Outline And Review: Foley-Belsaw Locksmithing Course

by **omgxraycat** » 23 Jul 2006 9:34

I enrolled recently (paid $599 in full). I got my first 15 lessons in about 1 week. So far, I have mixed feelings about the course. Sometimes I feel like it's a waste of money. Honestly, some of the guides on this site are more detailed than in F-B. I did it for the certificate...that's all. I really don't think it's that credible, but it will make it easier for you to get a job. It shows that you know the basics. I've looked up a few job applications for locksmiths needed in my area and no certifcates are required. Almost all of them say they'll train you on the job. I chose to take the course so I could start out hopefully making a bit more than an entry level lockie...for the simple fact that I will have experience.

I've done my first 10 lessons so far. (took probably about 4 hours cumulative). Waiting for my vice to come from harbor freight so I can move on.

by **omgxraycat** » 23 Jul 2006 9:36

oh yea...

Foley Belsaw is soooo easy so far...

If you fail it, you have serious problems.

There is usually an exam or 2 per skillpak (5 lessons) which is about 8 questions long. There isn't much reading to do, so the questions are very easy to answer.

Like I said, it's not meant to be hard...I don't thing it's possible to fail...lol

by **Bud Wiser** » 23 Jul 2006 9:40

Where are you folks getting the prices from? I'm looking at the two payment options now,

Enrollment Plan A - Please charge the full amount of my course ($869.00 less my $100.00 enrollment discount for a one-time payment of $769.00 total tuition)

Enrollment Plan B - Please charge my $30.00 down payment for my course to the credit card indicated below. I will send $55.00 per month until my tuition is paid in full. Total Tuition is $948.00.

Did it go up recently?

by **UWSDWF** » 23 Jul 2006 11:16

if you wait them out after requesting info they will lower their price

by **lt6206** » 26 Jul 2006 21:28

Bud Wiser wrote:Where are you folks getting the prices from? I'm looking at the two payment options now,

Enrollment Plan A - Please charge the full amount of my course ($869.00 less my $100.00 enrollment discount for a one-time payment of $769.00 total tuition)

Enrollment Plan B - Please charge my $30.00 down payment for my course to the credit card indicated below. I will send $55.00 per month until my tuition is paid in full. Total Tuition is $948.00.

Did it go up recently?

I just simply called them and told them that I saw a price of $649 on the pay as you go program and thats what they gave me.

by **lockdr** » 25 Jan 2007 0:31

I waited through a half dozen mailings that all had the same $948.00 price (US$) I waited for some sort of discount offer that never came. So I called them, lady with severe Jamaican(?) accent said "Dat's de price, you better hurry, it go up next month." So I looked around. I bought the lessons (only) on ebay for $32.60, found a key machine for $50.00 and bought 25 pounds of locks in a box from a locksmith for $5.00. Same (retired) locksmith also sold me a set of Reed code books for $125.00. He also threw in about 500 assorted blanks and a lot of advice. ("Don't do it, son, you'll be up in the middle of the night unlocking doors for loud, rude drunks that try to get out of paying you..") :wink:

by **docdredd** » 25 Jan 2007 1:24

well having not taken the course (but wanting to realy bad) take this with a grain of salt but last night i read through the 25+ pages of posts on the fb discussion thread and several of them got in for 600 dollars saying that they had heard others quoted that. they deny it for a while but it seams they give in if u haggle. worth a try at least.
peace
doc

by **Bob M** » 27 Jan 2007 12:23

Greetings, I just found this posting, had missed it before. Last Tuesday I signed up for the course. Called and spoke with a very nice lady, told her what I wanted, and asked for the $599 price. No problem at all, she just asked if I would be paying in full with a card. Then I asked if I could get the M K course, for $150, and that was no problem either.

I did say that I had read about the courses and the special pricing on an internet forum. Did not specificlly say THIS one.

All in all, a good transaction, no sales pitch, or anything else, that some of the members here reported.

Should have it this coming week, as they ship from their Wisconsin address. On Wednesdays.

I, too, will reposrt as things progress.

by **lostlink** » 28 Jan 2007 13:01

Bob M,

Forgive my ignorance......but what is the M K course?

Thanks,

LL

by **UWSDWF** » 28 Jan 2007 13:07

master keying

by **keysman** » 29 Jan 2007 2:54

lockdr wrote: ("Don't do it, son, you'll be up in the middle of the night unlocking doors for loud, rude drunks that try to get out of paying you..")

Best advise you could get ..... worth lots more than anything the FB course teaches

by **Wreckmaster** » 29 Jan 2007 18:45

I have mixed feeling on this. They are offering a lot of information, and providing some tools and materials, as well as giving you a certifacation that claims you are now a lockie.

What good is a piece of paper? It will not get you a job. It will not pay your bills. Nor will it open locks for you. If you are good at what you do, that will do all the above. Don't get me wrong, I am not against formal training, but this seems like a diploma in a box program to me. Will it hold as much weight as one found in a cracker jack box? I would rather see someone who was trained on the job or went ot a school.

If I read this correctly, you do not get to keep the locks for pratice. So, if you wanna stay in pratice, you would have to buy your own. Why not do that from the begining? You get to keep the tools, but they looked like very low quality. Furthermore, I have a lot of that stuff already. I bought it to teach my self how to play with locks. If I have half of it already, and the stuff I bought is of good quality. Why would I not buy the stuff I don't have and geet the good stuff? If I was planning to make a living off of this information and tools, I would want the best chance of success.

