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.
by RedE » 10 Apr 2017 23:09
tpark wrote: Actually, it's pretty good. Poutine''s a perfect expression of grease and salt and high glycemic carbs. As far as locks goes remember, some Canadiens are twisted by their upbringing - in some places, you didn't have to lock the door. Now we need alarms and locks and guns, and that makes me a bit sad. Anyway, if you're up in Montreal, give that poutine a try - I do not think you'll be disappointed.
Is poutine that different in Montréal than what I would find in Ottawa? I thought it was the same everywhere. I find it funny that many Canadians love their poutine, yet when I bring up another greasy food I like such as chicken fried steak or biscuits and gravy, most look at me like crosseyed after I tell them what it is. To add a story to the "day in the life"... So awhile back I helped out a non profit in installing an exit device on the back door of an assembly hall. The existing setup was using a knob and a single cylinder deadbolt on a door with a glass window. The main reason for the upgrade was to be compliant with the IBC, though accessiblity was a concern too. So anyway, I install the panic bar and a nightlatch trim on the outside. Well the next week I get a call from one the directors complaining that I had not informed them that the door could *now* be opened by smashing in the window and un-latching the lock. I explained that it was no less secure than before, the only difference being that it took only one step instead of two to do open the door. Apparaently this had not seemed obvious to this one guy. The job wasn't good enough, he insisted that I come back and install a double cylinder deadbolt to "lock down" the door outside of operating hours. I said absolutely not and explained why such a deadbolt would defeat the whole purpose of having the exit device. The dude was still insistent, but I wasn't interested in breaking any laws just to satisfy the demands of a client. Basically I politely told him where to shove his idea. And I've been called out to the place since then to replace a mortise lock, so I guess the others around there understood the importance and rationale of my actions..
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RedE
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by billdeserthills » 19 Apr 2017 19:01
My last call today was interesting, the client had a Baldwin mortise lock and it wouldn't unlock. I kinda got 'lucky' because the last locky out had neglected to properly tighten the outer cylinder and with a bit of force and my A-1 mortise cylinder puller, I was able to unscrew the cylinder. At this point I still wasn't able to unlock the deadbolt latch. I stuck my airbag wedge in the crack between the door and the strike, and managed to force about 1/4" gap. I put the inside lever back onto the spindle and gave it a push down and the deadbolt moved maybe an 1/8 of an inch. That got my notice, and I was able to finally force the deadbolt back far enough in, to clear the strike. Anyhow it was pretty obvious that the last people in the home had managed to slam the heavy door shut with the bolt extended, which caused the bolt to bend. I had a new Baldwin 6020 LS lock in my truck and $485 later, all is well!
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billdeserthills
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by shutterstuff » 19 Apr 2017 19:47
I had one of my favorite kind of customers today. I got a call out for a simple rekey. I get there and find out that their son has learned how to pick the locks on the doors and was getting into their house (a recent meth head convert it seems). The husband said he did not care about cost, he just wants his son to not be able to pick the locks. Well, they had Kwikset locks so I recommended I replace them with a better locks. I had some of my grade 2 commercial locks I like to use on offices that have a price point that does not scare customers and I find them as good as many grade 1 locks (and i had them in an antique brass color the Mrs liked). So I pinned up 2 deadbolts and 2 knob sets using a couple spool top pins and a mushroom pin in each lock. The customer was happy and I was happy.
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shutterstuff
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by shutterstuff » 19 Apr 2017 20:01
I forgot about yesterday!
I got a call from the local Yacht repair company to meet an owner of an older boat for a lock they could not fix.I have done work with some boats before and regularly work on a passenger ferry that uses Kaba Simplex locks. I get there and see this big sliding glass door on the aft deck. It was one of those kind of doors I have seem in shopping malls. It even had the bottom mounted mortise lock. The thumb turn on the bottom and top broke and they were using a genius tension thing someone made but the owners wife was not happy with it.
Well, it was a commercial lock and it used standard mortise cylinders. I was able to get the end cap off that was stuck from years of being on a boat and got the set screws loose and replace the cylinders with new thumb turns. Simple job for me but I was the hero of the hour for the boat owner and he is already on his way to Alaska.
