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1/13/25 My New Favorite Customer

This man, I’ll call him Wyatt, was so much fun.  An older gentleman with a long white beard.  Hit a few bumps in the road, helping Wyatt, but we persevered with smiles and laughter.

Wyatt called today and asked how much it was for us to program a smart key he had purchased.  I told him, and he said he’d be right down.  He showed up at the shop a while later and handed me the key, so I grabbed the programmer and headed to the parking lot.  He looked confused.  

“The car isn’t here,” he said.  “I lost all the keys.”  (Apparently he’d driven down in his second car.)  

Strike one!

“Well, I can’t program it if it isn’t here,” I said, smiling.  “I can come to your home, but that has an extra fee.”

He agreed, but wanted it done today if possible, and he seemed amused that a female locksmith was going to come program his car.  (I get that sometimes!)  

When I arrived at his apartment with the work van, there were no parking spots on the road, so I parked in the parking lot, in spite of the sign that said vehicles without a permit would be towed.  Wyatt was standing outside by the car.  I asked him if my van would be ok there and he said, “Sure.  If anyone messes with it, I’ll kick their *#%*.”  Now, . . . I mentioned previously that Wyatt was an older gentleman with a long white beard.  To describe him a little better, he was fairly short and not as nimble as he probably once was, but, he’s also a retired marine, so . . . I wasn’t going to question his ability to defend my van.  

We walked over to his car with my programmer and, to my dismay, I noticed the doors were locked.  

“We’re locked out?” I asked, stating the obvious.  

Now some of you might say, “Of course you were locked out, Kathy!” but that isn’t always the case.  Often someone loses their keys, but the car door is unlocked so they can still access the interior of the car.  This was not the case for Wyatt.  

Curious, I asked if the keys were, perhaps, inside the vehicle, and he said no because he didn’t think the car would lock with the keys inside.  (Some newer cars have that feature, but most don’t.)

Regardless, it shouldn’t have been an issue that we were locked out, because locksmiths are the ones you call to break into your car when you’re locked out, RIGHT?!

Well, . . . yes, . . . but . . . it was a Monday, and over the weekend when I’d been running errands, I’d moved the lockout tools into my personal car just in case someone called while I was away from home.  And . . . I’d forgotten to put them back in the work van!  So, I didn’t have the lockout tools!

Again we laughed.  

Strike 2.  

I drove home, picked up my tools and drove back. 

Wyatt wasn’t outside the apartment building at this point, and I had no idea what apartment was his, so I proceeded to work on opening the vehicle hoping he’d come out while I was working. 

A woman walked by and asked if I was locked out of my car.  

“No,” I replied.  “I’m the locksmith.  A man who lives here called me to help.”

“Oh,” she said and walked slowly away.  The next time I looked up, she was taking a picture of me working on the car.  !!??!!  Oh well, hope my hair looked OK!

I got the car open and sat inside where it was slightly warmer.  There I found the keys in the center console.  Go figure?  I used them to lock and unlock the doors.  They worked fine.  

I called Wyatt and he said he’d come outside.  While I waited, the doors locked themselves, with me and the key sitting inside, so . . . double proof this car WILL lock with the keys inside.  

Wyatt was somewhat dismayed he’d missed the whole ‘break-in’ sequence and made me pose outside his car so he could prove to his buddies that I’d been there.

I gave him his old keys and asked if he still wanted the new key programmed.  At first he said no, but then he called his wife and she said, “Yes!”  (Smart woman!)

Wyatt, of course, wanted to be present for the programming, so (after a few minutes trying to locate the new key fob that ended up being in his pants pocket) we climbed into the car, with his friendly dog.  (I have a few wet, dog nose spots on my glasses to prove how friendly this dog was!)

The key programmed easily, for which I was very grateful!   Really didn’t want to strike out for Wyatt!  He didn’t end up needing to defend my van, for which I was ALSO very grateful!  

