38 Locksmithing: Workshop Contents
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.
38 Locksmithing: Workshop Contents
In no particular order (the first person in some items is from the
original poster(s)):
WORKBENCH. must be solid enough to support a cheap key machine
HAMMERS. 1 claw, one 2 pounder, a couple of ball peens down to 6 ounces
SCREWDRIVERS various sizes, slot and phillips. nothing fancy-a good
pocket screwdriver for ms lock set screws
DRILL a cheap 3/8" is good for a beginner but should be reversible.
14.4V cordless w/extra battery. Variable speed pays for itself.
SQUARE. necessity when prepping doors
TAPE MEASURE
WRENCHES. decent small sized crescent, channel, needlenose, and a
couple of combo wrenches. Also some specialty types from the MFG. I keep
several different spanners like the one that comes with a SCH D80 Orbit, as
well as a Unican spanner. Also, a castle nut wrench like those supplied
with SCH heavy duty levers
ALLEN WRENCHES. A good hex key set is invaluable in addition to some
longer ones supplied by the MFG. Yale & Corbin use long ones for
convenience, but LORI deadbolts require them. The lori wrenches also
work for some old MS locks and DormaGlass bottom rail locks.
BITS. ordinary high speed steel will do for anything the newbie would
encounter. Should also have augers or paddle bits up to 1-1/4"unibit"
and a good rasp
HOLE SAW. 2-1/8 for sure, other sizes optional 1" for metal frames, 1 1/4
for mortise cyl, and one approp for cheaper deadbolts such as SCH B-160
CHISELS. nothing fancy but if you can find a 1-1/8 for mortising face
plates, great. good 1" and good 1/2". Keep an old one handy for beating.
FILES. I find the Nicholson 1/8" round chainsaw file to be really
handy and cheap for impressioning. A cheap set of needle files from Radio shack
is good too. I grind down one edge of the triangle file to supplement the
round file. Also should have a large mill bastard. Pippins are expensive and
I don't find them any more useful than the above. I use a 6" #2 swiss
and a 6"/10" warding bastard.
HACKSAW. Go with quality here, especially with blades. Even the best
blades are a low ticket item so no sense buying off-brands
DREMEL or equivelant. Even a newbie... ESPECIALLY a newbie should have
one for fabricating hard to find or one-off items. Get lots of the thin
cutoff wheels and a mandrel to hold them
GOGGLES. protect those eyes. Not much work for a blind locksmith.
DIAL CALIPER. much handier than a micrometer. I think the Pocket
Decoder by HPC is an excellent item to have on hand. I havn't touched my
micrometer in years.
VISE GRIPS assorted
CYLINDER SHIMS If he or she is new, better get a ton ;-)
FEELER GUAGE SET gives you lots of different thicknesses of shim stock
for padlock shimming, tool making, or spacing
PLUG FOLLOWERS can be home made. Nobody will notice Don't let them see
you using your keedex pin dumping follower, you'll never teach them that
it's cheating. Also, you'd need various types, unless you like driving
out roll pins. Accompany these tools with a real set of pin tweezers.
Maybe some eyebrow tweezers for when you keep them in the shop for 2 months
cutting keys and get shavings in their socks ;-)
VISE
HEMOSTATS lots of them. They can be modified into a number of useful
tools like snap ring pliers and pin tweezers. They can be bent, ground,
whatever, and economically discarded if you mess them up
MAGNIFYING GLASS
BASIC PICK SET no need for the big Crayola 64 color set. A beginner
usually has time to make anything in this category anyway. A couple of
extractors and a plug spinner.
VARIOUS TURNING TOOLS other than regular old tension wrenches. A
feather touch can be handy when raking or reverse picking spool equipped
locks, and I really like two-prong style tools for general picking.
CHEAP SET OF TUBULAR PICKS like the HPC "Peanut" or equivelant. I
hate the peanut. I use a good one with adjustable tension.
LUBRICANT
MAGIC MARKER
ELECTRICAL TAPE great aid in holding hinge shims, as well as more advanced
stuff not outfitted for here
STEP LADDER
TOOL BAG/POUCH the "Gator Mouth" tool bag is getting very popular now
VACUUM dirt devil or the like for cleaning up after drilling doors.
Also an old tarp for collecting the majority of shavings.
LUGGAGE CART great for hauling tools & supplies, and if you're in a lobby
in a commercial property--they're less likely to bitch at you than if you
had a cart or hand truck. Also, luggage carts fold up and store neatly on
the truck.
SUBSCRIPTION to one of the trade rags. Pref. TNL. NPC has a horrible
reputation for customer service, plus they no longer publish most of
their most valuable books. (the books are still advertised by ALOA though)
NPC is crap, again my personal opinion.
BOOKS. all you can afford, but starting with a couple of basic texts by
Roper or Phillips. Knowledge is more valuable than any physical tool.
A collection of back issues no longer needed by an established smith is
good, too. More specific books should reflect particular areas of interest
or specialization, like AUTO-SMART etc and should be bought fairly early
on.
BASIC SET OF CAR TOOLS True, you can easily make most of the standard
wire tools, but good to have a "store-bought" set of the more popular ones
to copy.
COMPUTER AND INTERNET CONNECTION This is becoming very nearly a necessity,
and once a beginner is "in the circle", he has the benefit of the sum total
experience and knowledge of a widely varied group of locksmiths as well as
access to reference works he can't afford yet, like up-to-date codes.
PIN TRAY can be made from a piece or corrugated rubber mat
PLUG HOLDER can be made from an old mortise cylinder
C-CLAMPS
ASSORTED BLANKS
FLASHLIGHT I like a mini mag-light myself. The mini-mini mag is -50
dia, and can be used as an emergency follower. It's lighted too.
CAR OPENING LIGHT AND WEDGES
CODE BOOKS if a fairly up to date used set can be had cheaply. The expense
of code software is a good one to put off for a year or so if the newbie
has friends with books or software, unless he finds himself cutting by
code at least once a day.
KEY MACHINE I am gonna go out on a limb here and get controversial. I
think a used FB machine is a decent first machine for a budget minded utter
beginner with a low work load. The stock machine has micrometer depth
adjustment, and they make an add-on micrometer spacing attachment. Cutting
by the numbers therefore is do-able on the same machine the newbie
duplicates on. Yeah its a pretty cheesy little machine, but good training
for the beginner since it enforces the wise practice of checking adjustments
daily on the primary machine. These machines regularly go used for under a
hundred bucks, and a brand new spacing attachment is only $49.95 and
direct reading digital for a hundred bucks more. As for using the factory
supplied spacing keys, forget it. The hassle, versus the low cost of a spacing
attachment is just not worth it. I have done it both ways and the
micrometer add-on wins hands down.
Did I forget anything? Oh yeah a SERVICE VEHICLE. The family station wagon
or a pickup with a topper will do until a real van is financially do-able.
PISTOL. Only half joking, especially when doing night calls. I would rather
feel stupid for carrying it and never needing it, than to feel stupid for
ever needing it but not having it. ALTERNATIVELY, in more left-wing
liberal areas where only the bad guys are allowed to have guns, a can of
pepper spray.
ONE MORE THING... DIGITAL CAMERA. Great for archiving locks encountered on
jobs, especially safe locks and boltworks, and for reference pics when
asking old-timers for advice. Another possible use... taking pics of
customers without ID or taking pics of their drivers license. This is
kinda optional, but if you always wanted an excuse to get one anyway......
Continue to:
My Books