And from what I have seen listed. Most of the information can be obtained for free from here or the library, or for a small fee for a few books of your own.

I agree that a lot of locksmithing is hands on. How do you get hands on with out pratice locks. Especially auto lockouts. I would not suggest learning on your own car, or anyone you like. It is simple to go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a few locks to play with, but auto is another story.

All in all, I do not see this as a worthy investment. At least for me.

by **jimb** » 30 Jan 2007 0:33

Wreckmaster wrote:I have mixed feeling on this. They are offering a lot of information, and providing some tools and materials, as well as giving you a certifacation that claims you are now a lockie.

What good is a piece of paper? It will not get you a job. It will not pay your bills. Nor will it open locks for you. If you are good at what you do, that will do all the above. Don't get me wrong, I am not against formal training, but this seems like a diploma in a box program to me. Will it hold as much weight as one found in a cracker jack box? I would rather see someone who was trained on the job or went ot a school.

If I read this correctly, you do not get to keep the locks for pratice. So, if you wanna stay in pratice, you would have to buy your own. Why not do that from the begining? You get to keep the tools, but they looked like very low quality. Furthermore, I have a lot of that stuff already. I bought it to teach my self how to play with locks. If I have half of it already, and the stuff I bought is of good quality. Why would I not buy the stuff I don't have and geet the good stuff? If I was planning to make a living off of this information and tools, I would want the best chance of success.

And from what I have seen listed. Most of the information can be obtained for free from here or the library, or for a small fee for a few books of your own.

I agree that a lot of locksmithing is hands on. How do you get hands on with out pratice locks. Especially auto lockouts. I would not suggest learning on your own car, or anyone you like. It is simple to go to Lowes or Home Depot and buy a few locks to play with, but auto is another story.

All in all, I do not see this as a worthy investment. At least for me.

I felt it was a worthy investment for me. Being close to a half a century old and wanting to make a career change after being in the same field for 29 years, and knowing I didn't want to spend a couple of years as an apprentice doing all the jobs no one else wanted to do. Maybe that would be the best way to go, but I wanted a short cut. So I took the FB course, went to work for a locksmith and had him throw me to the wolves. That's when the real education began.

Yea you could learn most if not all of it on the internet, library or books but you need to know what you need to learn and then be disciplined enough to take the time to teach yourself. You will also need to buy what tools you need to practice. Some of these things will be expensive, like a key machine. You get a free one with the FB course. Its not the best but I use mine almost every day.

The "piece of paper" might help you get a job. It will also get you access to suppliers that will only deal with locksmiths.

This course is not for people that have a basic knowledge of locksmithing, in fact all it teaches you are the basics. It is best suited for those that have little or no knowledge of the business.

by **le.nutzman** » 31 Jan 2007 3:00

I am currently going throught the Foley-Belsaw course while serving abroad. I have to say that the course is a bit easy, as in easy on the mind. It doesn't load you down with alot of information that you don't need to do the job like most training courses do that I've been through. I've been working with locks and tinkering around with locksmithing for a while and I guess for me, sure I know how a lock works and how to rip one off the wall or out of a door, but i'd also like to know the right way of doing it as well.

I think regardless of your level of experience, there's something that can be said about going through the coursework and learning what is deemed as the right way of dealing with locks versus my preferred way when i was semi educated.

Whether or not the paper means anything to anyone I think is really up to the person that's going through the course. Being a "certified locksmith" can carry a lot of weight, or it can be just that, a saying. It's like when I got into the IT world several years ago, I knew LAN Administration well before i got certified, but most places wouldn't accept my word or my skills until i presented them with certificates from Microsoft, CompTIA and BrainBench due to the technical nature of the job. Then it was like, oh you seem to know what you're talking about, come right on in.

Is working on the inner working parts of a lock any less technical? I guess you have to think about the field you're in and ask yourself, would you want some person coming in off the street, picking up an impressioning tool, make a key and then turn to you and say that they're a locksmith now considering you went through at least some type of formal training?

I guess it really matters what field you're in as far as if the certificate makes that much of a difference.

Overall I think the course is very good, and I am grateful that due to my situation FB is even working with me to get me all my material ahead of schedule. Not a lot of "out of the box" schools are like that and going to do that for you. I honestly don't feel like "just another numbered student" with FB. I've emailed them and they've responded very personably to my requests. But that's just my two cents.

On a side note, from the ORIGINAL post, my lesson 7 - Impressioning a warded lock, the material has changed so I didn't actually get to impression a key just yet. As I continue through the course, i'll update the orignal post with any other course changes.

by **freakparade3** » 8 Feb 2007 14:45

When I first started the course I was not really impressed. I have since changed my mind. I'm nearly finished with the course and I have learned alot. It's a great beginner course. You can find alot of information online, but alot of it can be hard to understand at first. With learning the basics from Foley Belsaw it becomes easier. It's like anything else, you will get out of it what you are willing to put into it. If you impression the key they send you and stop you won't learn much. I went to the store and bought a couple dozen blank keys and impressioned every lock I had. I would have preferred more hands on learning but I feel that I got my moneys worth from the course. I plan on taking some of the other courses they offer after i am finished with my last few lessons.

Outline And Review: Foley-Belsaw Locksmithing Course

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