold.

This causes a number of different problems with doors dropping/twisting causing the MPL and keepers to be misaligned.

If this is not remedied then the continued use can cause the MPL to break/jam either in locked position or open.
Some people will have the door realigned as soon as it becomes difficult to lock, others just keep forcing it until it breaks.

Following the recent hot spell we had I've had loads of this type of work.

Mark

[Marcus27]

Mark A,

What you do if it jams in the locked position. Take it picking or snaping the lock is no good.

[Mark A]

Marcus27

There are many different makes of MPL with hundreds of variations in total, cerain makes/models will tend to break in the same way and only with experience in opening these will you learn to "feel" what has broken.

I cannot give you examples on how to open MPL's as it is dependant on make/model and most opening techniques are forms of bypass methods which cannot be discussed in the open forum.

Mark