my garage lock with a plexiglass side

[zeke79]

Now get yourself some BS rated lever locks from UK. If you pick up some curtained lever locks it will give you a greater challenge for sure. These are generally single throw and have a curtain to help prevent you from using tools to access the levers for picking. Make sure you get a few keys if you buy one as you can make a turning tool with one of the keys and a pick tool from some small diameter piano wire. This should keep you busy for a while. IiRC a good starting curtained lever lock would be an ERA Profit (again IIRC). Your best bet is to try and get a look at the keys and stay away from locks with low cuts on the keys as low levers are tough to deal with even with your newly made tools which actually work very well. The downfall of these tools is that you need to have a pair of them if you use them for actual locksmith opening as different handing will require a tool that is a mirror image of the first tool you made.

If you happen to pick up a curtained lever lock, drop me a pm and I'll help you make a set of tools if it is not already posted on the site somewhere.

[scampdog]

Nice one Zeke,
well up to your high standards, great pics.

[femurat]

Hi zeke79, thanks for your helpfulness.
This year I want to buy some locks, so your suggestion about the curtained lever locks is very precious.

As soon as I first picked the lock, I discovered that I couldn't close it with the same tensioner... so instead of building a new one I used the key to close it and pick it again in the same direction. Am I too lazy? My tools are made from a coathanger, so I definitely need to build something better.

Anyway, when I'll find an ERA profit or a similar lock, I'll let you know (and I'll appreciate your help ).

Cheers

[femurat]

Time is passed since I started playing with this lock, so I decided to make better tools. First of all I bent two bicycle spokes to make stiffer picks. Easy.
Now I want to file down a copy of the key and use it as a wrench. What is the lower limit to keep? I guess I just need the shaft. Is it enough to keep the yellow part or It's better to keep also the red one?



Thanks in advance

[weerwolf]

You really need just one of the two sides. But if you want to pick the lock when its locked twice , you will have to turn the "key" almost 360° , if you leave both sides , you'll only need to flip the key almost 180°.

[femurat]

Thanks weerwolf, it could be an easy guess but I preferred to ask before cutting.
I'm going to keep just the yellow part: I don't mind turning the key 360° if this can give me more room in the keyway.

cheers

[femurat]

So this is my new wrench. It's a lot different from the wireframe one I used before.
I'm looking for another lock to practice with and when I'll find it I'll need different tools. By the way, does anybody know why it's so hard to find an ERA profit? I asked in the buy sell trade area but nobody answered...

Cheers

[exspook]

it is good to see loads of really helpfull advice on here

these locks are common in Europe as the security lies in the extra throw of the bolt and the hardness to duplicate the keys

you can still "DO" these with two wires and utube has some interesting videos to prove a point

good stuff

Dave

[Rickthepick]

wow id like to have a go at picking that

[femurat]

with a plexiglass side? I can do that

[Rickthepick]

no properly, else whats the point

[rphillips52]

It's a lever lock, just a different design than the types you normally see. Looks like only 3 levers with a reversible key. You could try a blank with the back portion cut down , leaving just the front portion to engage the bolt and use this as your tension wrench.

I think you will find it is *6* levers. The bolt tail is in the middle of the lever stack, with 3 levers on each side of it. Some such locks are made for 2-sided operation, so will need a key symetrical from tip to bow and some are for single-sided operation, which do not need a symetrical key.

[femurat]

You're right rphillips52,

it's a 6 levers with the bolt in the middle. We call it 3+3. The key is symmetrical so it can be used from both sides of the door.

Cheers

[ARF-GEF]

I've just read your post Femurat about the Graham Pulford encyclopaedic reference. I happen to have the book and it's well worth the money. It's probably the best book I've ever read concerning locks!

[supercat101]

wow id like to have a go at picking that

The regularity of the false gates would seem to facilitate impressioning, since it looks like the real gate is larger than the false ones. For each false-gate height, use a soft-topped blank to raise levers to that height, put the lock under tension, and wiggle the blank. Observing which heights cause each lever not to leave marks should make it clear what the height of each piece of the key would need to be.