Cooler, and wet. Rained yesterday late evening and the ground is still wet. Dunno what today will bring, but I’m thinking hot and humid, although maybe less so than this past week.
I didn’t get my lumberjack fix in yesterday. I did auction stuff until I had to run out and do errands. I did get my locksmithing done at the rental house. A long time ago I shared that I thought it was a good idea to collect all the permits, certificates, and licenses you could while civilization was still a thing. One of the ones I looked at was locksmith, as you can carry some useful tools that would otherwise get you arrested in most jurisdictions. It’s not a bad little side gig, or even full time gig, either. And while I didn’t get the license (wasn’t clear that I wouldn’t need to apprentice) I got a bunch of the tools and some reference material, and learned some things.
Locks and geeks go way back together, so there is precedent, plus I was always fascinated with bypassing locks, starting with a book on Harry Houdini I got while in grade school. In any case, I can do the basics, and even some of the intermediate stuff, and I’ve got tools to do more involved things as well. There isn’t as much crossover with some of the ‘communities of interest’ I participate in, but there is a wealth of info available online.
The basics that I think are useful and should be achievable by almost everyone? Install locksets, knobs, and hinges. Use specific re-key kits to change pinning and replace cylinders. Use a bump key. Pick cheap locks and cylinders. Open a cheap locking container (sold as “safes” but are really just lockboxes). Enter your own vehicle without keys (slimjim or other bypass). Use a ‘jamb knife’. Know the weaknesses of the most common padlocks, cylinders, and how to bypass them. Own the tools to accomplish all this.
Of course, being an actual locksmith requires more than this, cutting keys and programming car remotes seem to be the most common retail requests, and both require specialized tools. Responding to lockouts and opening cars is probably the most common field task. There is a specialized toolkit for that too, and mounds of reference material. Then a 16 yo kid on a wrecker pops the doors with a slimjim faster than you can get your fancy kit out…
Anyway, locking stuff up effectively is important, and likely to be more important as civilization falls. Bypassing those locks has a place too. Something to consider.
Improve your skills. Get the specialized tools you need. Stack.
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