Locksmithing and Security

Hopefully back again after a hiatus for holidays and blog software malfunctions.

What’s been happening? Well I think I reached the point where I need checklists to remind me to read my checklists. I was scheduled to replace a cylinder in a garage door. Now garage doors don’t often have cylinders. Usually they just have a cheap wafer lock built into the handle. But this one was in a better league and had a proper cylinder. (If you’re popping out to check yours, it’s easy enough: where does your key go? Does it go into something that looks like a front door “Yale” with  a circular front at least an inch across? If so — good. Does it go into something that looks like an upside-down pear / exclamation mark? If so — good. If it goes into something circular that’s about half-an-inch across and looks to be part of the handle, well, not quite so good.)

Anyway, this was a cylinder and garage door cylinders are usually what are called half (or single) euro-profile (the pear shape) cylinders. (There’s usually no need to be able to lock them from the inside.)

This does mean, though, that one method for opening, when the key has been lost, is unavailable. So I made a note that just in case I couldn’t pick the lock open, I should ensure that the drill was on board. And as I have a habit of grabbing the drill but forgetting the drill bits, I dutifully made sure I grabbed the drill bits as well.

When I got there I’d remembered everything except the picks! All I had was a small wallet of basic picks, a bit like you see in the movies. I was tempted just to go back and get the full kit, since the basic picks are not all that easy; but I thought I should save some exhaust fumes, be more positive and give it a go. And — glory be — it opened.