I left him with my business card and a few more laughs!

A crazy comedy of errors, but I’m so glad to have met Wyatt!

1/8/25 Don’t Judge by Appearances

High school teacher came in today, wanting a copy of a key made.  He was a strong, bigger bald man.  To make conversation, while he paid for his key, I asked him what class he taught, thinking perhaps if was wrestling, or math, or . . . something like that.  

He said, “Ceramics.”

I’m sure my jaw dropped a bit.  

“Yeah,” he said, smiling.  “Not quite what you’d expect from someone that looks like me.”

I laughed.  “I get it!” I said.  “Not many people expect a locksmith to look like me either!”

11/25/24 Shipped without keys

It’s amazing to us how many times we’re called by companies that have received lockable items without the keys.  Sometimes it’s used car dealerships – cars they bought at auction and the smart key fobs arrive without the hidden emergency keys (what the heck??), but on this day it was a rental agency that had ordered a large pickup-truck tool box, and a communications pod – a room that sits at a construction site and kind-of runs the show.  Both were to be delivered to a local construction site within a couple of days, and both arrived without keys!  

Now, those truck tool boxes aren’t meant to be easily picked!  They sit in plain sight, easily accessed in any parking lot, and carry expensive tools, so . . . no . . . they aren’t easy pickings.  But my technician was able to pick it with some effort, and on the inside was the code for the key, making it possible for us to cut them a key!  Woooohooooo!

The pod had a code on the lock, BUT it was a very generic code.  There were dozens of possible keys and cuts that matched that code, and we had difficulty finding any information about which code system that manufacturer might have used.  So, I put together a key ring with all the different keys that were in our code system matching that code (took a couple of hours to do this!) and my technician took them to the site and tried them all in the lock.  When he found the key that worked, we cut it to the code and . . . VOILA!!  It worked!

11/12/24 You want me to go WHERE??!!

My technician went out to an old house that had been converted into apartments.  The property management company wanted it rekeyed for a new tenant, but . . . they’d lost all the keys and it was locked.  

Being an old house, the door lock was so worn, the pins wouldn’t bind when he tried to pick it.  Our next option was cutting off the doorknob, which, of course means he’d then have to install a new one.  That all costs money and isn’t optimal but, ya gotta do what ya gotta do!  

However . . . before he found a power outlet in the hallway (something often hard to find in old houses) the property manager texted, suggesting he go out ‘on the roof’ where there was a window from the unit.  Perhaps he could get access through that?

Whaaaaaa????!!!!!!

He wasn’t exactly comfortable with the ‘on the roof’ portion of that statement, but he did it.  He found the window and was able to get it open, climb through and unlock the unit!  From there, it’s pretty easy to rekey.

Talk about ‘above and beyond’!   

10/16/24 Puppy Lockout

Construction worker brought his puppies to work with him.  Left them and the keys inside his unlocked truck and . . . you know who pushed the lock button!

Another day a man told me a similar story, but they were at a gas station in the middle of NOWHERE when their dog locked them out of their truck.  It took over half an hour of animated coaxing to get the dog to hit the UNLOCK button.  It actually hit the unlock button a couple of times, but would lock it again before they could pull the lever.  How MADDENING!!

But for the construction worker, we got there and opened the door in record time!

And were rewarded with adorable puppy cuteness!

10/11/24 Locked Memento

A woman came into the shop with a tiny heart shaped lock her mother had used on her jewelry box for many years.  It was a cherished memento to this woman, but she had lost the key.  

We have, at the shop, a small metal box full of oddball keys – old and newer, flat and round, big and small.  To this woman’s delight, we were able to find a key in there that worked her lock!  It was a very fulfilling day!

9/21/24 Out of Luck??

I learned something new today!  When all keys are lost on your car, usually you call a dealer with the VIN number and they can give you a code that will let a locksmith know what cuts to put on your key.  However, not all makes of cars save that code information forever.  Ford only keeps that info for seven to ten years!

