If you have ever lost your car keys, I am sure you will agree that it is a painful and costly process. Silca have just made this a bit less painful for your wallet.

They have released a range of generic vehicle remotes which can be 'pre-coded' to a specific vehicle manufacturer, and then introduced into the vehicle.

There was previously not a lot of options for people wanting to replace lost keys with remote buttons. Genuine keys were in most cases, very expensive and in most cases, customers were forced into plain keys with no remote lock and unlock buttons.

The new Silca remote keys suit a wide range of vehicle manufacturers and use a flip blade style of key. A lot of the time they are half the price of a genuine dealer key whilst retaining all the functions of a genuine.

More information on the new range of Silca remote keys can be found here.

There is a lot of questions relating to restricted keys V's non restricted keys. Customers often call me asking to duplicate a key they have which is stamped with 'Do Not Copy' or Restricted. Restricted keys are used when a person or business wants to control how many keys are available and who should have these keys, to a particular building or door.

These keys are unable to be copied by anyone except the locksmith who supplied the keying system. The locksmith will only duplicate the key if they are given permission from the owner of the keying system. A very typical use is a small office somewhere. Joe - The owner wants a restricted keying system on his entry doors. He orders from the Locksmith, a key for each employee - 6 in total. The Locksmith will record the request from Joe, and provide him with the 6 keys. Each employee has a numbered key assigned to them. If an employee should leave the business, they return the numbered key to Joe. He knows that it is not possible for that person to have made any copies of that key, and he now has the original key back. Joe can sleep well knowing that only the people he has issued keys to have access to the building.

Locksmiths are unable to copy other locksmiths restricted keys because the blank keys are very tightly controlled. I would be unable to order a blank key that was assigned to another locksmith, and another Locksmith would be unable to duplicate a restricted key that I had supplied.

There are however drawbacks to having a restricted keying system installed. For example, restricted key locks are in many cases, almost impossible for Locksmiths to pick open. I have had many people call me after being locked out of their apartment because they left the keys inside, only to be told I was unable to pick the lock open and get them back inside. The other potential problem, is the key control. Imagine if you had a friend coming to stay and wanted to get them a key cut, with a restricted key, not only could you not get it copied by anyone, you would need the restricted systems owner to authorise the additional key.

I personally am all for restricted keying, I believe the extra security and key control outweigh any potential downside - in the right situation.

Recently I was asked to change the locks of some garage door handles to suit the rest of the doors on the house in Gilles Plains. The customer already had 2 new Lenlock handles installed. The new handles were installed with a C4 profile meaning they could be re-keyed to the existing house key. These types of locks are reasonably new to the market, and in my opinion, a very good idea. Previously all garage door handles used a different keyway, meaning they couldn't be on the same key as the house. They are still essentially wafer locks, but the wafers are interchangeable, meaning a locksmith can match the depth of the cuts on the key to the corresponding wafer. IMO they are a little fiddly to pull down, but the C4 keyway and the fact they accept a common wafer outweighs this. For anyone that is sick of having a garage door handle that requires a separate key, these are a must have.

We did have a stranger than usual job today. I was working in the van in my driveway when a taxi appeared out the front. It reversed into the driveway and a man got out to ask if I was the locksmith. He had just flown in to Adelaide and upon arriving in Adelaide he realised that he had locked the padlock on his suitcase with the keys inside. He asked the taxi driver to google a local locksmith on the way from the airport to his house, and arrived in my driveway. He retrieved his bag from the boot of the taxi and asked me to simply cut the padlock from his suitcase. It was far too small to pick. I got out the trusty bolt cutters and cut it off. He produced his keys, paid the bill and got back in the taxi and continued on his way home.

I had a client call me the other day saying that he had a locker at Adelaide Oval that he had lost a key for. He dropped the lock off to me and asked if I would be able to make a new key for it. As I previously described, I was able to read the lock and impression a new key by hand. The only difference this time, was I didn't have a blank that matched exactly. I took a blank that was close and had to file it to fit the keyway. This time I remembered to take some pictures. I am a much better locksmith than I am photographer.

