friendly neighborhood Lowes guy

[pickin]

Well I went up to Lowes today(thats the closest hardware store around here) with the aim of buying some pins for the Shlages in my house to repin them all to one key thus lightening my key-chain by a pound or 2.

When I started talking to the guy at the key area I told him what I needed and that I would be doing the job myself just needed the pins. So he pulls out this box of pins and odd pieces from Schlage locks and starts dropping them into a bag for me (didn't mind them being mixed all together as that would be part of the fun for me).

When he was done I asked how much it would be for the assortment of pins and he told me I could just have them.... I said well how about at least charging me the rate for him having to repin a cylinder and he said no I could take them he was just happy I didn't want him to do the actual work!!!

So for 5 minutes of time at a Lowes counter I walked away with enough pins to repin all the locks I needed too and had a ton left over for playing with. Its nice to have some one do a nice thing for another person like that, something I have done for many a year for anyone I have come across that needed alittle help.

[illusion]

Good things come to those who try. Congrats.

[Grudge]

Early on, when I was still trying to figure out which end of the lock you put the key into (well, I was ALMOST that bad ), I also went to Lowes. Instead of asking for pins, I bought a cheap deadbolt and asked the guy to repin it to my house key. He was really nice and let me watch exactly how he did each step. Like most people, he liked to talk about his work (of course it is best to wait for a slow time to strike up a conversation) and we got into the different locks, how to take them apart, using a plug follower, what sizes of pins there are, etc. By the end, we had probably spent 20-30 minutes on this simple repin and I got a bunch of education and a practice lock for about $20.00. That is a pretty good bargain.

If you are just starting out it never hurts to talk to a guy who does it every day. Maybe you can even get some free pins too (darn I didn't think of that!).