Tools and Equipment for Locksmiths
Tools and Equipment for Locksmiths
Locksmiths have to put several thousands of dollars into
their tools and equipment investment. They may start out in the
hundreds, but the cost will grow as the business grows. If a
locksmith is interested in specializing in several areas, there
are different tools for each area.
Aside from the normal tools of the trade, such as key blanks
and a key making machine, a locksmith must break down the types
of key blanks into different categories and buy other items to
go along with these. Key blanks come as at least six different
types of residential blanks (from $5 to over $50), ten brands of
commercial key blanks, and automotive key blanks for domestic
and foreign vehicles.
How is the locksmith to keep up with all the different keys?
He/she must buy key tags, drawers, and key towers (tower only
with no blanks, $500). These keys require key cutters. There are
at least six different kinds of cutters. A manual duplicator
costs $400-$600. A semi-automatic duplicator costs $655-$1600.
An automatic duplicator costs $800-$1300. A tubular key
duplicator costs $400-$1200. Code cutters cost $1500-$3100. Then
there are your cutter wheels which cost in the range of
$33-$340.
A locksmith must buy pins, pinning kits, picks, pick sets,
tension wrenches, and many different locks. There are hospital
locks, government locks, gate locks, electronic hardware,
furniture locks, biometric fingerprint locks, and
electromagnetic locks ($200-$700).
Every locksmith who has trained with a distance school will
know about Kwikset locks and IICO key making machines. These are
standard equipment for locksmiths-in-training. There are
academies that teach courses on a course-by-course basis to
further educate the craftsmen.
There are also transponder keys that require a code machine
to code the key for the vehicles to work in the ignition. Newer
model vehicles with added security methods use electromagnetic
fields of energy that are sent to a computer in the car. (This
is an example of technology and computers sneaking into yet
another area of our lives.) Coding keys in this manner is a way
to increase security for the automobile owner as well as reduce
costs for the insurance companies.
There are older vehicles still in operation that require the
simple use of the Slim Jim tool, so a locksmith must keep older
tools around as well. Besides accommodating people who can't
afford the newer, more sophisticated vehicles, there are
collectors of antiques who won't want their cars damaged. So,
the locksmith must know how to open the vehicles in a way that
causes the least amount of forced entry. Even people who don't
own expensive cars are proud of what they own and won't
appreciate damage.
As is evident, there is much for a professional locksmith to
learn. Much of it can be retained by repetition. There are many
locks that use the same tools and methods to unlock. But for the
loads of information that can't be retained, the locksmith must
rely on paper tools. These exist in the manuals and written
information that must be kept for reference purposes.
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