Bumping As A Locksmith

[whiteknight38]

Interesting. I'm still prepared to bet that there will be a market for a Dedicated Tension Wrench/ Turning Tool For Bumping. I suspect that as more professional tools (or at least more professional looking tools) are introduced to the North American Industry Market, the more widely accepted bumping will be within the North American locksmithing community.
Look, I know Euro locksmiths are rolling their eyes as they read this, (those who have evidently long ago adopted bumping as an established practice) as well as the many hot-shot hobbyists and sport competitors in this forum (who routinely pick, and bump locks that I would have hitherto considered impossible, and are still way, way, way beyond my range.)
Nevertheless, bumping is currently, just simply, NOT widely accepted as a bypass technique amongst my colleagues in the industry. At least those of with whom I've discussed the matter.
Nobody asked me about bumping TWO years ago, as far as I can remember. Now, I'm getting inquiries all the time. From customers, and from law enforcement.
Look, if someone came up to me two years ago, and asked me about bumping, I would have said, "Yeah, I'm aware of the practice, but honestly, I've looked into it, and I think its all poppy _."
Now, I have to rethink my position.
I got involved in this 101 to learn about the practice, and I'm delighted to be learning all kinds of other interesting stuff too.
I have no problem, by the way, seeking counsel from people too young to legally buy a drink, or date my baby sitter, and to ask for their help.
I'm sitting here, perusing posts, occasionally trying to share a bit of knowledge of my own, all the while whacking a screwdriver against an SC1 key in a lock that I could pick in under a minute, waiting for my hammer to arrive, and the plug to rotate, and trying to keep an open mind.

[ldnlksmth]

The perceived difference between a locksmith and a criminial in a lot of cases is professionalism. I havn't kept track, but I would bet that almost 2/3 of my residential lockout customers ask me 'are you breaking in?' while I pick their locks open.

IT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION that bumping is a less professional method, when a pick gun (which does the same thing, I will admit) looks better. Exceptions to this include: Side bar locks that couldn't otherwise be picked (ASSA, PRIMUS), I broke my pick gun and don't have a replacement part on hand, and I'm sure there are others I'm not thinking of right now.

[jimb]

IT IS MY PERSONAL OPINION that bumping is a less professional method, when a pick gun (which does the same thing, I will admit) looks better.

I'm not trying say it's more professional or less professional, but I've got to ask what makes bumping so unprofessional? I'm not looking for a fight just a debate.

I've stated that I don't like the pick gun, it's just my opinion. I gave my pick gun away. I do have an electric pick that I do use.

Let me ask this, if a bump key was in some type of devise that did not require hitting the key with something would it look more professional? Would it look as professional as a pick gun? Or is it just unprofessional because it's so darn easy?

[ldnlksmth]

To me, bumping looks amateur. The videos I've seen on you-tube show amateurs using cheesy looking tools...

Anyone who has seen those videos, then sees someone who markets himself as a 'professional' would get the notion that this guy who's charging me upwards of $75 to open my lock isn't any better than the guy on you-tube that made the key with his 3 dollar Wal-mart file set.

If there were a way to make the whole process look like it takes training, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. If it looks like anyone can do it (tools made from every day items that don't require any skill or training to use), then the customer's going to feel ripped off.

To use a comparison, I read an article in an old Locksmith Ledger (from the late 70's) and a locksmith was marketing a tool that is very similar (if not exactly) to HPC's Shovit tool. It involved grinding down spring steel and all kinds of mean nasty ugly things. An editorial in the next issue told of another locksmith who had been using the same process for years, but used a steak knife instead of a specially made tool.

Two things come to mind immediately here:
1: I am paying some guy a lot of money and all he's got is a steak knife? Where's my money going?
2: If he can do this with a steak knife, how many other people can?

Regardless of its effectiveness, who made it or where (for the record, I do use homemade tools pretty regularly) or how much it cost, if it looks like anyone can do it, than anyone will. Read some of the posts in 'customers who do it themselves and fail'. Coat hangers, antennae and myriads of other things being shoved down into doors, because they look like professional tools.

baffles brains, and keeping up appearances will keep us in jobs.

[fsdhy]

To me, bumping looks amateur. The videos I've seen on you-tube show amateurs using cheesy looking tools...

Anyone who has seen those videos, then sees someone who markets himself as a 'professional' would get the notion that this guy who's charging me upwards of $75 to open my lock isn't any better than the guy on you-tube that made the key with his 3 dollar Wal-mart file set.