Just a but of background about car keys- in particular for vehicles manufactured after the year 2000.

After auto theft spiked in the late 1990's car manufacturers had to introduce measures to combat vehicle theft. Their solution was to fit vehicle immobilizers.

Vehicle immobilizers have been standard to many makes and models since the early 2000's. They have been very successful in reducing auto theft - particularly in North America, and Australia.

When you try to start a car with an immobilizer, the cars ECU (or computer) sends out a request for a particular code associated with that vehicle.

The duplicated key must have a transponder coded to that specific vehicle.

This is a relatively easy task with the correct equipment - I use a Keyline 884 mini Transponder Cloner. The 884 can clone the majority of transponders available in a matter of minutes. I would strongly encourage everyone with a vehicle manufactured after 2000 to make sure they have 2 working keys.

All too often I get calls from customers that have only 1 key (which they have lost or broken etc.) and now are unable to start their car.

Having a spare key cut and coded for most vehicles, is not a lengthy or overly expensive process. In most cases, the cost is about a quarter of what it would cost if all keys were lost / broken.

I have some pictures below of the Keyline 884 mini in action. It is coding a key for a 2004 Nissan Patrol.

Customers often question if it is better to buy a padlock from a Locksmith or just get one from the internet, or local hardware store. I usually tell people it depends on what you are trying to secure....... There is no real point getting a Locksmiths padlock for locking cupboard drawer at home, by the same thinking it would be very remiss to put a cheap padlock on a factory gate. In my opinion, the cheaper padlocks that I have come across simply give the illusion that they are secure. They look big and strong, but provide little in the way of physical security. I recently bought a few padlocks from the internet to evaluate, despite their shackles being printed with the word 'Hardened' I was able to cut half way through the shackle with a hacksaw in a little over 15 seconds. The majority of cheaper padlocks won't use ball bearings to secure the shackle in the body, thus leaving them vulnerable to shimming. When you buy a padlock from a Locksmith, it will no doubt, be 5 times more expensive than what you can buy at the local hardware store. Locksmiths padlocks will always have a genuinely hardened shackle. A simple way to tell if a shackle is hardened, is to run a hacksaw across the shackle, if the blade skates and doesn't bite, it is hardened. Locksmiths padlocks will generally have the ability to be re-keyed to suit an existing key (or restricted key). Handy, if you are adding the padlock somewhere that is already keyed alike. I try to (where possible) use the ABUS 83 padlock. It has a nifty feature that allows it to be changed from its non-key retaining to key retaining by inserting a 'Z bar'. With most padlocks available, the key can be removed regardless if the shackle is open or closed. In a key retaining padlock, the key will only be released once the shackle is locked. It is intended to prevent the padlock from being left open for someone to steal. The Abus 83 is very easy to change from non-key retaining to key retaining. The whole process took me 2 minutes.

During my years as a Locksmith in and around Adelaide, I have been called to help more people locked out than I could possibly remember. I must say, last week was the first time I was called to help a customer that was locked in! The call came late one night, from a customer who was moving into a new home office. The property was in North Adelaide, there was a gate at the front of the townhouse, a screen door and a main wooden door. Obviously unaware, the customer unlocked her screen door and then wooden door to access the premises, she then locked the screen and shut the wooden door, leaving her keys between the screen and wooden doors. Normally not a problem, just open the wooden door and get the keys. In this case, the wooden door was fitted with an older style Lockwood 001. This particular model of deadlatch (not in production anymore) requires a key to unlock the internal side of the lock. So when the customer shut the door, it was deadlocked, and unable to be opened without a key. And of course her keys were in the screen door lock, which she had also locked. She was locked inside her new office, and unable to unlock the door. The back door was a carbon copy of the front door, (also deadlocked.) After a few unsuccessful attempts at picking the screen door open to retrieve her keys, I abandoned that method of entry in favour of trying to reproduce a working key by reading the pins in the gate lock which happened to use the same key as the screen door. In about 5 minutes I had a working key for the property and was able to gain access. I recommended that I cut 2 more keys for the customer who should place them inside the property, somewhere out of sight, to stop this happening again. It is worthy of note however, the current Lockwood 001 deadlatch automatically unlocks the inside knob whenever the key is turned from the outside. It is possible to deadlock it once inside, but this can only be done with a key. I know that a lot of Real Estate agents around Adelaide are requesting these be fitted for that very feature, and they are an extremely reliable and long lasting deadlatching solution.