So what do you do if you’ve lost all your keys to a Ford vehicle and it’s older than 10 years?  Out of luck??????

Nope!  Locksmiths have some amazing lock readers that tell them the cuts for your key!  We had a super fun time decoding the lock on my daughter’s Ford Escape that day.  Even though she had two working keys, we just HAD to try it!  Crazy thing was, the cuts we got didn’t match her working key!!  Three of the 8 cuts were one off.  So . . . now what?

Well, if we didn’t have a working key, we’d just have to go with our reading, right?!  So that’s what we did.  We cut a plain metal key with the cuts we got and . . . they worked!  “Now whaaaaaaat????” you may be asking, as was I.  But it’s actually fairly easily explained.  As a lock wears, it’s not uncommon for it to get ‘looser’ and work for slightly different cuts of keys.  

So now she has a beautiful spare door key and I’ve got some experience ‘reading’ Ford locks.  I hope I get to do it again soon!  It sure was fun!

9/14/24

Almost arrested!

So, it’s happened a couple of times now.  People call us saying they’re locked out and then we arrive to find . . . a window open.  Please people, check your windows BEFORE you call a locksmith!  It’s happened at a home, where we tried to pick it for a little while and then discovered that the window was open.  And it’s happened on a car lockout.  The man could’ve easily found a stick and put it through the window to hit his unlock button.  We’ll still charge you if we have to come out, but . . . just look first!

On the other hand, some homes are buttoned up tight.  One day a woman came into the office and asked me to go pick into her home and get her spare key because she’d lost her original one.  Slightly odd though, she didn’t want to go with me to the house?  Well, her license gave that as her address and I figured if I did get inside, and the key was hidden where she said it was . . . she deserved to have it. 

I got a few odd looks as I tried to pick, didn’t think much of it, but the lock was very stiff and wasn’t letting me in.  And then, after a few minutes, the police pulled up!  (Actually was the funniest part of my day!)  A neighbor had called, and apparently the resident was . . . quite a character.  She’d been gone for a few days, and they didn’t really want her back.  I wasn’t doing anything wrong, because she WAS renting the house, and her belongings were inside, but I told the police officer I wasn’t having much luck anyway so I’d let her know I was unsuccessful and left.  That’s pretty much the end of the story, but we’ll always remember the day I almost got arrested! 

10/15/24

Some May Call It Coincidence

Ok, here’s the resolution to my cliff hanger!  If you haven’t read my post on Primus keys you might want to do so before proceeding. 

I was returning to the office in the middle of the day and needed to turn left off a major road onto a side street.  I noticed a few yards in front of me, in the oncoming lanes, a car with its hazard lights flashing.  The driver had managed to get closer to the curb before coming to a complete halt, but was still significantly in the right oncoming lane, which required all the other cars traveling that direction to merge into one lane and go around her.  No one had stopped to help and she was getting a lot of glares.  

When traffic was clear, I pulled onto the side street, parked out of the way of traffic and approached the passenger side of the car.  She sheepishly told me she’d run out of gas.  Had she not been on an incline, I might have tried pushing her the few yards to the side street, but . . . probably not.  I’m in fairly good shape for a ‘gently, aged female’ but . . . not really car pushing material.  

I also debated hooking up my tow strap since I was driving my truck, but sometimes finding metal on the car being towed is easier said than done.  So we decided we would leave her car where it was and I would drive her to a nearby gas station.  A police officer pulled up just as we were leaving and said he’d direct traffic around her car while we were gone. 

So . . . on the very short drive, she told me a little about herself and I told her I was a locksmith, to which she was very astonished.  Not because I’m a ‘gently, aged female’ but because she had a key problem.  Apparently, she’s employed at an agency that has a Primus key and they want more duplicates.  For weeks now, she’s been trying to find a locksmith to make a copy of their key, but every locksmith she’d contacted said they were unable to do it.

