You probably don’t think much about what’s in your locksmith’s bag when you call for help. You’re just glad someone showed up. Here is a look at a few of the tools we carry and what each one is for.
Bypass shims. Thin strips of spring steel that slip between a latch or a padlock shackle and its housing. Think of the old credit card trick, done properly and without chewing up the door.
Tension tools. Nearly every pick job starts with one. A tension wrench sits in the keyway and holds a light turning pressure on the plug while the pins are worked, and getting that pressure right is most of the skill.
Hook picks. The workhorse for setting pins one at a time. The size of the hook has to suit the keyway it is working in.
Half diamond picks. A triangle-tipped pick that can set single pins or rock across several. Its shape limits how far a pin gets pushed, which helps avoid overshooting.
Rake picks. Rakes such as the snake rake are drawn across all the pins at once. They work on simpler locks and save time when a lock allows it.
Extractors and scopes. Smaller tools for jobs like pulling a snapped key out of a cylinder or looking inside a lock before deciding how to open it.
On a lockout, these tools come out long before a drill does. Picking or shimming leaves the lock working afterward, so drilling stays a last resort. Our house lockout service page explains how we decide.
That is only part of what rides along in the van, but it is the part that does the quiet work. Read more about lock picking on Wikipedia.