I was contacted by a customer in Seaton looking for a locksmith to help her with the deadbolt on her front door. She was reporting that it was working fine from the outside but the key was just spinning around when she tried to lock or unlock it from the inside. It is not unusual for locksmiths to come across deadbolts that have failed over time. Genreally speaking, more often than not the latch itself will fail causing the lock to be totally inoperable. From what the customer was reporting, this didn't appear to be the case this time. I removed the lock and quickly determined that the latch was indeed working as it should, (although it could have done with some lubrication.) I turned my attention to the internal cylinder and discovered that when the key was turned, the cam that operates the latch was not turning, Upon closer inspection i saw that the actuator on the rear of the cylinder had snapped causing the failure the customer had reported. I was unable to repair or replace this part as the lock was quite old, so a brand new Gainsborough deadbolt was fitted and keyed to the same key that operated the old lock. I must admit, it is not a fault I have ever seen in a Gainsborough deadbolt before. Usually the failure is in the latch itself although i believe a lack of lubrication played a big part in causing the cam to fail. I managed to get some photos of the old deadbolt illustrating the part that failed and how it works within the lock assembly.

I was asked to install a deadbolt into a new door this week and thought I should make a little how to guide. Installing a deadbolt or deadlatch into a new door really isn't as tough as one might think. Sure, locksmiths are probably quicker and perhaps the end result may look more professional, but it really is something the average Joe can do in a couple of hours. If you are unsure which lock would be best or what type of lock to install, ask your local locksmith. If you need the new lock keyed to an existing lock, again, ask your local locksmith. I am happy to supply and re-key new locks for you to install yourself. It is most likely a lot cheaper than you think.

The first step in a new install is to mark the drill locations. Most new dead locks come with a drilling template. These are made of paper and prone to ripping. Usually it is a 54mm hole with it's center 60mm from the doors edge. The latch position will be in the center of the doors edge. To help with alignment, strike a line from the center of the 54mm hole to the edge of the door. This will mark the center for your latch hole. Drill the latch hole with a 25mm splade.

Place the latch into the latch hole and mark the outline with a pencil. You will have to chisel a recess into the edge of the door so the latch sits flush.

You should now be able to install the latch into the recess and fit the deadbolt to the door. Once complete, check for smooth operation and tighten all screws. The next step is to cut a recess for the strike plate and hole for the bolt. This is the hardest part of the installation. Cut the hole in the frame for the bolt first. You can use the same 25mm drill that was used for the latch. With the door closed, mark the top and bottom of the latch plate on the door frame. This marks will also be used as positioning for the strike plate. Find the middle of the 2 marks on the frame and strike a line towards the door jamb. If the door closes flush with the frame the location for drilling will be the middle of the frame. If it does not close flush, measure the distance and adjust that measurement from the center of the frame. Drill bolt hole and recess striker into the frame.

Install the striker into the frame and close the door. It should close snug and the bolt should move freely. You can make small adjustments to the striker by filling the edges if necessary. With any luck, you should have installed a working deadbolt. If in any doubt, call a locksmith.

