Create a new masterkey

[vector40]

That is a pretty good idea.

[p1ckf1sh]

That is a pretty good idea.

Yup. And while I have never had my hands on a Kwickset lock, from what I hear (only 6 depths) they seem to be pretty easy to pick. Brian, maybe during repinning you will get interested in trying to pick one of the locks. If you get some hours of training down you might be able to consistently pick those locks in a pretty quick manner. There you are with your "masterkey", without the risk of crosskeying or illicitly made masterkey duplicates.

[vector40]

o_O I assume he was looking at mastery for convenience, not to have an emergency backup. Picking the lock every time you want access is not what I would call convenient.

[raimundo]

I pick the lock on the back gate of the place where I live every day several times, sometimes ya just gotta arrange your life to get in that regular practice. I gave my key away over a year ago. I can pick that padlock as fast as I could open it with a key by now. I'd just rather pick it.

[Raccoon]

Additional thoughts for the original poster, as he may not be aware.

Any lock that is part of your mastering system will contain the secret masterkey inside. All it would take is a renter with a curious son who removes one of the locks and peers inside. With knowledge obtained from the pinning configuration, he could then obtain a KW1 blank and make his own master key, or ask the hardware shop to make one for him.

If you are looking for Kwikset pinning kits, you will find the best deals on eBay. I would recommend the following auctions. If the auctions have expired by the time you're ready to buy, simply look at the seller's current auctions and you'll find the same set.

$24.95 + $5.00 -- Locksmith, Handyman, Pinning Kit for Kwikset (NEW)
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 6049112726

$24.95 + $4.95 -- (NEW) Locksmith Kwikset Master Pinning, Re-keying kit
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 7603810578

There are certainly other kits on eBay, just pay attention to what you're getting with the kit. The two above kits are very similar, except the second comes with master system pins. I suspect you'll get more of the 1-6 bottom pins and more misc parts in the first kit, but you'll need to contact both sellers for detailed specific counts.

Good luck.

[briandugas]

Thanks everyone.

I didn't know that one of my mortgage brokers used to be a locksmith. So I'm going to his house today, and he's gonna show me the ropes. I went buy a lock today to use as practice, and he's gonna show me how to repin it. I'll get him to show me how to masterkey it as well, and then we'll discuss security issues.

If you knew the neighborhoods some of my rent houses are in, you wouldn't be concerned with someone taking a lock off and figuring things out. These aren't the brightest folks, if you know what I mean. Most are on some type of government assistance. Anway, if I'm armed with the knowledge of re-pinning a lock, I can always abort the master key system if needed. Or, I could keep houses across town from each other on the same master, but not two houses next door. My dad owns a few houses all next door, so we probably won't master those.

But I'm getting the picture on the security concerns of masterkeying a Kwikset lock. I see it's not a smart idea for an appartment complex, or multi-unit building.

Thanks to the poster who gave the ebay links. I'll check those out.

[illusion]

For what it's worth - you could have found out how to repin a lock by reading a guide that was made specificaly for this purpose. I guess it's not important now...

[briandugas]

I have read guides on how to repin a lock, doesn't seem too dificult. I'm just going over to a friends house to get some hands on practice.

[Mutzy]

hehe...do it while he's not home

(joke)