A couple of probably very stupid questions but . . .

[raimundo]

Oh, about the loid, a better technique if you know and understand it is the z wire, made of bicycle spoke, it can be used to press back springbolts, it can easily pass two opposing 90 degree angles in the door jamb. it really looks more like the h with the left leg cut off, slide one end under the lip of the door jamb, and the other end works like a crank handle. with the center part being the axis of the crank. pull out on you end, the opposite end goes into the door space and contacts the springbolt.

[sivlogkart]

Firstly is the term loid standard as far as you are concerned? It was not previously known to me.

I can see how this z wire gets round one right angle, but cannot see how it would do two and still be able to push the bolt. Can you explain some more please?

The reason I am interested is I think my work office may have been entered as you have just described.

KJ

[Megareader]

Okay, d0ded0, turns out this is a good question . . .

I am not finding a lot of instances of "loid" used as a noun out there. I did find several of it used as a verb, however, perhaps even here it is not as common as I thought.

You see, one of the examples I found was in the Bernie Rodenbarr series written by Lawrence Block. I'm a big Block fan (not so much Rodenbarr the burglar as Matt Scudder the down-and-out ex-cop alcoholic P.I.) so I probably ran across this term often in reading and assumed it was common parlance. Guess if locksmiths don't use it, it probably is more of a term used by detective novelists. Haha.

It is listed in the Word For The Day sites, but only as a verb . . . to loid open a door, etc.

So I guess leaning on that word might not be such a great idea. I wonder how many others out there have used it.

[chopitup]

This was the first I've heard of it.