Is anyone here a locksmith or know a locksmith?

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I don't know if there is a more contemporary term for a locksmith, but anyway... Somehow my mother, uncle and I got into a brief conversation about their maternal grandfather, who was a safe cracker and a locksmith. I think there were other people in her family who were in the profession, and she herself was a key cutter when she was a teenager. She had wanted to apprentice locksmithing, but at that day and age she was told she wouldn't get in because it was a "man's profession". I said, "I like untying knots (which she and my uncle found weird and amusing...), so maybe I would like locksmithing too." My mom said we should make a mother-daughter locksmithing pair, out of fancy no doubt. Even still, I think it would be a neat idea to pursue.

So, I was wondering if anyone here knows how one becomes a locksmith? Or what the job is like. I tried looking through my county's library system for books on the history of locksmithing, but all I found were text books, which probably has more complicated concepts than I need know at the moment.

The easiest way to find out more about becoming a locksmith would be to find a locksmith and talk to them about their trade. Anyway, I know for definite that it is a lucrative profession. When I was living in Sydney I once accidentally locked myself out of the apartment (wearing only boxer shorts and trainers). The concierge called for a locksmith, who opened the door in less than one minute. I ended up paying the guy $50AUS (about £25, or roughly $45 approximately). Not bad for one minute's work, eh?

One of my professions is locksmithing. What exactly do you want to know? I can give you information on how to get a California license if you want or teach you how to work on locks. Funny that you mentioned it I love untying knots also. In the old days they used to put groceries in boxes and tie a string around them and when my grandmother came home she used to let me untangle them.

Wow, I've been wanting to become a locksmith for some time, but haven't had the money to get the learning tools yet. I thought that would be the perfect, fun skill to learn to start my own small business.

Do you think you could help me out, Coadunate?
I was thinking about getting (this set) here. Is that a good deal or should I look for something else for learning?

There's also a locksmith's guild nearby, but the training classes are pretty expensive, and seem to only last one day. Would it be a reasonable request if I tried to get an apprenticeship from a local locksmith or is this pretty much a learn-yourself skill?

Could you go in depth about anything about the locksmithing profession? I would love to know more about anything about it, really.

Hi Jacaen!

I am sorry, I am really new here and this is actually my first post, but I had to jump in here as this is so strange!

I have been tying knots since I was little, everything from Girl Scout stuff, to Nautical, fishing and Macrame. I even joined the International Guild of Knot-Tyers for a while.

However, I am a locksmith. My family has no history of locksmithing at all, it is just something else I have loved - It is an intricate puzzle like a knot is. I have often wondered if my interest in things like intricate hobbies and jobs is a sign of Asperger's. I think you might well like it as a profession!

One of the best places I can think of for help would be the group called "lockpicking101" - I am not allowed to post a link as I am new to this group, but a simple search should easily find it as it ends in "com".

They are mainly hobbiests, but are the best group I have found as they are VERY strict about their memebrs showing each other respect and staying legal. Many of the other groups attract the sort who get the hobby a bad name and it gets real nasty sometimes. Lockpicking101 are usually very helpful to beginners (just don't use text-speak and be polite!), but despite their name, because they are such a good group, there is lots and lots of terrific information on there and a lot of locksmiths are on the group as well, including myself (but under a different name).

If you join, go to the "business" section and read the "sticky" messages right at the very start, there you will find tons of information about how to become a locksmith in most countries of the world, including state-by-state for the USA.

If you need more help, please don't be afraid to ask, but to avoid the "read the stickies" reply from the noobs (who tend to think they are being clever), just say which state you are in and have read the stickies, but you are still unsure of ...whatever point(s) you want clarifying. Generally within a short time, you will have lots of accurate answers.

Good luck and I hope it turns out to be your dream profession! - Oh, and don't expect to become a millionaire at it though. Despite the high prices some charge, most reputable locksmiths will charge only a fair price and so will only ever be a "Mom-and-Pop" type business. Back in the 60's there were lots of magazine articles promoting locksmithing as a way to get rich quick, so the market in America is still pretty much saturated. Odly enough, some countries like Australia can still be very lucrative for locksmitrhing as they don't have so many.

Generally you will need to complete a respected course (by mail), say 6 months and $800, but this will give you basic tools and quite a good little key-cutting machine. You will then need to register with the city yearly and if you can, join someone like ALOA (Associated Locksmiths of America) as then you will find it a LOT easier to open trade accounts with an ALOA #.

Even if you can't join ALOA for a while, you can still pretty much get most of the stuff you need from companies who will sell to anyone, but it is usually a little more expensive and a bit more messing about. You will need to know which companies they are, so you can explain you are training and ask on Lockpicking101 group, or PM me (on here) and I will help if I can - But I am in the UK, so am not overly-familiar with all the American dealers, but do know a lot of them.

