by pinky » 8 Jul 2004 16:21
before ever buying any tool , you must way up what is within your current ability and what will work for you, consider the following;
2mm Drill template kit
to use this tool effectively you must be good at lock id, ie , the card states union 2201 hole 2 orange lever lifter, first you must have successfully id the lock properly, yes it has a listing for almost every bs lock, but unless you can succesfully id each lock through the keyhole the kit is of little use to you.
an excellent tool, but useless if your id skills are not honed, this you can be trained on but to be honest not fully, this comes with skill and practice and learning by mistakes.
the photo id
these are effective as you have a visual guide as to what to look for, this is assuming that through the keyhole the lock hasnt been resprayed, hasnt weathered and rusted on the case. this tool too relys on successfull id, though helps part way there, i know rockford has bought an id book the same as the one on sale from mark69 in buy and sell section, these 36 templates are sold by a respected locksmith for £150 and i believe hes selling his far cheaper as hes quitting, i also had a set of these, they work and its a cheaper place to start.
i have almost every tool on sale in the uk as i need them for evaluation purposes and for training, alot dont do as claimed and are not as good as the hype, or are just not practical.