A Word of Command

“Still, the gate is the weakest point.”
Aragorn, in The Two Towers

Fans of J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Trilogy of the Ring will remember the siege of Helms Deep, when the Saruman’s orcs attacked the fortress by blasting through its wooden gate. A few chapters later, the forces of Sauron did the same during the siege of Gondor, using the great battering ram, Grond, to break down the iron gates that had stood invincible for thousands of years. Even earlier, Gandalf had a heck of a time keeping shut the door from the Chamber of Records after his companions fled; he closed it using a closing spell, but the Balrog on the other side overcame him, and he had to use a word of Command. The effect of that was to shatter the door, the wall, and the roof of the chamber and bring it all crashing down, closing off the stairway behind him. Shades of Jericho!


Most of us don’t have Gandalf’s access to spells and words of Command, and the last thing we want is to bring down our own walls to protect ourselves from intruders. We have to think in more mundane terms about the options available to us.


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Who Has The Keys?

Access control is a major problem for businesses large and small. Companies with high-tech access control systems – key cards, fingerprint- or retina scanners, etc. – can easily reprogram access codes and delete former employees from the data base. But even smaller businesses that rely on the security provided by a good, traditional lock-and-key system need to update their access controls regularly. This is an issue whether you use padlocks, cylinder locks, or police locks.

The first step is to conduct a regular Key Audit to review the status and location of every key, making sure that no unauthorized person has one. In small businesses with few employees, this can be a fairly simple process and one that’s sufficient to ensure access control.

Read all about it - click here.

Mr. Locks Featured in Smartmoney.com

An undercover reporter apparently sniffed around to check on nationwide locksmith pricing, and found us to be a worthy "Deal of the Day" feature.

Read her full story here: http://www.smartmoney.com/dealoftheday/index.cfm?story=20060327

Proximity Readers

Proximity readers are among the simplest access control systems to install and use. The principle is simple: they are encoded to read and respond to electronic signals from access cards, and only to cards that are specifically authorized. Unlike the swipe cards used at ATM readers at groceries and other stores, most proximity cards don’t require contact with the reader or a Personal Identification Number (PIN) to work. Proximity is enough, with sensitivity limited to as little as an inch or two or expanded to over a foot – especially useful for handicap-access doors, parking garages, etc.

Full article can be read HERE.

Magnetic Locks

Magnetic locks, like electric strikes, use electromagnetism to control the locking mechanism. They rely on electric power, whether from a building current or a battery, and as a result they’re as dependable as a refrigerator, TV, or bedside alarm clock (though like any other household appliance they can also be vulnerable to power failure). But because no key is needed to operate magnetic locks, mag-locks can’t be picked – and you’ll never be locked out because you’ve lost the key.


The core of a magnetic lock control system is an electromagnet made of advanced metal alloys. When electric power activates it, the bolt slides in or out, up or down, along its U-shaped channel to lock or unlock the door. Some mag-locks also incorporate timing mechanisms that allow them to operate only at certain times – during business hours, for example. Others have “transaction memory,” which can record every use or attempted use. This function can be especially valuable with locks that use number-pads rather than coded cards: if an unauthorized person tries to gain access using incorrect codes more than twice, for example, the lock can automatically set off an alarm.


To read the full article, please CLICK HERE

Of Barn Doors And Horses

There’s nothing more important to most people than protecting their family. The safety of your loved ones, your sweetheart or husband or wife or children, matters more than money, status, or the kind of car you drive. After all, if your loved ones aren’t safe, do material things really count for that much?

Many years ago, I lived in a brownstone in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. It was a neighborhood “in transition” in those years, and we were diligent about locking up. But one night I woke up at 3:00 a.m., startled to find a flashlight shining in my eyes. It was a police officer, and when my sweetheart and I sat up in bed, he whispered to us to be silent, then quickly told us what was going on.

A fireman at the firehouse across the street had happened to see someone climb through our first floor window and alerted the police, who had hurried over without sirens, entered the same way, and were now searching the house.

Upstairs, they caught the man in the landlady’s bedroom – holding her at knifepoint while he prepared to rape her. The knife was from my kitchen.

The read the full story, click here.

"Safe" Storage

The most sophisticated security system can sometimes be defeated by stone-age technology: a brick thrown through a window. Using such a simple tool, a house-burglar can get in, grab your valuables, and get out again before help arrives, even if your home alarm system is connected to the local police station.