But that ship! 110' and it was about 30 years old. I wish my motorhome aged that well! I was not allowed to take pictures as I wanted to show my wife. I may get my chance as he said they would be back in the fall and had another door they wanted some work done on from the master suite (above where I was working).
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shutterstuff
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by billdeserthills » 20 Apr 2017 0:43
shutterstuff wrote:I had one of my favorite kind of customers today. I got a call out for a simple rekey. I get there and find out that their son has learned how to pick the locks on the doors and was getting into their house (a recent meth head convert it seems). The husband said he did not care about cost, he just wants his son to not be able to pick the locks. Well, they had Kwikset locks so I recommended I replace them with a better locks. I had some of my grade 2 commercial locks I like to use on offices that have a price point that does not scare customers and I find them as good as many grade 1 locks (and i had them in an antique brass color the Mrs liked). So I pinned up 2 deadbolts and 2 knob sets using a couple spool top pins and a mushroom pin in each lock. The customer was happy and I was happy.
I hope you have a few high security locks you can sell, when that meth addict gets a bump key Funny, cause if most addicts would apply themselves at a job, instead of stealing, they could be making real money to buy dope with
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billdeserthills
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by shutterstuff » 20 Apr 2017 8:15
billdeserthills wrote:I hope you have a few high security locks you can sell, when that meth addict gets a bump key Funny, cause if most addicts would apply themselves at a job, instead of stealing, they could be making real money to buy dope with
I used a combination of spool and mushroom pins in each lock. The mushroom pin is supposed to block bumping. I have yet to make myself some bump keys and give it a try. 
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by Ralph_Goodman » 20 Apr 2017 11:19
shutterstuff wrote:I used a combination of spool and mushroom pins in each lock. The mushroom pin is supposed to block bumping. I have yet to make myself some bump keys and give it a try.
I would have to think that this meth addict was just raking those locks open with almost no understanding of the lock. Probably got the locks open very quickly too. I don't think he will be picking these new locks. (If he is, he is either very lucky or the highest functioning addict in the world.) Even if he did get bump keys, with what you have done inside the lock, it would require an immense amount of luck to bump open. But I hope this solves the issue and the kid doesn't resort to more aggressive tactics when he can't open the door. Seems like this family has more to worry about than just their locks. Not sure that this threat is going to go away. Did you warn the client about the possibility of their son escalating his method of entry? Were they concerned about his behavior in general escalating?
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by shutterstuff » 20 Apr 2017 15:07
Ralph_Goodman wrote:I would have to think that this meth addict was just raking those locks open with almost no understanding of the lock. Probably got the locks open very quickly too. I don't think he will be picking these new locks. (If he is, he is either very lucky or the highest functioning addict in the world.)
Even if he did get bump keys, with what you have done inside the lock, it would require an immense amount of luck to bump open.
But I hope this solves the issue and the kid doesn't resort to more aggressive tactics when he can't open the door. Seems like this family has more to worry about than just their locks. Not sure that this threat is going to go away.
Did you warn the client about the possibility of their son escalating his method of entry? Were they concerned about his behavior in general escalating?
I did warn them that nothing is pick proof. They did a pretty good job on extra locks from the hardware store for the windows around the house. If he forces entry he can be arrested. But picking the doors open with no proof on camera, the police won't do anything. yes, the family wants help for him, but he is probably going to have to end up in jail for more than one night for that process to start.
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shutterstuff
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by cledry » 21 Apr 2017 5:28
One of my best friends was heavily into meth, after a long prison stay he was actually deported. Now he has turned his life around and is not only clean but a success. He does what he knows best, helping addicts. He has purchased an entire condo complex where addicts can live while they try and kick their addiction, it is complete with counseling facilities, and staffed by people who know about addiction because they are/were addicts.
I only wish he could now visit his aging father, but the US will not allow him in even for a visit, and his father is unable to travel to see him.
