Locksmithing and Security

Over the next few years, and thanks mostly to the internet (not criticising; I think the internet is one of the modern wonders), locks will be becoming unpickable. So even your best, friendly, local locksmith won’t be able to get you in non-destructively should you lock yourself out. So you’ll need to leave keys with a trusted friend who’s nearby but not next door.

Imagine you’ve broken into a house and you’re one of the top 10% of thieves, intelligence-wise, i.e. you’re IQ has just struggled over 50. You find a set of keys. It doesn’t matter if, sensibly, there’s no label. You’re going to try …

So, don’t leave keys with next door neighbours. Leave them with someone close but not that close.

(Anyone remember a film portraying Buster Edwards as a, mostly, lovable thief? I hated that film. Thieves blight lives. End of story.)

Back in the 1800s the slanging matches between the various lock manufacturers were pretty vitriolic affairs. One of the great stirrers of his day was a certain Alfred Hobbs. I’ll tell that story another day. (I’ve said that before I think; must get around to it. Wikipedia’s entry doesn’t look correct!)

Anyway, locksmithing is once again having a vitriolic spat. A new lock came on the market a little while ago; from Cisa, a well-respected lock and security company. I think their stuff is very good. Their electric release locks, for example, seem to go on forever. I’ve been wanting one for an experiment for years now, and every one I see on a problematic customer’s door is working fine and I can’t have it; the problem is always something else.

Another lock manufacturer, whose name isn’t far off the savoury pear whose name begins “Avoc…”, decided to rubbish this new cylinder as part of the marketing of their own new cylinder.

This undignified and unethical scheme has backfired on the unsavoury lock manufacturer in a rather spectacular way however. A couple of irked hobbyists have shown how two of the principal, purported selling points of the unsavoury manufacturer’s lock are miles off working satisfactorily.