But for that kind of burglary to succeed, time is of the essence, and that’s what a secure safe provides: time that the thief can’t afford. That’s why it’s so important to make sure your real valuables can’t be found quickly or easily.

Read full article here: http://www.mr-locks.com/news.php?id=47

Locks – A Short History

by Andrew Reed for Mr. Locks, Inc

Mechanical locks work according to two fundamental principles: incorporating fixed obstructions to keep the wrong keys out, or using movable pins or tumblers that have to be put in the right positions by the key to move the bolt. The ancient Egyptians invented primitive tumbler locks that held a bolt in place across a door; their tumblers were wooden pegs up to two feet long. The Old Testament suggests that ancient keys were also very large: “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.” (Isaiah 22, xxii) While other civilizations have incorporated brass, bronze, silver, gold, steel, and carbon composites into their locks since those early models, many people in theMiddle East still use the Egyptian wooden model – 4,000 years later!

Read full article at: http://www.mr-locks.com/news.php?id=45

Mr. Locks Demands High Standards For Locksmith Profession

When Mr. Locks was established in 2001, most of the public thought of locksmiths as small, shabby hole-in-the-wall storefronts where you could get a duplicate key made or get help when you were locked out of your car. In the eyes of corporate executives, home-owners and renters, and even many other small business owners, locksmiths were in the same category as others in the “mechanical” trades – air conditioning repairmen, plumbers, and the like – men doing dirty work in dirty overalls. For their part, most locksmiths themselves were not particularly interested in presenting a professional appearance.

Read full article here.

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

1. Where can I get a lock pick set?
Try a locksmith supply house. Look under "Locksmiths' Equipment & Supplies" in the Yellow Pages. Your locality, State or the company may have requirements, such as having to prove you are a locksmith or showing a drivers license; call and find out. Look for mail order houses in the Appendix. You can also check on the Web for suppliers

2. How can I make my own picks and tension wrenches?
You can file or (more easily) grind picks out of spring steel. It is best to use spring steel - sources include hacksaw blades, piano (music) wire, clock springs, street sweeper bristles (which can be found along the street after the sweeper has passed), metal from a plumbers "snake", etc. In a pinch safety pin steel, or even a bobby pin (much worse) can be used. When grinding, keep the steel from getting so hot as to anneal (soften) it. You may have to re-harden/re-temper it. (See a book on knife making, gunsmithing, or machine shop practice for a discussion on heat treating steel. Spring steel is hardened and then tempered/drawn so as to retain some hardness and to get quite a bit of flexibility.) Some people prefer a rigid tension wrench and just bend a small screwdriver for this, but many prefer a slightly flexible wrench and use spring steel.
The "MIT Guide to Picking Locks" and the "Eddie The Wire" books (see below) cover making these tools. There are many places you can buy picks and tension wrenches. See the appendix.
Steve Haehnichen maintained an archive of GIF and JPEG images of picks located at ftp://ftp.vigra.com/steve/locks/ which are useful guides for those making their own picks. But this link isn't working right now - this is being checked.
Another archive has some pickes illustrated, but does not show the rake pick.

3. What books can I get on locksmithing?
Bill Phillips has written a number of locksmithing books. For the beginning or aspiring locksmith here is an excellent and practical introduction and overview:
Locksmithing
McGraw-Hill 2000 ISBN 0-07-134436-5
paperbound 7 1/2" x 9", 550 pages, $34.95
An excellent encyclopedic reference:
The Complete Book of Locks & Locksmithing, 4th ed.
McGraw-Hill, Inc. 1995 ISBN 0-07-049866-0 $24.95 (Paper) USA
and another one:
Professional Locksmithing Techniques, 2nd Edition
TAB Books/McGraw-Hill 1996
ISBN 0-07-049867-9 (Paper) $36.95 (Paper)
also many people think highly of:
Eddie The Wire: How to Make Your Own Professional Lock Tools
"Eddie The Wire" Loompanics Unlimited
ISBN 0-685-39143-4 4 Volumes $20
Your local book store should be able to order these for you. You can find other titles under "Locksmithing" in the Books In Print Subject Index, which any decent bookstore should have. Also see the Appendix.