Incidentally, I've just looked at your profile and saw you are in IT - You do know how classical that is for lockpicking??? Probably over 80% of hobby pickers are in IT, there is something about lockpicking that deeply appeals to the same sort of things that computers do...!

Hi Typ3!

I have just checked out the set you linked to and it is a very nice set to learn with - I could go on for hours, but the lockpicking101 group would cover most of it, including my own posts about beginning.

At $99 that is not the cheapest way to get into it, but if you are sure you really do want to try it as a hobby, then I do not think I could find a better set to start with for that price. The cut-away locks alone are woth quite a bit and will really help you to see what it is you sre trying to do when you pick a lock. I am sorry, but from your profile, I do not know which country you are in, but I am assuming it is America. The only thing I would suggest is that I have never used that company who sells the set you have found, so it might be a good idea to check out on some group like lockpicking101 for the web address of their homepage and possibly post on the group asking if anyone there has used them and if they have been happy with their service?

Good luck to you also and I hope you get into it as a hobby! I still think of it as the ultimate puzzles...!

Thanks for the useful information, Horsey!
I think I will go with that lock set, since I never have done lockpicking before, and doesn't seem to be a big investment for such a purpose. I'm sure I'll love it, though.

I added lockpicking101 to my bookmarks... awesome site.

One topic kind of scared me though. It said to support one locksmith, a town/city needs to have a population of 20-40,000. The population at where I live is 173,000 -- and there's at least two dozen locksmiths. Three freakin' pages in the yellow pages! Aw, that's gonna make things hard in the future... for them.

(...hopefully)

fascinating thread.

and to take it at a 90degree turn, does anyone know how to find apprentice programs for clockmaking/clock repair?

Hi again Typ3!

Are you SURE you have that many locksmiths where you live? Only there is a big thing all over America at the moment with multiple listings with many different names, all pretending to be local, but actually all the different numbers lead right back to the same few phones from all over America. They work on the pricipal that if someone gets three quotes, they will go with one of them, so if 9 out of 10 listings in the Yellow Pages or online etc. are all leading right back to them, most people will end up going with them, without realising all those different quotes are from the same people!

Often they have no staff of their own, they take the customer's credit card details and then debit say $250 for the job. They will then ring someone who is cheap and get them to do the job for $80 or so. They pocket the difference for the cost of one phone call. There are cases of them charging MANY hundreds of Dollars, not just $250 or so. They will often try to get the first listings in the Yellow Pages by going under names like "AAAAAAAAA++++++++++ Locksmiths" and stupid names like that.

If you can, just try visiting the addresses listed in Yellow Pages or wherever and see if you really do have that many locksmiths - I bet it it's nothing like that! You do not have the population to support anything like that many for one thing. How many of those listing give addresses for one thing? And how many are real addresses then? I bet you are in for a real shock at how many are not local at all. Many of the online resources are clamping down on this sort of thing, so by the time you are ready, hopefull the industry will have been cleaned up and you will have a much fairer system.

Rememebr also that you do not need that many "local" customers, you can sell stuff online via eBay of course, but do not forget many other places like Craigslist, Gumtree, etc.

There is a post in the Business section of Lockpicking101 about new ideas to increase your business, but there are lots of good ideas posted. Unfortunately if you are wanting to do this as a business, then you will be running a business and will need to think as a business person, not just a locksmith sadly (

I'm so glad you like Lockpicking101, it is my favourite "locky" site too!! ! Much of the info on there can seem very daunting for a beginner, but don't worry as it covers all locks, from all countries and you will not come across many of them. Not only that, but you do not need to be able to pick every lock to be a professional. Some professionals don't even pick any locks. There are "bypass" methods that you will learn as you become a professional 'smith, such as how to drill a lock properly to get past it. Also you will learn about good, but expensive tools like electric vibrating lockpicks that will help, or special tools for automotive work if you choose to do vehicle lockouts.

If it helps, I really wish I had something like that set you are getting when I started out, it would have made learning much quicker and easier for me!

Good luck!

Now that you mention it, it isn't nearly as many as I thought (surely, A+/A+a was listed almost a dozen times alone), but I counted each I thought was unique and still came up with 16. No addresses listed in it doesn't help either. Still don't know how much that actually is, but still.
There is a locksmith's guild not too far from my house, so it wouldn't be too far-fetched if I just happened to live in a locksmith mecca.

I do have plenty of ideas for business advertising, and a good graphic artist connection... it's one of my daydreams I often get way too ahead of myself in.

But yeah, right now it's all just trying to get a job... I'm making a fast food run tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some luck.


Uh... sorry if I hijacked your thread, Jacaen.

16 Different locksmiths and not a single address? That sounds suspicious to me. Have you considered ringing them and asking something like if you could bring round an old jewelry box of a relatives you have been given, but has no key, for them to look at and seeing how many have shops in the area?