(Now, every Primus key is stamped with a number and I believe if she had called Primus they would’ve told her what locksmith owned that blank, but she hadn’t thought of that, so she was very frustrated.)

I asked her what number was stamped on her key and, though she didn’t have the key currently with her, she had it memorized and told me the number, which I recognized. 

“That’s MY Primus key!”, I said in shock.  Apparently, many years ago, our locksmith shop had installed Primus locks on that building!  

But the building was a couple miles away, the key wasn’t stamped with the name of our shop, all the individuals who were originally on the signature card had died or left the area, so apparently no one still working at the building had knowledge of the Primus setup . . . until I stopped to help her on the side of the road.  

Yeah, for real!  I don’t make this stuff up!

Some may call that coincidence, but the woman worked at a religious facility so . . . we call it Divine providence.  

And, just to neatly wrap up the story, she got some gas and was able to move her car, and a few days later we went to her facility to lubricate her very neglected locks and make her duplicates.

10/3/24

When it comes to the world of keys, you’ve probably heard of Schlage and Kwikset, and maybe a few others.  They are each shaped in a unique way.  But there are actually thousands of different shaped keys in the United States.  And other countries commonly use even more keys that don’t match any of ours!  (Had a guy bring in keys from his ‘vacation house’ in Mexico, and we couldn’t duplicate a single one because they were so different!)

Schlage and Kwikset are EXTREMELY common in the USA.  So common that you can make copies at key machines in some home improvement stores.  So common, almost everyone has one on their keyring, and so common, that in a large city there are probably a few houses that have the same cuts on their key!!!  

Common keyways are also comparatively easy to pick open.  

Depending on your desire for security, that may not ‘cut’ it for you!

So . . . higher security keys were developed that were less common and harder to pick.  There are even keys that state ‘DO NOT DUPLICATE’ on them, however, the blanks are easily purchased and there are no laws that prohibit a locksmith from duplicating a ‘DO NOT DUPLICATE’ key.  We do it all the time.  Go figure!  Is that really high security?

So . . . special keys called Primus keys were developed that were patented (meaning it’s illegal for anyone else to make the blanks).  Locksmith shops could purchase rights to a patented key from Schlage (who makes Primus keys) and ONLY THAT SHOP can ever purchase their patented key blank.  That means, if a customer, (let’s call him John) has Locksmith A install their patented key on a building, only Locksmith A can make duplicate keys for him.  John can take that key to Locksmith B, but Locksmith B won’t have that blank.  It is theoretically IMPOSSIBLE for them to duplicate that key.  It is theoretically impossible for any other locksmith in the WORLD to make a duplicate of that key.  

To add another layer of security, Locksmith A keeps a card on file with the signatures of the individuals that are allowed to request duplicates of John’s key.   That may just be John, or it may be a handful of individuals who are in key roles related to that building.  If one of those individuals brings in their key and asks for duplicates, Locksmith A compares their signature to the card on file and WILL NOT make duplicates for anyone, unless the signatures match.  

An even further layer of security is, these keys have two rows of teeth.  One row is low on one side of the key and the second is on the top like a normal key.  This makes the lock nearly IMPOSSIBLE to pick!!  

There are a few other types of keys that have this level of security, Medeco being one.  And, as you’d expect, these types of locks and keys are more expensive as they are specially made for each locksmith.  When we order our Primus cylinder, they don’t have any sitting around ‘in stock’ anywhere.  They make and ship only what we order, when we order it.  

A1 Lock and Safe has owned a patented Primus key for about 20 years now, and we have a number of customers using them.  Some are banks.  Some are churches.  Some are celebrities or politicians.  Many are normal businesses and individuals who simply want a higher level of security.   

So now you know a bit about Primus keys and that will help you understand my Tales of a Locksmith #17!  (Cliff hanger!  Yep, now you’ve just GOT to read it!)