George's Locks & Security

Keyosk Dual Purpose Key Machine G888C

People need copies of their house keys. They are good to have as backups and loaner sets, if you need neighbors or family members to watch your house while you are out of town.

Copies of keys are usually obtained at hardware stores and locksmith shops. Few of these key making videos on YouTube give you any description of what is going on. I assume it is supposed to be self-explanatory. Insert a blank key and the original key into the machine and as the operator moves the carriage along, the shape of the original key gets traced as the cutting wheel creates the cuts onto the blank key.

I found a video on YouTube of the Keyosk Dual Purpose Key Machine G888C. I like this video because it shows the cutting of a skeleton key, or mortise/bit key are more proper terms. If you’ve read my earlier postings, you know I am a fan of skeleton keys. This model of key cutting machine is recommended as a basic entry- level model and is designed for the cutting of cylinder keys, mortice and bit keys that do not have sideward cuts, Abloy half circle keys, Abus, Ford Tibbe, and Chubb Ava Keys. Standalone mortise key machines are required if your key needs sideward cuts.

Toddler Rescued From Arcade Machine by a Locksmith

On March 1^st, at a restaurant in Perth, Australia, a toddler made his way through the prize door of an arcade claw machine and became trapped inside. When the mother of the boy and the restaurant staff saw where the boy was, they immediately tried to find the keys for the machine. Unfortunately, the claw machine was the only machine that they could not find the key for. To get the little boy out, they opted to call the local locksmith.

After arriving on the scene and assessing the situation, the locksmith realized he would need more tools than what he originally brought. After swinging back by his shop for more specific tools, the locksmith returned and picked the lock. The kid was reunited with his mother and the claw machine was promptly removed to avoid further incidents.

Let us hope that this was a learning experience for all of those parties involved and everyone who reads the story. Unthinkable as the story may seem, it happened. If you are going to have games and arcade machines in your establishment, be sure you have the keys for them. Tell your kids not to climb into machines, even if they do fit in there. But yeah it was a toddler, so kind of hard to tell them that.

Looking at the pictures of the machine, it is hard to see even a little kid fitting through there. Or maybe it is just hard to tell the scale from pictures. It is like when they tell you a mouse can fit through a half inch hole, unless you see it yourself, you probably would not believe it.

Here is a link to the  full story and pictures taken by the boy’s mother:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1257423/Sweet-toothed-toddler-climbs-INSIDE-lolly-machine-guzzle-sweets–gets-trapped-inside.html

A Different Kind of Locksmith Scam

I’ve been reading about this guy in Canada who was recently arrested for fraud charges, after the police had received multiple reports of a guy going door to door asking for money to hire a locksmith. His claim was that he had been locked out of his house and needed money to hire a locksmith to come and open his door for him. He promised to repay the money to those home owners that he visited, but of course he never did. The reports listed that he had done this at dozens of houses.

So I guess this is a step up from asking for money on the street corner. Even then you don’t know if that person is actually in need. A good number of people make a living off of grifting. The person will go out with their sign or just themselves and ask passers by for money. Then they get picked up by their accomplices at the end of the day.

This of course ruins things for the true homeless and destitute, which need a helping hand.

Back to the Canadian story, I wonder how much this guy actually got doing this. The fraud claim against him is for counts under $5000, but I still wonder how much. Generosity varies from person to person. He may have been a very convincing character, but only those involved know for sure.

Tips for Preventing Break-Ins

Aside from having quality locks installed on your doors, there are other deterrents are important to utilize to help prevent a home break-in.

1. Lighthing—Many thieves rely on the cover of darkness to carry out their evil deeds. One way to remove this luxury is to have lighting installed in key points of your home and yard. It is ideal to have a porch light by the door and some motion detector lights pointed at the drive way and the yard. When you are not home to run the lights yourself, utilize a timer to turn the lights on and off to give the appearance that somebody is there.
2. Cameras—Security surveillance is no longer just for businesses and the wealthy. Home camera systems are now widely available for home consumers. Cameras can help provide the video evidence needed to catch criminals and assist in other legal matters. If you don’t want to go with the whole camera system, setup some decoy cameras to add the appearance of surveillance.
3. Yards—Maintain your yard and keep your plants, trees, and bushes trimmed. You do not want to leave any area for someone to hide in.
4. Window Locks—Often, windows are the most used to opening to break in to your home. Your main option is to use the pre-installed locking mechanisms on the window. You secondary options include resistance bars, screw on locks, and other devices that block the window from being slid open.
5. Fencing & Gates—The goal of gates and fences was always to keep some in and others out. Options for them range in purely functional to decorative and functional. Having a gate and fencing is a great way to add another layer of the annoyance factor to a criminal.

