A friend locked herself out of her flat this weekend. I offered to come round and use my size 11 skeleton keys on it :-) but she called a locksmith instead.
The lock was a single yale-type lock which locks when the door is pulled closed. My question is - how would a locksmith open this?
I thought about drilling through the keyhole with a HSS bit - bit I guess (hope!) the cylinder should be able to resist this type of attack?
Mark.
I think you want uk.rec.burglars
Andy
:-) Surley burglary counts as DIY?
Mark.
HYTI I think. (help yourself to it)
(a) pick the lock (b) piece of stiff plastic between the door and the frame to sring the bolt back.
No, thyr'e very vulnerable to that. Real locksmiths wouldn't do it, but pretend lockmsiths do because it's quick and because they can then charge hundreds of pounds more for selling a replacement lock.
Owain
If it's the old-fashioned type of Yale that doesn't deadlock then you can just slide something (bit of stiff but flexible plastic) between the door and the frame to push the bolt back into the, errrrr thingie.
See
- How to Pick a Lock
- How to Crack a "Master Lock" Combination Lock
- How to Make a Padlock Shim
- How to Crack a Master Combination Lock
- How to Open a Lock Using a Can
- How to Kick Down a Door
- How to Burglarproof Your Doors
- How to Bump a Lock
I locked myself out once. And a friend said he knew how to open it. Sadly what he meant was he knew he could boot the door hard enough to get it open.
By drilling down the shear line so the plug can be rotated. Takes about 30 seconds including the walk from the van, and that'll be 90 quid, thanks.
from opening it with a card. Either remove the trim or find an alternative method of opening the door" My outside door has a trim that I'm pretty sure would prevent opening this easily.
MBQ
It's probably better to have the people with the knowledge and tools earn their money as locksmiths rather than, shall we say, freelancing.
She get a bargain at 75 quid then! What is the shear line? Right through the middle of the barrel?
Mark.
They're one of the easiest types to pick. Details readily available.
There's also the "Mother-in-Law's" tongue principle!
Depending on condition of the lock & how tight the door fits the frame...you can create a vibration which causes the Houdini effect!
{Apparently that's how microwaves work too ;-) }
Don.
Takes about 10 seconds, no damage to lock or door. Nice little earner :0)
In the case of a friend who got locked out, open it from inside, through the letterbox, with a tool he carried to do just that. Although the problem turned out to be that the painter doing the flat up for her had taken off the inside door handle and the square shaft that operated a sashlock on the door fell out when the door slammed shut in the wind. A couple of minutes with a screwdriver sorted the problem, after the locksmith had given up.
Colin Bignell
Bump-key ?
Funnily enough I drilled one out this very day - for the first time ever.
The plastic shim doesn't work on most doors due to the rebated frame.
I have an escapologist mate who only picks locks as a last resort, prefers hidden keys, gimmicked locks etc.
He gave me a lock pick set & showed me how to pick a Yale type lock. It's much, much harder than it looks, takes loads of practice to get it 100%. I still can't do it well.
As Huge says, drill down the shear line, which is just above the top of the key slot. Didn't work today as the drill slipped into the larger bit of the key slot. Instead I drillled where I guessed the fixing bolts were & got lucky on both. Once these are drilled out it falls apart with a little 'encouragemment'.
Used a cobalt drill bit - knife through butter.
If you can get the bezel (the ring around the lock, I think thats what its called) off then its easy to drill out the fixing bolts.
Is he called Sharon? ;-)
No
I'm not really. It seems that this is a popular name for magicians' assistants.
Far more popular are the Tracays answering corporate telephones.
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