You might get lucky and find it's almost none...

The locksmith's guild is a bit unfortunate, it might mean there are a lot of businesses near you, but I do find it odd that none are giving a physical address. That either means they are small and working out of the back of a vehicle, or not local at all. If you had a bricks-and-mortar shop, why would you not put your address in with your ad?

Hmmm...sounds like you might be rather good at the marketing part of the business then, you might be quite successful as new ideas for advertising is usually where most businesses run out of steam.

My apolgies too Jacaen for hijacking your thread...But you made such a wonderful point, it really took off!

Best wishes!

The first thing you need is a “pin kit”. You can either buy one like this:

http://www.lockpickersmall.com/lab-econo.html

or make one yourself. If you decide to make one the first thing you will need is a micrometer:

http://search.harborfreight.com/cpisear ... &Submit=Go

either order, or go to:

http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/sto ... r/start.do

to get one.

Next you will need a ¾” plywood and two thiner pieces of plywood all cut to same size. On the ¾” plywood you will be making 84 holes (seven across and twelve columns) with a 5/8” drill bit. Make sure to leave enough space between the holes because you will be labeling them. Label the holes starting with .010T to .200T in .05 increments. The T stands for Top. Continue to label the remaining holes from .155B to .360B. The B stands for bottom. Screw the thin piece of plywood to the non labeled side of the ¾” plywood so that you now have 84 labeled round pits of ¾” deep and 5/8” round. The second piece of plywood will be the lid. You can either rubber band it on to the pit board you made or put hinges on it. Make sure the lid closes very tight and flat over the pits so that nothing will fall out. Now you will need lock pins to fill the pits with. To do so you will need at least a dozen discarded locks. A good source would be a building that is about to be demolished. In a building that is about to be thorn down they usually leave the locks on the doors. The locks do not have to be operational since you will only need the lock pins from the cylinders. Each lock cylinder will have five to six pin holes in it with at least two pins and a spring in each hole. Once you remove the locks take out the cylinders. To remove the pins you will either need to pick the cylinders or shim them. If you decide to pick them it will take a lot longer but you will have lock picking experience in the end. Here is how to pick a lock:

http://www.flixya.com/video/1495071/Loc ... E%21%21%29

or

http://www.learnlockpicking.com/howto.html

or

http://www.amazing-planet.net/pick-a-lock.php

Here is how to make a lock pick:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=auQbi_fkdGE[/youtube]

If you decide to shim the cylinders you will need some shims:

http://www.lockpicks.com/cylindershims.aspx

and some key blanks (uncut keys). You can get blank keys from anyplace that duplicates keys. You will probably need a blank each of Schlage, Kwikset and Yale to start. In order to shim a lock you will need a blank key that will easily go into the key-hole of the cylinder. On the opposite end of where the key hole is there will always be something that will be holding the plug of the cylinder to the housing. This is different for each brand of lock. You will need to figure out on your own as to how to remove this. It isn’t hard to do. Once you remove what ever is holding the plug to the housing of the cylinder always remember that there is nothing holding them together except the pins themselves. This means that once the pins align the whole thing will come apart if you pull out the plug and if you’re not careful all the pins and springs will pop out. Insert the blank key into the cylinder and start inserting the shim between the plug and the housing from the opposite end. You will very slowly pull the blank key out as you very slowly insert the shim deeper and deeper. The shim will keep the top pins from falling into their plug holes as the blank key lowers them. Once all the pins are aligned the cylinder will come apart. Make sure not to lose any of the pins and springs.

http://www.lockpickingforensics.com/tools.php

Top pins are cut square and bottom pins have either a point at one end or are more round cut. Measure all the pins with the micrometer and place them in their respective pits in the labeled tray that you made. You will need three more tools to complete your set. These are a lock file (a very thin round file), tweezers (also very thin and long) and a follow through bar. This last one can be anything that is about ½” in diameter like a bolt, bolt anchor or even one of the plugs from one of the locks you cannibalized for its pins. The tweezers you can get from here:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/d ... mber=96124

If you are still interested in becoming a locksmith after reading all that let me know and I will continue with my information including how to buy a key duplicating machine for about a hundred dollars.

Horsey-Instructor wrote:

Wow, thanks for the wealth of information you all! I felt kinda bad for letting the thread stew for a bit before responding, but it seems my questions were answered anyway, and with gusto. Great minds think alike

And yes, I am aware IT is like technical lockpicking, but I didn't realize so many ITs did lockpicking on the side.

i am trying to teach myself how to pick a lock and a safe

there is times i lock myself out and there is also times i forget the code to get in my gun safe so if i can pick a lock and crack a safe then i can save a lot of money not to forget about locking my keys in a car when i am the only person there and about 100 miles from any town and in a spot that a cell phone has no service