Locksmith

Locksmith

Josh-the-Locksmith

25 Years Experience

Austin, TX

Male, 46

I've been a locksmith since 1998. I did automotive residential & commercial work from 1998 to 2008. From 2008 to 2018, I did some residential, but mostly commercial work. I have been project managing & estimating since 2018. I used to locksmith in the Chicago area, now the Austin area.

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

329 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on June 11, 2024

Best Rated

Any suggestions for better security, I've tried the alarm system, the hidden camera, the remote door alarm..

Asked by Dah about 6 years ago

Are you saying your alarm system isn’t going off, and your cameras aren’t picking anyone up?

Hi. I am trying to locate a padlock that has the following fearures:

-Can be opened by multiple keys (preferably 12)

-Displays or records the last action (lock or unlock) of each key seperately.

Advice? The application is a buildingwide trash bin.

Asked by Joss about 6 years ago

Yes, Medeco makes a few different options. I would recommend finding a local locksmith who sells Medeco and buying through them. There are a few options with different features. Medeco XT, Medeco Classic Cliq, and M3 X4 Cliq. Classic Cliq might be your best option, economically. Your local rep could probably give you some better guidance.

Is there such a thing as a lock which is a manual deadbolt on the inside and can be opened with a key from the outside? The application would be for classroom security in a public university, as against an active shooter threat. Thank you

Asked by Steve over 5 years ago

Sounds like you are describing the most common deadbolt that people put on their houses and retail storefronts. One problem I see with that is there is what may be more secure against a physical attack may not comply with your local fire code. Being a classroom you have to comply with a code that requires 1 motion for your students to get out in a fire. Such as a lever handle, you just turn and walk out. If you had a separate deadbolt on the door, it would require knowledge of the deadbolt being locked & having to turn the lever. Makes a big difference when the room is filled with smoke in a panic situation.

I think in an active shooter situation, a locked lever handle is going to stop someone unless they’re willing to shoot their way through, and then you have a different problem. They’re not going to take the time to get tools out and pry the door open.

To me the most common sense solution is a lever that can be locked or unlocked with a key from both sides. So a teacher can lock the EXTERIOR lever of the classroom from the inside or the outside with a KEY. Yet when the inside lever is turned, people can still escape if they had to whether it had been locked or not. It would also allow emergency responders to get into the room with a master key. That function does exist by the way. It carries different names depending on the manufacturer. The more common lever style is a thumb turn on the inside, keyed on the outside. The problem with that is it allows a student to lock the door, which in normal day-to-day operation could be a problem with students messing with it, potentially locking a teacher out of their own classroom.

I have an antique door mechanism that I need to remove. The knob and latches are off, the jamb plate unscrewed, so it’ll slide out - except for one problem: I can’t get the spindle off. Is there a release catch? Can’t see one. Suggestions?

Asked by John Douglas about 5 years ago

Hard to say without knowing what kind of lock exactly, but sometimes those old mortise locks have a split spindle. You remove 1 half by sliding it out, and the other half hooks into the lock. You just unhook it. Some brands have a solid spindle that goes all the way through, but I’ve never seen it get stuck. Some have a screw that screws into the spindle from the backside, but if you don’t see a place where a screw would go into it, that’s probably not the case. Those are my best guesses. Any one spindle has always been either solid and once you get 1 knob off, it just slides out of the lock, of the split spindle style.

Do u ever get called to hotels

Asked by Mr C almost 6 years ago

Yes all the time.

Hello. Dad’s fun safe needed a new 9v battery. Replaced with 4 different Energizer batteries. Keypad beeps as buttons are pressed, there are two quick beeps at then end, indicator lights not illuminating. Please help! Thanks

Asked by Ceilia about 5 years ago

I don’t service safes very often, but it could be either the keypad or the electronic lock inside the safe. Sounds like it’s time to call a safe technician out. It probably won’t be something you can handle.

I want to buy a Schlage smart lock. Preferably a Sense. However, I want it work with a master key of blank type SC8 (other locks are A series). Will this work? If not, what smart lock will?

Asked by RJ over 6 years ago

If you can find a 5-Pin E key-in-lever (also called key-in-knob) cylinder, you can replace the one that comes stock in the Sense with that one. The only problem is, most aftermarket KIK cylinders are 6-pin, so you might have a hard time finding one.

An alternative would be a Yale Real Living deadbolt. They come touch screen or with a physical keypad. They’re much more aftermarket cylinder friendly. Just purchase an aftermarket Schlage E key-in-knob cylinder, have it keyed to your key, & have the locksmith install it into the deadbolt for you.