During my time as a apprentice Locksmith, the Gainsborough Trilock was released onto the Australian market. It was an instant success, builders were installing them into as many homes as they could. The Master Locksmith (Steve) who I trained under, was absolutely terrified of these new Trilocks. They are extremely fiddly, have a lot more small parts than any lock should and a propensity to break in the strangest places. It got to the point that he would pass up a job if it involved a Trilock. I have never seen a 200 cm man so scared of a front door! Naturally my exposure to Trilocks in particular, was somewhat diminished until I struck out on my own. After working on more Trilock's than I can remember, my attitude towards them, strangely mirrors Steve's. - Although to a much lesser extent! I was called yesterday by a customer in Kidman Park, he explained on the phone that he needed a Locksmith because he couldn't open his front door from outside, but it worked fine from the inside. As he was explaining his problem, in the back of my mind I know it was going to be a Gainsborough Trilock. Sure enough, when I arrived, there is was....Bam, a Satin Chrome Gainsborough Trilock, I swear it was almost smiling at me. The customer again explained that he could lock and unlock from the inside but all of a sudden, the same key wouldn't work from the outside. This is a pretty rare problem, in most cases, the wrong key is being used, or somebody has changed the combination of the lock (usually the landlord or owner to evict the current tenant.) The customer had purchased the house 6 months ago so this was less likely. I pulled lock down and removed the cylinder housing, undid the grub screw and took the double sided cylinder out. (Photo's below) As i removed the circlip holding the barrel in the housing, a small master wafer fell out of the lock. Master wafers are used to create more than one shear line inside the cylinder - to enable the lock to be opened by more than 1 key. Without the master wafer in the lock, the key the customer had wouldn't open the lock. I am at a loss to explain how a wafer that is contained in the pin chamber could possibly fall out. I have NEVER seen this before. It was a fairly easy problem to fix, just very time consuming. And true to form, it took me longer to re-assemble the Trilock than the rest of job including travel, combined!!

A lot of people ask me if locksmiths can pick locks, why do we drill them? It is a fair question, i am sure that people as a whole think locksmiths have this magical ability to open any lock. In reality, locksmiths like myself, picking locks only makes up a small percentage of our day to day work. When we are asked to pick a lock, most of the time we are able to do so successfully. There are occasions when it may be necessary to drill open a lock. For example, if the lock has a paracentric key way making it hard for a locksmith to insert picks into the lock. Perhaps the lock has not been used for a long time, and there is evidence of corrosion. Maybe somebody has tried to unsuccessfully force the lock open. There are a whole bunch of reasons that it may be necessary. Good Locksmiths should be able to drill through the pins of the lock and rotate the cylinder. This should be done carefully and precisely. A reputable locksmith should be able to drill out a cylinder and gain entry without damaging the cylinder housing. All too often I hear stories about 'locksmiths' attempting to drill a cylinder and destroying numerous drill bits, butchering the cylinder housing and damaging the door. If you have ever had to have a lock drilled, it can be a costly process if it goes wrong. I have included some photo's of the correct drilling process and the end result.

Christmas has been a particularly busy time for this Locksmith. Just before Christmas I was contacted to change the locks on a house. They needed it done urgently this same day. Usually this sort of job takes about half an hour, change the front door, change the back door. This particular property had 8 external doors to change, and of course, all but one were double cylinders. There was also a shed door, a side gate and 2 internal doors that needed changing. My 30 minute job turned into a few hours. I later discovered the reason it was so important that I get it done that day... The people living there had been caught growing some things they shouldn't have been growing and were evicted.

I just thought I would share a job I was called to do today in Lockleys. A customer had lost the key for her letterbox and needed a new one cut to the same lock as she was renting and had to provide the key when she moved. Locksmiths usually read / decode the lock in this sort of situation. It was a typical letterbox lock, with five cuts, each cut can have three depths. In order to read and decode the depths I used a lock-pick to feel each of the wafers in the lock and with a bit of practice you can determine the depth of the cut, i.e. 1, 2 or 3. Its worthy of note that I couldn't actually see all of the wafers, I had to rely on feel alone. Once I had the depths written down, in this case it read: 3, 2, 1, 2, 1 I was able to take a blank key and file it down to those depths by hand, put it in the lock, test to make sure it works. I did however forget to take some photos of this process to post on here, sorry. That should give you a little insight into just what locksmiths do.

