Padlock Opening Tip

With all my years of experience in the locksmith field, I came to ind that bolt cutters, are the locksmith's ultimate tool for removing padlocks in the fastest way. These cutters will cut the shackle of most padlocks in seconds. Many locksmith technicians carry a supply of the lower priced padlocks in their inventory for replacement. From my experience, low priced padlocks are rarely worth spending any amount of money on them. In most cases it is more worth it to replace them.

Another method I found working on Masterlock padlocks was using pick tools. Using my pick tools on a Masterlock padlock worked very well and most of the time I was able to unlock it on the first stroke. They way it is done, you insert the tension pick, but without putting tension on it just yet. Now insert the pick tool to the back wall and let it hang. Now that both picks are in place, put a little tension on the tension pick, play with the other pick a little and rip it off. Then, put both pick tools again in place, and while you put a little bit of tension on the tension pick tool, insert the other pick all the way in and make sure it flops. If it doesn't, it means you are to far in. Try again, and this time if it flops while you play with it, the padlock should open right away.

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Residential Locksmith Service in Portland

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Picking Tip for Schlage Lock

A while back I got a call from a fellow locksmith technician to do a residential lockout job. When I arrived to the scene, I saw the door had a Schlage F series key in knob type of lock. I didn't really experienced before working with this lock, but as I did the job I learned something new.

If you need to pick an F series Schlage lock, you don't really have to pick it to the open position, but try picking it to the "locked' position (sometimes it works better to pick it to the "close" side) and then, as you are holding the plug in the locked position, use a hooked poke tool to depress the knob retainer and remove the knob.

You can use a pair of sharp pliers to turn the actuator inside the knob to open the door. If the customers has the keys to the lock within reach, re-install the knob and turn the plug back to the normal position. If the keys are not to be found, leave the plug in the picked position, remove the cylinder from the knob, remove the clip and make a key, or simply re-key the lock, whichever more desirable for the customer. Check out the following link for more useful locksmith tips.

Automotive Locksmith Service in Portland

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Kwikset Cylinder Removal

Our locksmith company got a call recently to re-key two Kwikset key-in-knob cylinders. I used my A-l Quik Pull to pull the first cylinder and replaced it with a ready-keyed cylinder that I usually keep in my service van. It looked like the job was going o be as easy as I thought and I would be on my way to the next job. I used my tool to work on the second cylinder and snapped the blade on it. I put a new blade on the tool and tried again. The cylinder wouldn't move at all.

I took the knob-set off the door, pulled the spindle, inserted a Kwikset removal tool and bent it trying to get the cylinder out. I got another tool out and tried again, but without any luck. I told the customer that if the cylinder won't come out, most likely I would have to replace the Knob-set. He said that it was OK and that the cylinder probably wouldn't come out because it "fell" out one day when he unlocked it, tried to put it back in and it wouldn't stay. He said his son super-glued the cylinder in.

I got a new lock out from my inventory, keyed it to the new key and left. This job took me nearly an hour more than it should have because I kept “trying" to get the cylinder out of the knob. Learn from my mistake, don't waste time trying to do something the traditional way if it doesn't work the way it's supposed to. Check out the following link if you need a similar locksmith service in your area.

Commercial Locksmith Service in Portland (503) 825-2124

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