Your best bet of all is to actively use all of the locks and security measures currently in your home. And if you feel you need more, then seek out a locksmith or somebody to install further security options.

Electronic Key Impressioner in the works to eliminate key codes.

Designed by Steve Randall and Ted Schwarzkopf, to help locksmith’s create car keys with out the key cut codes, the Electronic Key Impressioner (EKI) device is designed to scan the inside of a car lock and return the code to the operator of the device. Retrieving the code must be done through an internet connection through the USB port on the Key Impressioner. The device and its software are still in development and presently said to only work on Ford cars. Once you have connected the device to a car door and selected a car model type on the software, the key code will be retrieved.

When it is released, the EKI will be made available for purchase by licensed locksmiths. Of course, there is always the potential threat of car thieves using these devices to their advantage. Security will be handled by the fact that the EKI must be connected to the internet to function properly. Any device that isn’t properly registered will be remotely deactivated when it attempts to get key codes. If the device makes it out to market, we will see how true it is. And even if a thief gets the key, many cars now have secondary devices required for the car to start.

Regardless of potential security risks, the EKI does appear to be a handy little gadget that will save locksmiths some time in getting replacement car keys to their customers.

Methods Burglars Will Use to Gain Entry to Your Home

There are various methods a burglar will use to enter your home. The most classically known is that of picking a lock, but this requires skill that most home invaders will not have. The majority of criminals will go for a simpler approach.

These methods include, but are not limited to:

1. Brute Force—The intruder will attempt to simply kick in the door or otherwise attempt to force their way in by breaking the door itself.
2. Break the lock—The burglar will attempt to pry the lock off of the door. This may also include trying hammer or saw the lock off.
3. Breaking the Glass—If you have glass in your front door, the burglar can break it in an attempt to unlock your door knob and dead-bolt from behind. If your locks are accessible through this method, it is suggested that you use a dead-bolt that has a keyed lock on both sides. Even if they can unlock the door knob, the dead-bolt will still be in place.
4. The Door was simply unlocked—Some people are very trusting and neglect to lock their doors when they leave, while others simply forget. This of course, is an easy target for home invaders.
5. Drilling a Lock—As I mentioned, Lock picking is a skill that most thieves will not have. To get by locks, some people will just try to simply drill out your lock and open the door from there.
6. Spare Keys—Often times, people will hide a spare key somewhere outside of their house. Or give a key to a neighbor when they go out of town. You have no idea who is watching you hide your key, or what your neighbor does with the spare key. A good number of crimes are committed towards people by the people they know.

Some Options For More Door Security

When you think of the door in your home, what are the choices that come to mind? Most people just think of the traditional doorknob lock and a deadbolt. And for the most part this is a working fully functional combination. But sometimes you want to add a little more deterrents to you door.

A few examples of these extra deterrents:

1. The Chain Lock—Good for when you want to open the door, but not all of the way. Attaches to your door and the doorframe or a stud near your door. How far you can open the door will depend on the length of the chain and how far apart you installed the chain unit and the chain receiver.
2. The Flip Lock—Good for adding a little resistance to the brute force opening of your door. The unit is installed into the doorframe with a metal piece that flips and locks into the base to keep the door shut.
3. The Door Guard—Similar to the chain lock, but it is solid pieces of metal instead of a chain. This style of locks allows the partial opening of the door, good for when you want to see who is at the door before letting them in.
4. The Barrel Bolt—The classic design, similar to a bolt-action rifle. The lock is locked and unlocked by lifting the knob on the bolt out of the locking slot; sliding the bolt into the housing for the bolt and sliding the knob back down into the other locking slot. The Barrel Bolt can be installed either horizontally or vertically on your door.

These are optional additional locks you may want to add to your front door or to other rooms of you house. They require no keys, though I have seen chain locks that offer a lock and key option.

Door Reinforcement—The Door Club

In the early 1990’s “The Club” was a popular leader in the car theft prevention market. On that acclaim, the makers of “The Club” chose to introduce an entry for the home. Their new product was “The Door Club”, which was advertised as better security than a deadbolt. The objective of “The Door Club” is to reinforce your door and to prevent brute force break ins. To achieve this goal, “The Door Club” is a set of accessories for your door, including a floor plate that is installed into your flooring. In this floor plate will go the anchor, which will provide the resistance to opening the door. There is also a kick plate to prevent marking on your door, and a storage caddy to keep the anchor while it is not in use.

Do keep in mind, that to install “The Door Club”, you will need wood and probably masonry drills to properly set the floor plate for the anchor to slide into. Not that it should stop anybody from having one installed by your local locksmith. Just be aware that it goes into your floor, and some people may not want to damage their floors.

Being able to withstand over 2 tons of force is one of the impressive selling points of this unit, as is mentioned in this early 1994 commercial.