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day in the life of a locksmith

Pull up a chair, grab a cold one, and talk about life as a locksmith. Trade stories of good and bad customers, general work day frustrations, any fun projects you worked on recently, or anything else you want to chat about with fellow locksmiths.

Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 24 Jan 2017 20:14

As Cledry and I mentioned a few posts back, one of the perks to the job is that you end up with a lot of cool stuff. I don't make an effort to ask for used hardware at jobs; in fact, I tell the customer to hold on to their old hardware as an insurance policy. That said, there are jobs where I am instructed to remove and dispose of hardware. Had a few of those this week:

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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby bitbuster » 24 Jan 2017 21:03

nice hand-me-downs you have there confederate.
"I dream of a world where, chickens can cross the road without having their motives questioned". Ralph Waldo Emerson
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 24 Jan 2017 21:18

bitbuster wrote:nice hand-me-downs you have there confederate.


Bittersweet, though. I have no keys and no combos. The LG's I can hard reset but I'm fairly screwed with the Auditcon. Still can salvage parts from it. Still haven't decided what I'll do with the ASSA's. Either sell or make a project out of them.
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby billdeserthills » 25 Jan 2017 1:22

I love those Auditcon locks, but I don't know much about them. I have the earlier, discontinued similar looking Auditcon on
one of my safes and they are so great, never need to worry about batteries, unlike my S&G 6120
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby jeffmoss26 » 25 Jan 2017 8:19

NICE!
One of our guys did a job where they replaced Keso with Medeco Keymark...was hoping to get the cylinders but the customer wanted to keep them.
"I tried smoking a blank once. I was never able to keep the tip lit long enough to inhale." - ltdbjd
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 28 Jan 2017 21:56

Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby cledry » 28 Jan 2017 22:10

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).


Doesn't that only work on older units?
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 28 Jan 2017 23:16

I don't think so? The two units I have were both manufactured in 2013. Works on any LG running 3801/3802 firmware and they're still selling them as far as I know.
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby shutterstuff » 28 Jan 2017 23:27

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).


Better for the Advanced section here or over at NSO?
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby billdeserthills » 29 Jan 2017 3:36

shutterstuff wrote:
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).


Better for the Advanced section here or over at NSO?


If this is a vote I say Here
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 29 Jan 2017 11:59

shutterstuff wrote:
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).


Better for the Advanced section here or over at NSO?


Oh this is probably elementary stuff for most of the guys at the NSO. And if they don't know this method then I'm sure they have a reset box in their arsenal.

I just did a search and Squelchtone has discussed this method, kinda, in the public area in the past so I'll just post it here. Now that I think about it, there's nothing risque about this information. It's no different than telling someone how to reset an DL2700 or a Kwikset KEVO. It's not like it can be done from the outside of a safe while it's locked.
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby shutterstuff » 29 Jan 2017 12:13

Tyler J. Thomas wrote:
shutterstuff wrote:
Tyler J. Thomas wrote:Reset the LG's. I might make an article out of the process. Not quite sure on the morality of it, what say you?

My thoughts are that it isn't technically a bypass or anything secretive, you need access to the lock itself (which means the safe is open). I try to tote a fine line on not sharing secrets because I don't want to deal with any disparaged locksmith (I am a member of just about every alphabet organization out there).


Better for the Advanced section here or over at NSO?


Oh this is probably elementary stuff for most of the guys at the NSO. And if they don't know this method then I'm sure they have a reset box in their arsenal.

I just did a search and Squelchtone has discussed this method, kinda, in the public area in the past so I'll just post it here. Now that I think about it, there's nothing risque about this information. It's no different than telling someone how to reset an DL2700 or a Kwikset KEVO. It's not like it can be done from the outside of a safe while it's locked.


I am still a newbie with safe work. I just joined the NSO and am still learning. I went to one of Dave's pen parties last year and will be going again this year. Fun stuff!!!
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby billdeserthills » 31 Jan 2017 23:00

I had a customer bring in his 2006 Dodge ignition lock, his complaint was the key would pull out of the lock in any position.
I took it apart and replaced the tumblers and I was very surprised to find the original tumblers were made out of aluminum!
My replacement tumblers were all brass
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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 1 Feb 2017 20:49

billdeserthills wrote:I had a customer bring in his 2006 Dodge ignition lock, his complaint was the key would pull out of the lock in any position.
I took it apart and replaced the tumblers and I was very surprised to find the original tumblers were made out of aluminum!
My replacement tumblers were all brass


I despise automotive, about the only automotive job I enjoyed was making keys for ignitions locks or rekeying them. That was, of course, only if they were brought in. We didn't pull them for you. I used to be REALLY good at sight reading. I mean REALLY good. Once I had it figured out, I never had to impression keys. Shout out to LOCKMASTERS, haha.

On this side of the continental US, I've been doing a lot of bank work lately. Some safe work but mostly safe deposit work. Enough that I am seriously considering buying a LeFebure 7700 and Diebold 175-70 pick because I am tired of pulling doors and punching bolts.

Also finishing up a job we were subcontracted to do. Installing electrified hardware that's being wired by the company hiring us. I love, love, love, love these jobs. I've pulled enough wire and tied in enough panels; I've had my fill. Let someone else do it and I'll gladly quote and install electrified hardware. And that door loop is mounted so high on the frame to cover an existing REX button cut out. I promise I'm competent enough to mount door loops at the same height! Promise!

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Re: day in the life of a locksmith

Postby Tyler J. Thomas » 19 Feb 2017 8:08

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