File Cabinet

[ryustar]

Hello:

I lost the keys to my filing cabinet (a cheap 30.00 on from Target) and I am not sure how to open it. I found this forum and thought that someone could give me instructions as to how to open it.

Thanks!!!!

[digital_blue]

ryastar: I can't imagine taking the time it takes to learn to pick locks just to open a $30 filing cabinet. The only thing on your side is that it is probably a very easy lock to pick, as far as locks go. Having said that, you need tools, knowledge and skill. I'm not going to say you can't do it, but I doubt if it is worth the time.

If you want to pursue it, read the MIT Guide to Lockpicking (google for it). That will give you a rundown on how lockpicking works. Yours is probably a cheap wafer lock.

db

[ryustar]

Thanks. I'll look it up.

it is absolutley imperative that i get into. the cabinet is actually my boyrfriends and he has some important stuff he needs to get to - it's my fault because i lost the keys. thanks for your help

[digital_blue]

If it were me, and I had no interest in lockpicking other than opening that particular file cabinet, I would be inclined to use a crow bar and be done with it. $30 for a new file cabinet is not as valuable as the time it could take to learn. But it's your time, so you make the call.

db

[omelet]

if you are in a rush to open this lock, then I would take digital_blue's advice and go at it with a pry bar, since this skill is not one to learn quickly (or at least for me it wasn't). Otherwise, read up and you might find you enjoy picking locks, never reject information .

[RangerF150]

If you took the time and effort you would find that it's a really easy lock to open , i mean really easy

However ,to get to the point where you think it's a really easy lock to open you will have spent some hours getting there

So as above , brute force and ignorance is the quickest method for now !

Good luck

[vector40]

Assuming it's just the crummy sort of wafer lock common on most filing cabinets, I think you guys are being short... I used to pick those by sticking a straight paper clip in and wriggling. Read through the MIT guide for the basics, ryu, and see if you can't have the thing open within a few minutes of tinkering. If not, then consider forcing it, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get it parted by looking at it hard.

[digital_blue]

You know vector, I think you make a good point. Let me type a response the way I probably should have answered in the first place.

The typical wafer locks you find on a file cabinet is among the easiest to pick. However, with no knowledge of picking, even the easiest lock isn't exactly easy. The MIT Guide is 50 pages long. If you skim it you can probably get the basic in about 30 minutes. Then you can rummage around the house looking for things to use as tools. I might suggest using a metal clip from certain pen caps, or a hair pin with a 1/2 inch at the end bent at 90 degrees for a torsion wrench. For a pick, get the largest safety pin you can find, traighten it out, and bend a small hook at the tip. Use the techniques you gained from reading the MIT Guide and you just might get it open.

If all that sounds like too much effort to save $30, use a crow bar and replace the file cabinet. Hope this helps!

Sorry if my first answer seemed short.

db

[NDE Manipulation]

There is a little trick for bypassing common 4 and 5 disc, disc-tumbler locks that you find on thermostats, time clocks, some briefcases and some filing cabinets.

Since you don't know much about locks, well, let's assume that it is the disc tumbler lock since they are so common.

Find another, similar key, that you have to something else. Only trick is, it can be to something else and it might not turn in this lock, but it has to fit freely without any forcing whatsoever.

So, what you do is, you slide the key in and you put a little clockswise or counterclockwise turning force on the key, very, very little - very lightly. And you rock the key up and down a little bit, release the turning force a little, increase it a little bit, slide it in and out while holding the turning force, repeat all of these things. If you get a key that will enter the lock freely but it is not the "proper" cut key for the lock, you have a better than 75% chance of opening it using this method. It has to be a disc tumbler lock and the key has to fit freely in it. You have to be patient, it could go in five seconds or five minutes. People who are skilled at bypassing it this way usually get them open in under 90 seconds.

It helps greatly remembering which way the lock turned to unlock as well.

[davidgjr]

see if the face of the lock has a code. If it does take the code to a locksmith and get him to cut you a key for it. I don't know the rates, but it should cost more than few dollars for that lock.

[tarustwins]

I think a paperclip would do fine, I have been able to pick the wafer lock on my filing cabinet at work using a paperclip and a small flathead in a matter if minutes. Haven't moved to anything higher though, still working on making picks.

[digital_blue]

My guess is we're all still talking and ryustar is not coming back.

db

[raimundo]

there is a type of fileing cabinet lock that operates a springbolt on the back of the lock by a cam fixed to the plug, when the plug rotates, it pulls the spring bolt into the lock body, A bypass is a thin piece of metal that reaches through the plug and pulls the springbolt down with its tip. as for the disc tumblers in cam locks, if you cant pic one of them, think about getting another hobby, like clipping coupons.