Fontaine locks

[Rickthepick]

Recently came back from honeymoon in the Maldives where i spotted a nice little lock stamped Fontaine Paris.
Cant find much info on it...

pictures

The key is quite substantial but feels pretty sloppy in the lock. Would love a bit more info or one to play with if possible

[jpb06080]

your blog is awesome. cool to get a taste of what locksmithing is like in europe.

[FrenchKey]

Hi,

I don't have so much info about that lock, but I can say it's a french one, Not produced, or at least not sold anymore in the common market.
It does exist in several version, the one you had, but also in europrofile shape too.

And it does exist in 5, and 7 "pins" versions.
The 5 one is very very easy to pick (if you like to pick a lock 6 time to make one turn )
But a simple tool can allow you to pick it only one time for a whole turn.
I never tried to pick a 7 pins one, but I believe it's not so hard (which is not the case of others french pump locks)

If you have questions about this lock, I may have the answer (or maybe not ), so please ask.

nice blog, thanks

[Rickthepick]

interesting. I dont suppose you have any pictures of the tool?

if you look closely you will notice a small 1-2mm hole drilled in the cylinder too. Could this be where management have opened the door in the past when keys were lost?

[FrenchKey]

You supposed right
And you are very lucky that it was laying somewhere around in my livingroom, so I made a picture

here it is


It's an "umbrella", homemade one of course
It's more used as a "variable key", as a real umbrella


But I don't think that the hole can be used for opening the lock. It's a kind of bramah lock, so such a hole might not be enough (but I will think about it, it might be useful )

[Rickthepick]

sweet self impressioning DIY.

[femurat]

FrenchKey, I've never thought of using an hex key as the central part of a pick. Very clever idea! If I came across a lock like that I'll try this out. Thanks for the picture. Is that string enough to keep the probes together?

Hey Rick, did you dive in the Maldives? That's the divers paradise

Cheers

[Rickthepick]

yes most fantastic aquatic wildlife iv seen. Well worth the money Not many locks though

[FrenchKey]

Is that string enough to keep the probes together?

it can't be seen very well, but a rubber string is used. The tissue is used in order to not stick the probes with the rubber band. It can slide smoothly.

sweet self impressioning DIY.

But unfortunately, the rubber band does not allow to keep the probes in place if you try to impression the lock. That's why I call that a "variable key". You pick the lock once, you turn just a little, you put the tool so the probes emulate the key, and you can turn.

[femurat]

In fact the tissue looked like a strange string to me. Now I clearly understand how it's made and works. I guess you already tried different rubber bands to get the right amount of friction needed to successfully impression the lock. Never mind, a variable key is a good result too.

Well done again