Quote:
Originally Posted by speeder
Thanks. I have a close friend who is a locksmith, in fact he is a safe cracker and the best there is on this side of the country. He was a criminal in another lifetime and now he opens safes for the LAPD, FBI and every other LE agency in town. I brought my deadbolt for my front door to him before I installed it so that he could install special pins in the tumbler for me, (school pins?), he was surprised that they were already there. It's a Schlage, I think. Still pick-able, (they all are), but not easily.
The thing w the ignition key is the strangest thing...it has always gone in like butter and suddenly the key won't go in. No warnings from it being sticky, nothing. And thank god it didn't happen on the cross-country road trip in cold weather.
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AFAIK, there are only a couple of ways to configure a common Schlage, Kwikset and all of their derivates. The bottom pins are actually 2 pins stacked when one can have a key and a master key. Typically there is just one pin at the top. The purpose of the bottom pins is simply to keep the top pins from over extending (especially a double pin set) and falling out of their bore.
Of course there are tiny springs involved. If one of those breaks then the pins can become inoperable or dislodged.
This is the most used design:
Although most residential locks use 5 pins, not 6. The purpose of the key is to raise the bottom pins level with the plug surface allowing it to turn. In the case of a master key, 2 keys cut differently accomplish the same thing with different (split) pin heights. Only one split pin can do it, or any number.
Raking a lock uses one tool rotating the cylinder that puts a slight pressure on the pins with while another tool is used to move the pins up until they catch on the very edge of the bore. IOW, successful picking depends on some clearance and/or wear.