Locksmithing and Security

The bad news is that the internet showed everyone and their aunt how to open your traditional locks.

The other bad news is that an unbelievably idiotic cylinder design became a European standard (the “Euro” profile cylinder).

The good news is that lock manufacturers have been spurred into creating some truly fearsome high-security locks, dealing with lock pickers and earlier idiotic lock designers.

The bad news is that it won’t be any good calling a locksmith to get you in if you’ve lost your keys to one of the next generation of locks. So if you do fit high-security locks give a spare key to a good friend who never goes out and never goes on holiday.

They tell me that my singing isn’t as pleasant to listen to as Susan Boyle’s because of the sinuses or resonant cavities in my head, or rather the lack of them.

I was in the basement of a deserted bank once again the other day looking for a vault door that needed rekeying. This bank was much bigger than the one that was home to my last bank basement vault foolishness. I couldn’t find the bloody thing. It’s not easy to lose a vault door but this basement was labyrinthine.

After much cursing I managed to find my way back out after only a moment’s panic that having failed to find the vault door I would then fail to find the exit. As I exited I realized that I’d been in the vault the entire time. The first door I’d walked through was the wide open vault door!

Is one of the compensations for dementia an improving singing voice as the air spaces in your head get larger and larger?

Although you can’t do it with, say, a typical Yale and a Chubb on a front door, it is possible with some combinations to have your latch lock and your deadlock operated by the same key. This is obviously kinder to the pocket or handbag lining.

Personally I wouldn’t do it. There’s a tiny chance that some rare breed of thief having picked one lock will find it easier to pick the other. But the main reason I don’t have my front door that way is that in an emergency I can give a key to, say, a builder but not give both keys.

When can locks be keyed alike? When both locks are cylinder operated, rather than the deadlock being lever operated. This can be relatively inexpensive but is unlikely to be covered by your insurance. When both locks are cylinder operated and expensive, like Banhams in London. Or when both locks are lever operated and expensive like those based on the venerable Chubb 110.

What’s a restricted section? Well it’s not something that THEY do to get you locked away. It’s a key with a profile or shape (i.e. its section) that prevents other locksmiths obtaining key blanks and thus prevents them copying your keys. (It used to be a protected design but now it has to be a patent, so cylinder manufacturers are forever inventing silly gizmos just so that they can patent and protect the key blanks.)

Should you ask for a restricted section? Well, the advantage is that you can stay in control of how many copies of your keys are in existence. This can be particularly important if you are blessed with nannies, cleaners, dog walkers or au-pairs (AKA nannies, cleaners and dog walkers).

However, key copies will cost you more: maybe £9 rather than £3; and possibly considerably more for some famous London locks. And you will have to make sure you don’t lose your registration letter or card. And new occupants will be sticking pins in wax images of you when you neglect to give them the registration on moving out.

And locksmiths can retire or go out of business, so make sure you know about escrow — who really manufactured the restricted section and how you go about getting copies from them.