Kawneer...any info?

[Krypos]

i just received 11 kawneer cylinders. i have to clean all of them...a lot, but my question is....WHO THE BLAZES IS KAWNEER?! a simple search of the word kawneer pulled up an amazing 5 threads. all of which only mention kawneer. mostly they are mentioned on the same level as yale and sargeant etc, but i dont know what level of difficulty they really are.

anyone know? that and cleaning techniques, i have heard of nail polish remover does wonders, anything else?

again, spelled KAWNEER. ive never even heard of them before now.

help appreciated!

[n2oah]

I've seen a few and they appear to be knock-offs.

[Krypos]

nuckin futs.

[unbreakable]

nuckin futs.

LOL

[thecommish34]

I can tell you who they are, but I have no idea who make the cylinders for them.

Kawneer makes aluminum doors among other things.

Maybe you can find something on their website.

http://www.alcoa.com/bcs/kawneer_namer/en/home.asp

Good Luck!

The Commish

[Krypos]

i ran a google search 2sec after posting, found that site and saw a bunch of krap about doors and construction stuff. so i figure they are relatively cheap knockoffs as n2oah stated.

what ive done to most of them is: take them apart. im going to finish cleaning them eventually, but for now i have some 30 key pins, driver pins and springs. i have got like 6 of the 11 opened, which is good (open as in open, not picked though) i plan on cleaning, repinning some/most of them to be decent practice locks. the tolerances of the pins, etc seem to be on the low end though, although, i am sure it is due to dirt/grime, etc.

either way, 11 locks for 15 (including shipping of 4.05) aint bad (thats USD folks) so i am doing pretty good even if they are knockoffs.

they all use either SC1 keyways or i think 1A (<??). i have like 70 keys of varying sorts, so i tried like all of them. the 1A one is a Timpson brand key, says for all types of keys, 1A and HD on it, the HD is connected. so i think 1A is the keyway, but ill have to look it up in my files, etc.

[Shrub]

Sounds like a standard Yale keyway style,

Where in the world did you get them?

[Varjeal]

They are indeed knock offs of other brands. Normally these cylinders are stuffed into their new doors until they fail and some locksmith comes along and replaces 'em all with decent quality locks. Good for picking practice once they're heavily cleaned (usually involving a complete strip-down) and reassembled.

For some reason I also seem to find a lot of them have been painted over to match the rest of the door.

[Schuyler]

Yeah, I recieved a few kawneers in that huge lot I got a while back, including 1 here that has, in fact, been painted over

I haven't even gotten to them yet, I'd love your review Krypos, once you have them cleaned and in right picking order.

[Krypos]

well, these were once in use (how else could they look that way?!) and i got them in a set of 11 locks i bought from octillion. i thought the thread said a mix of schlages and yales, but maybe im wrong, its long gone now. oh well, it was $15 (including shipping) for 11 locks, so even if they are shat, i still have 11 locks for about $1.10 each (shipping was $4.05)

what ive done since last post is strip all but 3 down to nothing. i have some small containers (old fishing hook box thing, although NOT a tackle box.) and i sorted out key pins, driver pins, springs and spacers into the thing and i can VERY EASILY mix and match pins and whatnot for any of them. not to mention, i had to clean them inside and out. whew.

the remaining 3 i have to pick to remove the plug. there is no slide thing on the top (what is that called?!) so normally you'd need the key, but i dont have the key, so i have to pick it. although i aint tried to pick it really yet.

i dont think they were painted over, but the front covers were loose and nasty, so i just rip those off with pliers and sand down the front lightly and for the most part they look like decent practice locks now.

and best of all? two of the locks were pinned with 5 pins, however, they have 6 holes, and because i have a crapload of pins and springs, i can pin those to make a harder lock. (if only harder by one pin.) ive never picked anything with 6 pins (that i know of...)

[Raccoon]

spring covers? Are these a mortise lock?
Any event, you could try shimming the lock if you have a keyblank.

Not a bad deal on locks. Personally, I'd like to find suppliers to purchase quantities of brand cylinders and plugs from.

[illusion]

Any event, you could try shimming the lock if you have a keyblank

You don't even need a keyblank to shim locks.

[Raccoon]

No, but it's so much easier. I suppose a vice would help, though, if using a pick.

[illusion]

A vice does help, a *lot*.

I was just pointing out that you can still shim a lock if you don't have a keyblank.

[Schuyler]

spring covers? Are these a mortise lock?
Any event, you could try shimming the lock if you have a keyblank.

Not a bad deal on locks. Personally, I'd like to find suppliers to purchase quantities of brand cylinders and plugs from.

Try craigslist. I found a longtime locksmith who has offered to supply me with locks for about $1 each, whenever I'd like. If I start requesting specific brands, I wouldn't be shocked if he charged me more, but he had no idea about LP101 or about lockpicking as a hobby. I'm sure there are plenty of others out there.