4. How do I continue learning about locksmithing?
There are several things you can do to continue learning more about locks and locksmithing. One, of course, is to subscribe to a locksmithing magazine. Some years ago I compared the National Locksmith to the Locksmith Ledger and felt that the latter was a bit better on technical info. Call yourself a Student Locksmith, or perhaps a Security Consultant (surely you have given some advice to *somebody*!). Also read The Complete Book of Locks & Locksmithing, 4th ed. by Bill Phillips which was mentioned above.
Lock companies are starting to use the Internet to distribute information. See the on-line resources section below for many lock related web sites.
But all this reading can help only so much, so you have to continue buying various types of locks, taking them apart, figuring out everything about them, and installing, removing, modifying them. Buy some key blanks, make up a master key scheme, and file the keys to fit (assuming you don't have a key machine yet) - filing may take a few minutes, but it does work. Maybe buy a re-keying kit (kit of different size pins, with a plug follower) and do some re-keying for your family or friends (the same size pins fit, I think, the familiar Kwikset and Schlage pin tumbler locks) so that their deadbolts can be opened with their normal front door key. (Hint - when disassembling a lock you may want to do it inside a transparent plastic bag. Then the small pieces and springs will be trapped and won't go flying across the room, leaving you with a sad look on your face.) (A follower is used to push the plug out, when the pins are at the shear line, therefore keeping the top pins and springs in place. Then the rekeyed plug is used to push out the follower, again keeping the top pins and springs in place. Similarly the follower can be used when loading new springs and top pins, keeping the loaded ones in place.)
Or buy a deadbolt installation kit (hole saw plus template - I think that Black and Decker makes a good inexpensive one, available at better building supply places) and put in a few deadbolts for your family and friends - charging them only for the materials plus a couple of bucks towards the installation kit - and re-key the deadbolt for them, too.
Buy or make a pick set, and use your practice locks to practice picking. Do you have a good locksmith supply catalog? If not, give a call to a local supplier. Help people at work who have been locked out of their desks or filing cabinets. Desks usually have wafer tumbler locks which are *much* easier to pick than pin tumbler locks. Filing cabinets are not as easy to pick, but are pickable (actually some are very easy to pick - they vary greatly) and also can be opened by pushing a flexible plastic ruler between the side of the sliding drawer and the cabinet body - carefully inspect some working cabinets to see what I'm talking about.

5. How do I open a car door with a Slim Jim?
Besides picking the lock, one can open a car door with a wire coat hanger. Open the coat hanger by unbending the wire, leaving a small loop at one end. Insert the looped end of the wire hanger between the rubber weather stripping and a side window. Hook the looped end of the wire around the button of the door lock and pull it up to the open position. Many lock buttons are without a lip, an anti-theft measure, so that the wire coat hanger slides off without lifting it. One can also try to snag the door handle and pull it open.
The Slim Jim, a thin strip of metal with a notch cut at the bottom side, slides down the passenger window into the door. The notch tries to catch a rod running inside the door that connects the lock and the lock buttons. Pulling on this rod pops the lock into the open position. Many modern cars have the rod shielded from this access. Most cars today have many wires running through the doors to control such things as power windows, power locks, heated side view mirrors, lighted key ways, and burglar alarms. Some newer cars have airbags in the doors - setting them off is a very dangerous and expensive mistake! The Slim Jim can snag one of these, or a mechanical part and cause damage. Most locksmiths advise against using a Slim Jim except on old cars. The pros often use wedges, lights and manuals of parts locations to avoid damage and increase their success rate.

6. What is a jiggler key?
A thin piece of metal cut in the general shape of a key, the jiggler slips into the keyway of many locks and most car locks. The jigglers in the set come with a variety of general cuts that vaguely resemble cuts on keys. A jiggler is slipped into the lock and moved around, much as using a rake type pick, until the lock opens. If one jiggler does not work then the next one in the set is tried. Probability of success depends on the skill of the user and on luck.

7. Is there an ethical dimension to locksmithing?
Yes. Locksmithing is an old craft, and there is a strong tradition of ethical responsibility. A trainee (apprentice) learned about locks and security, and was supposed to have the personal integrity to avoid abusing that knowledge. This "do no harm" concept has been incorporated into the 'hacker ethic' which is found at MIT (in the "hacking community") and elsewhere.