I am constantly amazed by the amount of cheap locks I see used on properties around Adelaide. I would estimate as a locksmith, one in every two or three locks are ‘budget’ locks. I was attending a lockout on Sunday at Edwardstown and I came across one on this particular door. I am not going to mention which brand it was, it looked as though it was fairly new, and had a matching deadbolt. As soon as I started picking the lock I knew the quality was poor. There was almost no weight to the knob, the cylinder itself had a lot of slop, (making it super easy to pick!) I was half expecting it to fall apart in my hand. People as a whole expect their doors and locks to keep themselves and their property safe. I can’t understand what people think a $15 door lock is going to do. They trust a $15 hardware shop lock to secure their property worth thousands! Locksmiths, generally speaking, both love and hate to see cheap locks. In one respect it is great for business, as they fail and fall apart, locksmiths are called to help and quite often, replace the failed lock. The flip side is that the public are largely unaware of a cheap locks’ insecurity. The bottom line is ‘There is a reason cheap locks are cheap!’

For the first time in my career as a Locksmith I refused to complete a job. I was called to an emergency after-hours lockout at Hindmarsh (in the outer suburbs of Adelaide) last week. When I arrived I was met by a man asking to be let inside because he said he had lost his keys, this is not un-common. As a matter of course, I asked him if he had any identification with him or inside the house. He didn’t. I asked him if he also wanted his locks changed because he had lost his keys. Again he did not; he just wanted to be let in. I became a little suspicious that he may not live there, or was not supposed to be there. I proceeded to ask him a few more questions, relating to what I would see when I opened the front door and he was quite vague. Something in the back of my mind told me that this was not quite right. I respectfully told him that I was not comfortable completing this job as I couldn’t be sure he had a legal right to enter the house. He was not impressed and said he would call another locksmith. Which begs the question; would another locksmith have asked the same questions or tried to establish if he should have been given access to the house? As a licensed professional locksmith, I would like to say, ‘Yes, of course all locksmiths would!’ However, the truth is, I am not sure. I would hope all Locksmiths in Adelaide would be able to look beyond the money from the job and realise that there is a whole industry at stake.

I want to touch briefly on what I believe to be, a very important part of owning my own locksmith business in Adelaide - Customer Service. It is my belief that providing excellent customer service is as essential to Rapid Response Locksmiths as the ability to pick locks. Being based in Adelaide, reputation and service is critical to the success (or failure) of any business. I encounter people in a lot of different situations, for example, people locked out. People wanting their locks changed because of a messy separation, or simply they would like to upgrade their home security. Being able to communicate and interact with them all is a skill in itself. When dealing with any potential customer, the phone is primarily the first point of contact. It is important to leave a good and professional first impression. I always try as best I can to understand what the customer wants, offer the best advice possible, and provide an accurate quote with the information I have been given. Attending the site on time, and looking professional are a must for any successful business. Quite often things like, offering to take your boots off before walking inside and making sure the work site is clean when you finish speak volumes. For example, I will always clean and lubricate all of a customers locks when I have completed a job. Going above and beyond what is typically expected will ensure you are remembered favorably by each and every customer.

I was called to a property in Seaton last weekend to change the locks on a house that has just been sold and settled. Normally I can re-key a lock within a matter of a few minutes, however these handles were quite complex. Each of the 2 lever handles too me about 15 minutes to disassemble, remove the cylinder, re-key and put it all back together again. I will post some photos below. The front door lock was a treat however, the property had double solid wood doors with a Lockwood commercial mortice lock and a 570 cylinder. Very nice look for a front door. While I was there I was also asked to replace an old Weiser key in knob lock, which I estimate was older than I am. I used a Carbine Commercial deadbolt, its probably the most secure garage in the street now!