As with any other trade, locksmithing has its own set of unique tools. Looking at them piece by piece should be puzzling, if you do not have a background on locksmith service at all. Special tools are used for special purposes just like a carpenter’s hammer is used only for pounding nails into place. Locksmiths have a keen eye for detail as well as skilled and deft hands to pick on the tiny little parts and mechanisms of a lock.

Lock picking is probably the most common task asked by customers from locksmiths, as this is the easiest and most inexpensive method of opening a locked door. Rather than have a locksmith replace your lock, you will always try to have him to open it first without necessarily prying the door. Locksmiths use several tools for this specific purpose as listed below:

Plug Spinners. Plug Spinners are used to lift, rotate and move the plug so that it goes back to its natural unlocked state. Handling this instrument requires a locksmith to have prior knowledge of the accurate positioning of the lock components. Computerized Picks. Computerized picks are used by locksmiths for more complicated lock types such as combination systems. This instrument is made of steel and is capable of configuring up to 6 pins and disc patterns. Tension Wrenches. The tension wrenches are used to control and apply the exact amount of turning pressure needed to access the shear line. Locksmiths usually carry 3 types of torsion wrenches: light, medium and rigid. Key Extractors. These tools are used by locksmiths to remove broken keys, key parts and other foreign material that are wedged into the lock cylinders. Electric Pick Guns. Electric pick guns are essentially small drills powered by electricity. The picks can be replaced, just like any other regular electric drill. A locksmith will typically have an array of picks in different small sizes.

These five tools cover the basic gadgets for lock picking. There are more tools used by locksmithing for other purposes such as installation and repair. Some of them include router drills, deadbolt installation kits, locksmith hammers and key cutters. The next time you call on your reliable locksmith service, check out what instruments he uses when performing the job. Having fundamental background on the tools of locksmiths will give you a general idea on how the work is done, and if indeed your locksmith is carrying with him the right equipment.

Using the wrong tools might cause more damage than good! If you are doubtful of your locksmith’s tools, you can purchase your own set of lock-picking tools which can be found at practically every hardware store. The next time you call on your locksmith, you can ask him to use your tools instead.  Or perhaps you can try using the tools yourself – who knows, you might have a future career as a highly skilled locksmith! Make a little effort to experiment and find out if you indeed have the natural ability to pick locks.

wowwwwww

Elektropick

Locked out of your home and you called a locksmith? You are not alone. Robert Campbell, owner of Advantage Locksmith in New York City, says the majority of his clients are people locked out of their homes. Therefore, the most common job is changing a cylinder, that is changing a lock to another key. Necessarily, when people are locked out, they are often ending up changing the cylinder.  When people have lost their keys and are locked out of their homes, he often has to open the door and change the cylinder and give them new keys. A person getting locked out of his car is another popular job. People get nervous, they’re looking for a spot, under pressure, looking for change for the meter and they realize they have locked themselves out of their car.

Safety Precautions:

Campbell says he also often change the locks because it is safe and responsible. Anytime someone moves into an apartment or buys a home, you have to change the locks. Regardless of how safe you feel or what the realtor told you, if you are going to move into a new home and you are going to live there and you are going to keep all your possessions in that one location, to not change your locks is just asking for trouble.

Anytime someone moves from one place to another, we change the cylinder. Also, anytime someone suspects that his keys are lost or stolen or copied, change the cylinder. Anytime people in residential buildings feel they have a super who has the keys and something suspicious has happened, we change the cylinder. When roommates split up, or there is a domestic dispute, he changes the cylinder.

Business Security:

Anytime someone who is terminated from a business who has had keys, you should always change the locks. You cannot allow him access to the location once he doesn’t work there anymore. You must assume that the person has made copies of the keys and could be disgruntled. If you let someone go and you think, “He was a good guy. He will never be back,” then you are just asking for trouble. I’ve heard people say, “I let this guy go a month ago, I never thought he would come back and he showed up this morning and two computers are gone.”

At a business where someone was fired, as locksmiths, Campbell says he changes the front door, the back door, the side door locks and gives them new padlocks for the roll-down gate. Sometimes, he changes the combination for the safe too. It encompasses a lot of different things when the safety of a business is involved.

Campbell says that you can never be too carefully when protecting your personal safety or your livelihood.

Robert Campbell, a locksmith who owns Advantage Locksmith in New York City, tells us about how he became a locksmith, and how you can too.

How did you become a locksmith and how does one get into this trade?
Like many established trades, locksmithing has a tradition of apprenticeships. You can learn a few things at a good locksmith school, but you are not really getting your feet wet until you are riding with another locksmith and you see the circumstances you can encounter. You need to have hands-on experience in order to do the job properly.

With the ability to break into houses and cars, it must be hard to acquire a license?
Specific laws vary according to place. In New York City, in order to provide lockout services or open a locked door, you have to be a licensed locksmith. The agency that issues a license is the Department of Consumer Affairs  They go through their own channels to verify that a potential locksmith candidate is not a felon. In addition, in order to get a locksmith license in the City of New York, two currently licensed locksmiths in good standing must vouch for you. So, usually a wannabe locksmith will follow two licensed locksmiths for a period of time and learn from them. When the time comes for the apprentice to strike it out on his or her own, those whom they learned under will vouch for him.

How did you become a locksmith?

I got into the trade in my early twenties. I started with a company in Queens when I was 21 but I wasn’t yet working out on the field. I was strictly working in the office where I was dispatching and taking calls and things of that nature. After a while, I started to realize that to do my job better, it would be best if I got some field experience. So I started riding with different locksmiths doing all sorts of jobs out there on the field as a helper. So that’s how I learned the how to’s and the proper protocols of being a locksmith, such as knowing if you are opening the right car or what do when you encounter a client who has been burglarized and needs good advice. I learned all these things from being out there with other licensed locksmiths who had been doing this for years. After I got enough experience, I then pursued a locksmith license on my own. I got it and I had the people I had followed vouch for me.

A locksmith license is not good forever, though. It is only good for two years. You are required by Department of Consumer Affairs to maintain your license and to renew it. If it expires and it has been expired for too long, you must start all over again from scratch.

The Department of Consumer Affairs keeps a list of all the licensed locksmiths in the city which can be made available to police if the need arises. When you apply for license at Consumer Affairs, you are fingerprinted. Especially after 9/11, they have became even more stringent with their laws. If you have ever been in a police precinct, they do the ink blotter just like they would if you were a suspect in a case. This license is only specifically for the five boroughs of New York City.

With a power like this, is there an oath you have to take that you will use it properly?
There is no specific oath not to abuse your power, like doctors might take with the Hippocratic Oath, but you are taught from day one to exercise good judgment, do the right thing, and when in doubt, speak to a supervisor or speak to an associate who has been in that situation before. Always call the head office when in doubt because things do occur. A lot of it comes down to discretionary measures and straight up common sense.