If there were a way to make the whole process look like it takes training, then I wouldn't have a problem with it. If it looks like anyone can do it (tools made from every day items that don't require any skill or training to use), then the customer's going to feel ripped off.

To use a comparison, I read an article in an old Locksmith Ledger (from the late 70's) and a locksmith was marketing a tool that is very similar (if not exactly) to HPC's Shovit tool. It involved grinding down spring steel and all kinds of mean nasty ugly things. An editorial in the next issue told of another locksmith who had been using the same process for years, but used a steak knife instead of a specially made tool.

Two things come to mind immediately here:
1: I am paying some guy a lot of money and all he's got is a steak knife? Where's my money going?
2: If he can do this with a steak knife, how many other people can?

Regardless of its effectiveness, who made it or where (for the record, I do use homemade tools pretty regularly) or how much it cost, if it looks like anyone can do it, than anyone will. Read some of the posts in 'customers who do it themselves and fail'. Coat hangers, antennae and myriads of other things being shoved down into doors, because they look like professional tools.

<censored> baffles brains, and keeping up appearances will keep us in jobs.

You nailed it. Thats EXACTLY why I would never bump a lock. Picking is an art which not everyone can master (as far as joe public knows ). A monkey could bump a lock.

Hey, thats a good idea. Someone make a video of a monkey bumping a lock...

[lunchb0x]

i dont think the customer should be shown any technique that they can use, if you use a piece of plastic to shim the latch dont let them see because they might try it and possably stuff things more or use it to brake in to someones house
and bumping is something they might try, whether the key is cut properly or not they can do damage to the lock
at least with picking it is still abit of a mystery to most people for how it works and i think they are less likely to attempt this

[whiteknight38]

One very probable reason why bumping isn’t widely utilized as a professional bypass technique in North America is a lack of information. Not everyone in the trade is up to speed. Not everyone has even heard of it, and many have never considered it an efficient bypass technique. Not everyone is cognizant of the latest developments. Remember, I first tried (and gave up on) bumping a decade ago, using a key with 999 cuts, and have only in this forum learned that slightly deeper cuts work best. Nor was I aware of bumping’s evident efficacy on high security locks.
A search of the trade journals, (the data bases of National Locksmith and the Locksmith Ledger) reveals only a handful of articles on bumping. Significantly, not one of these articles are instructional. They all essentially convey the message that “the cat is out of the bag, and we as security pros, must continue to upgrade our skills, and knowledge of high security systems. Blah blah blah. Bumping in other words, is looked upon (by the North American Industry) as an opportunity to make money by selling better locks and security systems. It is not being popularized as a way of augmenting our professional bypass skills. It’s not being taught at the conventions. The tools are not being advertised in the trade magazines.
I’m unaware of a single locksmith in Ontario who uses bump keys in the field. I don’t know anything about Europe. It sounds like it’s a common practice, and I’ve read that as many as ten percent of burglaries of unknown cause, may be attributable to bump key crooks. I just assume it’s a regular part of an EU locksmith day. This is not so in North America.
I strongly sense that professional tools will hasten bumping’s acceptance over here. This is only my opinion, but part of the reason I abandoned my bumping experiments years ago, was because I just couldn’t see myself whacking on a key with an old screwdriver, in front of paying customers. Because back then, as now, I too think it smacks of amateur hour. A commercially produced bump hammer, might make a difference. But believe me, if a homemade EPG made out of an electric toothbrush was proven to work better than my 100 dollar Lockaid gun, I still wouldn’t use it in front of customers. Part of professional locksmithing after all, is image. My lockout kit, is a large aluminum suitcase, filled to overflowing with glittering gizmos, dangerous looking, high-tech, mysterious things. Some are real. Some don’t even make sense. But they look scary and technical as all hell. People go, “Ooooh!” when I open it.
Some locksmiths don’t even consider guns to look very professional and won’t use them on the street for this reason. Even the dullest of customers, will sense that there is an element of randomness going on, and not pure technical skill. Very often, especially if the gun is successful in the first thirty seconds, I will put down the gun, and pretend to fiddle with the lock with picks. I do this for a few reasons. Firstly, to overlay the process with the appearance of additional complexity, (which has always been part of a locksmiths job) and partly to put on a bit of a show for the customer, because honest to God, the customers like it, and they get kind of frosty, when the show is over too quick, and looked too easy.
I look at guns as a compromise involving several factors: speed, efficiency, technical appearance of the tool and technique, the “mystery” factor, weighed against the sort of random nature of the technique, and the deleterious effect it has on my picking skills over time if used too much.
Not everyone who tries a gun likes it, or ever gets proficient. Most people, however, with proper instruction, and a bit of practice can get quite proficient very quickly. I can’t see it as being much fun for a picking hobbyist, however, but I don’t pick for fun. I pick to get good at it, because I pick for money. Consequently, I for one, will adapt, and adopt new technologies that facilitate that aim, and I suspect that the guy who develops the first reciprocating bump gun, or whatever, that works at a high level of efficiency will make do ok.
If I have to drill a lock, it means a padded invoice and extra money, but it’s also a lot of extra work. It means extra time on the job, an extra trip to the van for tools, and a new lock, and an annoyed and customer. That customer is probably a lost customer. I consider that a bad compromise. I like gaining entry without doing damage, and going back home to bed.

