Standard Locks / Rekeying Explained!
Thursday, November 11, 2010 at 10:44PM
Ok so watch the video first if you have not already done so. Watched it? Good, now that you are all excited, and how could you not be with that dramatic sound track, I will explain further. As you can see from the video for everyone of those little dips in your key, there is a stack of 2 pins and a spring pushing down on them. In a standard lock there are usually 5 stacks of pins. Where the top pin and the bottom pin meet when the correct key is inserted is known as the "shear line". In order for the key to turn, all of the pins have to line up perfectly at the shear line. If the dip in your key is too low then the top pin gets in the way of the lock turning and if the dip is too high then the bottom pin gets pushed too high and stops the lock from turning. So if only one dip in your keys is too high or low the key will not turn.
So now that you know how a lock works, you can understand rekeying. When you call a locksmith to get your locks changed or rekeyed as we like to call it. We take the lock apart and change the little pins to new pins that have a different length as before. Once we do that when you stick the old key into the lock the bottom and top pins do not meet at the shear line. So the lock will not turn with the old key, and we give you a new key that makes the pins line up correctly when inserted. There you have it rekeying explained. So no need to buy all new locks, just have us come out and rekey them for you.
If you would like to have a lock rekeyed call us today at 586-991-1274. We are having a sale on rekeys this month. Check the www.brightlockandkey.com/sale-of-the-month/ section for more details.;)
Reader Comments (3)
Thanks for the information, it has been very enlightening.
Locksmith in Cornelius Nc
great list, there are things on there that I haven’t thought about before