Jim
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by billdeserthills » 24 Apr 2017 23:43
I was busy today, on one job I found something so incredibly stupid I just hafta mention it. I was removing some profile lock cylinders and when I went to rekey them I noticed they were made by CES, and they usually have a little plastic strip that holds the pins & springs in place. The fake locksmith before me had apparently broken the plastic and had decided to simply epoxy a small piece of wood into the place where the plastic would normally be. Also in his quest to remove the bottom pins, he had bashed the profile lock so hard that two of them were bent and that was why the client was complaining that his key just keeps turning around and around, without locking or unlocking anything. I can't tell you all just how disappointed I was after I was forced to replace these and I wound up having to charge over $400 on this job! I was laughing all he way to the bank After that job I got a call that a door I had recently worked on would no longer unlock (sure, like it was my fault  ) I found an Omnia deadbolt lock with the bolt extanded, which was refusing to unlock. I stuck my airbag wedge between the door & the jamb, pumped vigorously and easily unlocked the door. Inside the strike hole was concrete and some rocks and the door had settled, and all the doors weight was on the bolt, which is why it had refused to retract. I gave the concrete and rocks a few good whacks with my star chisel and a big hammer and they were only to glad to disappear--Problem solved!
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billdeserthills
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by Ralph_Goodman » 27 Apr 2017 11:49
Any insight into how the "concrete and some rocks " got in there?
Seems rather odd. Did the customer give you a reason that may have happened? Were they surprised to see that?
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by billdeserthills » 27 Apr 2017 16:57
Ralph_Goodman wrote:Any insight into how the "concrete and some rocks " got in there?
Seems rather odd. Did the customer give you a reason that may have happened? Were they surprised to see that?
First off this is some kinda modern home, it cost millions of $$$ and is mostly all glass up above with lots of heavy structural steel parts below. This door is made of heavy plate steel and is obviously too heavy for the continuous hinge that is holding it up, as any door begins to settle, sagging will occur and nobody had ever bothered to clear out the excess concrete from the strike. Everything is reinforced with heavy steel and concrete in abundance
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billdeserthills
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by Raymond » 27 Apr 2017 19:44
I'm in El Paso. I have heard many contractors griping that this is one of the few cities where almost EVERY outside door frame is filled completely with mortar or concrete. They don't see it in other places. I always thought it was the 'norm.' It makes the frames very resistant to movement and tampering. They are always more difficult to put a deadbolt strike into. I seem to use up a lot more 1/8" drill bits on strike plate screws. We just use a 1/4 carbide to clean out a hole. I hate it, but it is just something to accept and get over. We can charge more for the work by just going hourly.
Nothing is foolproof to a talented fool. Wisdom is not just in determining how to do something, but also includes determining whether it should be done at all.
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by Tyler J. Thomas » 30 Apr 2017 17:01
Been absent around here lately because things have been hectic but everything is starting to normalize again so that's good. I'm going to start having a monthly/recurring article for The National Locksmith; bringing back "Beginner's Corner" which focuses on covering the basics of the Locksmithing trade. I believe it starts back up July. I've got a few more articles in the pipeline for Keynotes as well. Work's been crazy hectic and we're doing all sorts of stuff. A LOT of continuous hinges installations, I mean A LOT. A few Eliason/Chase door installations (not the cute, small 7 foot doors, they've all been 9 or 10 feet tall monsters). Nothing out of the ordinary but I figure a few of you would get a laugh at this job we got called to:   Granted, I haven't worked on an eIDC or any Galaxy/Intelli-M product since 2008? 2009? But still, access control is just simple circuits operated by relays. It ain't that hard, you just gotta make different manufacturer's products play nice. The story we were told was that 2 companies attempted to install this system (controlling just one door) and couldn't make it all work. I had everything up and running in 4-5 hours (most of that was making sense of their splices/runs). Those pictures show exactly how we found it. The last company left it powered/wired just like that and dangling from the wall.
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by billdeserthills » 2 May 2017 21:35
Congrats on the work for TNL I have been reading it since 1990, it will be refreshing to have someone sensible writing
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