identifying a best brand lock.

[wbatayte]

From watching bosnianbill's vid on youtube I headed out to restore and got a hand full of cylinders to tackle. A few schlage, a couple no name, and an old best brand. How can I tell what model I have and what pins im dealing with. Is there any way without taking it apart? It was set in a thick solid brass or bronze ring with a thumb turn on the other side. I removed the cylinder and its a solid round piece with two flattened sides. The pins are contained in another cylindrical piece rather then the little box above other bolts. Anyone with any ideas please let me know. I've been getting pretty good at security pins so am excited for a new challenge.

[wbatayte]

Just realized I made a typo and don't see an edit feature. I meant to write little box above cylinder rather then bolt lol. I think the part I mean is the locks bible?

[phrygianradar]

Could you post a picture? I have seen a lot of Best cylinders. Doesn't mean I will be able to help, but you never know. I can't tell from your description for sure, but is this an SFIC core you are talking about? From all my experience, running across a Best cylinder with security pins is not all that common. I have heard that it does happen, but I personally have never seen one with security pins.

[cledry]

Should look like two circles one above the other. Best uses the SFIC format. I can't recall seeing any security pins ever. They are pretty well made so can be tough to pick at times. A good challenge for sure.

[wbatayte]

Yup two circles one above the other. I hadn't put a pick in at the time of posting so I was speculating on the security pins. I figured with how well made it seemed it may have some tricks up it's sleeve. What exactly is SFIC? So far I've been trying to ssp and can set most of the pins but then the last one or two seem to lock up even under light tension. If I try and ease up any more I hear a quick succession of clicks as my work goes out the window lol. I'm actually glad it's been a challenge. The last four locks I bought before the restore bunch lasted an hour or so

[wbatayte]

Nevermind about the fsic question just looked it up.

[phrygianradar]

They are tough because they have two shear lines, but you said you looked it up, so I won't go into it. The first one I picked to the control position was a life changing event for me! I love picking SFIC cores, and Peterson makes some special tension tools that can help you try and grip the holes in the bottom of the control plug. I've got them and sometimes they really help, but other times they do nothing to help you pick it to control position.

Good luck, keep at it, and happy picking!

Nathan

[cledry]

For a locksmith, picking the control shear line is more desirable than picking to open in most cases. We often want to remove the core and decode the lock in order to remove other cores. Often when keys are lost we need to replace the cores so if they don't pick to the control shear line we must break out a drill and uses other methods to remove a core for decoding without damaging the pins.