[code000187]

You know I have bumped in front of my customers many a time. True it is not the first thing I try but I will not hesitate to bump if need be. Customers are actually wowed by me being able to open up their house in under 1 min. Most of the customers I deal with are happier the faster I open their house not if I make it look good. I have many 0 degree days where I live and work and anything to get into a house or business for a customer fast is great.
I was taught by my instructor to be quick and efficient. Not to make a show. But that is me and my instructors opinion.
After I bump I explain that just about anyone can do it. I have made many security upgrade sales because of the above explanation.
But there is an easy way to greatly reduce the effectiveness of bumping. It includes a very strong spring, ball bearing and a setscrew. You will lose a pinhole but that will not matter in a 6 or up pin cyl.

[ldnlksmth]

Seems we're mostly on the same page with different points of view: We would all like nothing more than to be able to perform NDE quickly and efficiently.

I just had my water heater replaced. It's a gas model and the tehcnician that came out was a mess. His tools were scattered and held in milk crates, he didn't have a couple tools he needed (I supplied them) and certainly didn't have everything he needed with him (i.e. shims for an unlevel floor). After he was done, I had a friend of mine (also a tech) come over and check his work. Everything was fine, but I felt better having known. Realistically, if the first tech had been well organized, looked professional in his work and gave me the impression that he KNEW what he was doing, I wouldn't have questioned it. It's all about appearances.

If a locksmith shows up in a clean truck, clean uniform, has everything together and does what looks like a professional job, everything's cool. Conversly, if you hit an old key with an old screwdriver, it makes you look like someone who doesn't really know what he's doing.

[bonez]

agreed'

i think it's about how professionally it's done in front
of a customer!

with a well cut key and a bump hammer like omi's kebump 2
with a line like this does'nt always work but it's worth a try!!


usually takes the onus off the opening style

well presented and professional looking usually cuts it

the public do not know as much about bumping as we think!

but they will still not pay good money for a bump proof lock

j.

[raimundo]

a professional appearence is the first and sometimes only asset of a conman faking it too. Appearance is more valued by the public than the real deal. If you can learn to fake sincerity you will succeed in this world, as it is now.

[ldnlksmth]

And I'm not saying that it's a forbidden practice. I think that bumping could be the only way to ensure success in, for example ASSA and Primus if you have the right sidebar, where picking isn't perticularly realistic in a 'feild' scenario. I've never tried it, but I bet it could work well.

I think this issue has been laid to rest.

[Raccoon]

I have never been asked by a customer, "are you breaking in?" when picking their locks with lockpicks. I have been asked "are those lockpicks?" and "where did you learn how to do that?" and "just like in the movies!", but never anything of suspicion or wiriness.

However, I would feel uncomfortable breaking out a bump key unless I have completely exhausted my lockpicks. And if asked or identified by the customer, I would simply explain that it's a "method that was adopted by locksmiths long before it gained any media attention, and works much in the same way as an electric pick gun-- but more reliable."

[Bump]

I have never been asked by a customer, "are you breaking in?" when picking their locks with lockpicks. I have been asked "are those lockpicks?" and "where did you learn how to do that?" and "just like in the movies!", but never anything of suspicion or wiriness.

However, I would feel uncomfortable breaking out a bump key unless I have completely exhausted my lockpicks. And if asked or identified by the customer, I would simply explain that it's a "method that was adopted by locksmiths long before it gained any media attention, and works much in the same way as an electric pick gun-- but more reliable."

And that just about says it all!

[freakparade3]

Thanks for all the replies. This is a great place to learn all the things the books don't teach you. Of course I still have to get the bump keys to work, not having much luck so far. Thanks again.