14 How do I continue learning about locksmithing?
Description
This article is from the Locksmithing FAQ, by Joe "Spike" Ilacqua spike@indra.com and Henry Schaffer hes@ncsu.edu, major data collection effort by Scott Anguish sanguish@digifix.com with numerous contributions by others.
14 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.
Continue to:
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