Review: Old Correspondence Courses as Locksmithing Books

[Jacob Morgan]

This is not a review of the course experiences per se, but rather about the pros and cons of buying an old course binder on eBay for use as an introduction to locksmithing. The fact is that a lot more people take these courses than ever work as locksmiths, and the course binders, and key machines that came with the classes, show up on eBay on a regular basis. Since one can buy one of these binders for no more than the list price of a new book like Phillip's book on locksmithing, they are worth thinking about.

Locksmithing Institute. This, now defunct, New Jersey company was a correspondence course company that folded up sometime around the late 1970's or early 1980's or so. It came in a red binder. At least three or four of them have turned up on eBay over the last year. The material reviewed here was copyrighted 1968.

Contents:
1. Keys and blanks
2. Duplicating cylinder, flat, and bit keys
3. Impressioning warded padlocks
4. Warded locks
5. Lever locks
6. Cylinder locks
7. Re-keying cylinder locks
8. Master keying Disappointing, not enough detail to actually master key a building.
9. Legal issues with locksmithing
10. Disc tumbler locks
11. Reading disc tumbler locks. A good chapter.
12. Making keys by code They used to do it with files.
13. Sidebar (GM automotive) locks
14. Automotive locksmithing Mostly out of date.
15. Lock picking
16. Luggage locks A little out of date, but if someone needs to do it, here it is.
17. Removable core locks (SFIC). A good chapter
18. Schlage wafer locks (out of date)
19. Lock bodies (KIK, night latches, mortise lock sets, etc.)
20. Impressioning pin tumbler locks
21. Padlocks (extruded brass padlocks -- somewhat out of date)
22. Typical locksmith jobs
23. Bypassing
24. Changing safe combinations (key change)
25. Changing safe combinations (hand change)
26. How to make money in locksmithing

Has supplemental information in the back: a lot of automotive codes of the era and additional exploded diagrams of lock sets.

Overall, this is one book I would gladly buy again. It is an excellent introduction to locksmithing. Granted, it is old, but the basics of locksmithing are old as well. It is very well written and illustrated. It does have a good section on SFIC. The sole complaint I would have with the course is that it had very little on master keying. There is little about automotive locksmithing in the book that is useful, but that is to be expected in a book of this age. It is very difficult for any general locksmithing book to have much meaningful information on current automotive locksmithing. This old course I would recommend to a person newly-interested in locksmithing over any currently published book on the subject.

[Jacob Morgan]

Foley-Belsaw, circa 1990. Comes in a tan binder.

Contents:

1. Key blanks & keys
2. Duplicating flat Keys
3. Duplicating bit and cylinder keys
4. Automotive locks Somewhat dated
5. Warded locks and impressioning
6. Corbin Sesamee locks Odd to have a whole chapter on this. Instructions for changing combos are on-line. Tools for changing combos are available form http://www.mrlock.com/tools-rekey-kits/lock-service-tools. The course does not go over finding lost combinations (other than by drilling holes in the lock), and there are youTube videos on decoding them with drilling holes.
7. Lever tumblers: picking and impressioning
8. Disc tumbler locks and picking Strangely, it states that most locksmiths can not pick disc tumbler locks with 5 discs. It appears to have no desire to dissuade students who can not open a 5 disc lock from continuing on in the course. That may not be doing students any favors.
9. Combination locks Master-type dial combination locks
10. Sidebar Locks (GM automotive locks)
11. Car openings and lockouts Somewhat obsolete, mainly about slim jims
12. Automotive lock work
13. Pin tumbler locks and key fitting Does a good job on this unit
14. Picking pin tumblers A fairly bare introduction
15. Ace Locks
16. Key-in-Knob data Goes over several of the more popular models, basically a mini-reference. A more complete, and costly, reference is here http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=63674
17. Master keying This is a highlight of this course. A person could read this, and if they understood it, create a simple master-key system from scratch.
18. Impressioning pin tumblers Fairly good.
19. Schlage Wafer Locks Few of these locks are still out there. Foley-Belsaw copied this chapter for their Continuing Education 41-51 book http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=63671, apparently as filler.
20. Best Removable Cores At least they mention them, but not a very useful chapter. Does not go over how to pick to control, while the Locksmithing Institute course from 20 years earlier did.
21. Emhart pin tumblers
22. Bypassing A couple of ideas I had not seen before.
23. Reading wafer tumblers
24. Double sided wafer locks
25. Cutting automotive keys by code
26. Operating a business A little dated these days.

Advanced Professional Locksmithing supplement:
1. Hurd padlock # 716
2. American / Junkunc padlocks Can get instructions online here http://www.americanlock.com/pdfs/A-004_Service_Manual.pdf
3. Masterlock padlocks with keys Strange things to include--I remember these from gym class way back when.
4. Introduction to safes
5. Safe operating principles
6. Safe hole type combination changes
7. Safe key change combinations
8. Safe troubleshooting Decent guides for combo changing and basic trouble shooting
9. Safe deposit lock introduction
10. Opening safe deposit locks
11. Repairing safe deposit locks and repair doors

When buying a second-hand course binder make sure to get all the lessons. Sometimes people may have abandoned the course half way through. Also, not all binders will have the Advanced courses, check on it if those subjects are of interest.

Overall, for the price this binder went for on eBay, I would recommend it over any currently published introduction to locksmithing book I have seen so far. My opinion is that the Locksmithing Institute course previously reviewed is superior in most respects, other than the master keying and safe deposit box service parts of Foley-Belsaw, but they are both good, solid introductions.