Tools of the Trade: The Georgia Locksmith’s Paraphernalia, Part II

In ‘Tools of the Trade: The Georgia Locksmith’s Paraphernalia’, we took a look at the most basic tools of the locksmith’s trade: the lockpicking tools. Today, we’re going to take a look at the tools that Georgia locksmiths use to create keys of various types.

Basic Tools, Take II

Making Physical Keys

• Key Cutter: This is the round, spinning grinder that you see at the hardware store. It’s used to turn key blanks (below) into completed keys by grinding them down until their profile matches the one the pins inside the lock require in order to allow the lock to open.
• Key Blanks: Simply a key with no profile etched into it — but there’s more than that. Every kind of lock has it’s own notching — the ‘zig-zag’ you can see when you look at a key long-ways down its shaft. This leads to the need for a locksmith to carry hundreds of different kinds of key blank.
• Key Decoder: Nothing at all like a decoder key, a key decoder is an implement that a locksmith can put into a lock that comes out with the necessary profile to cut a new key for that lock, having ‘learned’ it by being put inside.

Making (and Repairing) Physical Locks
Creating locks is a complex enough process that a comprehensive list of the tools you need would take several more entries, so we’ll just give a brief summary of the tools that your typical Smyrna locksmith would use on a regular basis.

• Pinning Kit: Consisting of lots of pins, a pin tray, and several pin code books from various lock manufactories, a pinning kits contain everything a locksmith needs to get a disassembled lock into a fully-functional state.
• Lock-and-safe Scope: A lock-and-safe scope is two bits of fiber-optic wire: one carries light from an LED and shines it into the lock (or safe); the other lets you see inside using the light carried by the first. Lock-and-safe scopes are vital in determining what is broken inside of a nonfunctional lock.
• Cylinder Removal Tools: The critical component for removing a lock from it’s door without destroying the architecture, a cylinder removal tool can take an (unlocked) lock out of it’s housing so it can be repaired.

Of course, this doesn’t even begin to get into all of the tools necessary should a locksmith start dealing with electronic locks and all of the details associated with them. Maybe someday we’ll put a Part III in here and discuss those.

Tools of the Trade: The Georgia Locksmith’s Paraphernalia

It takes a LOT of equipment to be a fully-decked-out locksmith. In Decatur, for example, there are only a few truly all-purpose locksmiths. Most shops have the basics, but very few can handle everything from car-key lockins to major corporate clients who need multiple levels of master-key to give different people different levels of overlapping access without the need to carry a massive ring of keys around at all times.

The Basics
Every Georgia locksmith simply has to have the following equipment:

Lockpicking Tools

• Plug spinner: An interesting tool that allows you to take a lock that you’ve picked into the ‘locked’ position, and ‘flip’ it into the unlocked position. A plug spinner can’t do anything for you if you don’t already know the position of the locks’ internals, but if you can get in it and just can’t get it unto the unlocked position, this baby will do it for you.
• Electronic pick: Electronic picks look like small machines with a keylike extension. They’re high-end tools used to pick complex systems like combination locks that have a key set feature.
• Tension wrench: Also (and more correctly) called a torsion wrench, this tool is what locksmiths use to turn a lock once they’ve picked it. It’s important because different kinds of locks require different levels of pressure to turn properly without causing backup safety measures to engage.
• Lockpick Gun: Essentially a non-computerized, more mobile, and much less expensive version of an electronic pick, a lockpick gun can be inserted into most standard locks and simply hits all of the pins in all possible combinations until it finds the one that will unlock the door.
• Key Remover: This simple device is a minute little claw that can reach inside of a keyhole and remove any broken key pieces or anything else that might be blocking the hole and preventing a key or pick from working properly.

Wow, we’ve run out of space and we’re just getting started here. It looks like we’ll have to come back for a “Tools of the Trade: The Georgia Locksmith’s Paraphernalia, Part II”!