Is Your Car Remote Broken?

Has this ever happened to you?

Your car remote has broken and you think you need a new one or have it fixed.




Your remote buttons have become worn out due to excessive use?









Ever put your remote and keys in your pocket, after locking your car only to find your car unlocked when you return, possibly due to accidentally knocking and activating the remote?






Have you ever dropped your remote in a puddle and pick it up and it no longer works?









How about an extremely cost effective solution that does what you want quickly and easily?

A Remote Tote!

Installing your Remote Tote is so simple a child can do it!
Just 3 steps:
1. Insert remote in cover.
2. Attach Key Ring
3. Attach Keys



Now Available in Fashion Conscious Colors.

This incredibly effective and inexpensive option could save you hundreds of $$$ in replacement remote controls.

You purchase a tote or case for your cell/mobile phone to protect it, don't you? Why not protect you car remote too?

Contact us for details.
P.O.A.

Foreclosures In The Real Estate Market

Earlier this year, I wrote a post (repeated below) about an article appearing on NPR that accounted how some locksmiths are faring reasonably well during a sad economy. It is often not a pleasure to travel into neighborhoods to perform lock change requests for banks and foreclosure administrators, when you see exactly how many homes and properties remain vacant.



All Things Considered, April 16, 2008 · The mortgage crisis has been great business for locksmiths. Banks need to get the locks changed quickly because people who've just been evicted often take out their anger — or their appliances.

Click on the picture to listen to the article.

It is an unfortunate side effect of the mortgage crisis, but banks and other lenders are forced into these actions as a consequence.
Master Key Systems America, a family owned locksmith and door repair business, serving residents and businesses in the greater St Louis region with unrivalled services and products. Our specially equipped service vehicles are staffed by competent and qualified technicians, who can quickly and economically perform your required tasks, happily and efficiently. For an obligation free estimate, call us on (314)266-1533.

Door Knobs, Locks and Pulls in St Louis MO

For the last couple of years, I have been referring many clients to visit a very professionally set up and run showroom, that displays many assorted high quality brands of locks, pulls, door knobs, and cabinet hardware.

Many people choose to still shop at Lowe's and Home Depot for their hardware, but the professional advice and dedicated specialist displays presented by Locks & Pulls Design Elements located at 9590 Manchester Rd, Rock Hill, MO are second to none in the local St Louis market.

The company is owned by reknowned plating industry professionals Thiess Plating Co., a St Louis icon in excess of 60 years service to the greater St Louis community.

Pictured to the left, are some of the displays you can view in their showroom.









On display, are products from leading manufacturers, including Baldwin, Schlage, Kwikset, Emtek etc.

The extremely wide ranging displays and vast depth of products offered are tailored to the discerning tastes of home owners, remodellers and devellopers.





Visitors to their store often find replacement products for some of the very old hardware found in many of the period homes around St Louis. Many new home builders and renovators find the friendly staff and ambient environment suitable to helping them choose suitable and functional decorative locks, pulls, door knobs and decorative hardware to suit their varied tastes.

As the showroom for Thiess Plating Co, the staff can advise on repair and refurbishing of existing hardware at surprisingly competitive prices.

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Bilock (A Closer Look) Part III

Significant recent inquiries lead me to write todays post. Our signature product Bilock, is starting to make inroads into the US marketplace, probably due to the consumers realizing the superior manufacturing and quality of this amazing and so advanced Australian designed lock and key product.

Yes the product is originally designed and manufactured in Australia, however cylinders for the United States market are predominantly manufactured inside the mainland USA, under license (Connecticut, to be precise).

Many customers today, appear to be concerned about the dwindling economy and labor markets. One certain method to help to sustain the local markets is to buy locally. Buying locally includes purchasing products manufactured in the USA.

As a St Louis Missouri based locksmith company, we proudly offer locally produced hardware products to benefit our clients and attempt to help the local economy.

So, How Much Do Bilock Key Systems Cost?

I'm glad you asked. Master Key Systems America LLC is a licensed USA dealer for Bilock Extreme Security Products and as such advertizes the cylinders and keys at the recommended retail (list) prices.

We offer significant discounts for quantity orders, information that can be sourced upon application.

We charge a standard keying fee per keyhole of $15.00 to build the inner cores and $9.00 per key (initial supply only).

We are happy to supply hardware to anywhere in the USA, but remember, all Bilock systems are permanently recorded in our secure database, to protect the interests of both the client and the manufacturer. Keys can only be reproduced as originals. They can not be duplicated (due to the nature of the product) and can only be supplied after receipt of a suitably and correctly authorized letter of request.

All lock cylinders are keyed in our factory workshops and checked and rechecked by management prior to release to the client. This action maintains the superior quality control and reinforces our guarantee against faulty workmanship.

Further to the manufacturers warranty of 12 months on parts, Master Key Systems America LLC also provides the first two (2) maintenance services (at 6 and 12 months) at no additional charge, only on systems installed by our technicians. This provides the client with a further guarantee on the working condition of their product and peace of mind for at least the next 12 months.

For a confidential discussion about Bilock and the benefits it offers you, feel free to contact us at your earliest convenience.

Society of Professional Locksmiths - Making New Keys

It is sometimes astonishing to find out from many people that locksmiths are more often presumed to make keys for cars.

Locksmiths have been in the business of helping all people with their physical entry systems for thousands of years.

From car keys to house keys to cabinet keys to antique cupboard lock keys to commercial office keys to safe keys, locksmiths have and are regularly helping people to secure their properties, replace lost keys, recode door locks, make new existing keys (without changing locks), install high security key and access control systems, consult and advise on all forms of physical and electronic security protection equipment.

The security protection industry is one of the largest industries in the world and there are many and varied practitioners in the various aspects of the industry.

More often than not, locksmiths have been the stable and trusted profession over many years primarily due to the constant evolving learning curve required to keep abreast of developments.

You can decide to place your trust in the modern/new breed of security professional or maintain the long trusted and tested accumen of the small but high integrity based locksmithing industry.

It is a small industry made up of many talented practitioners. There are those who seek to bring the industry to disrepute but people who trust their local locksmith often find the quality of the workmanship and service, second to none. Trust in your local locksmith is akin to trusting your healthcare professional with your life.

Locksmithing is an art, a craft passed down through the generations. It can be learned, but locksmiths must constantly seek to further their education of the trade in order to prosper and service the demands of an ever changing marketplace.

The new age of the locksmith industry is upon us. Locksmiths who get involved with the Society of Professional Locksmiths, realize that with constant discussion and education, can they hope to provide their customers with the superior services that the past has helped prepare the future for.

The instructors, teachers and respected industry professionals are joining the Society of Professional Locksmiths because it aims to educate the industry and the marketplace together, providing a safer and better life for all peoples.

Crime Report II

This months Crime Report is for the Kirkwood MO municipality. November 1 - 17, 2008.

5 x Breaking & Entering
14 x Property Destruction
1 x Robbery
42 x Larceny
11 x Fraud
9 x Vehicle Thefts

Breaking & Entering is direct evidence of forced entry.

Property Destruction is direct evidence of damage to property by forced entry or other damages to site.

Robbery is direct personal crimes like holdups.

Larceny is "taking and carrying away of tangible personal property of another by trespass with intent to permanently (or for an unreasonable time) deprive the person of his interest in the property."

Larceny includes property entries with no signs of forced entry, including unauthorised key holders.

Fraud is evidence of forgery and other frauds.

Safes

Choosing a safe is often difficult. I have been asked many times over the years to make a recommendation to customers wishing to purchase a safe.

Before making a recommendation, I feel it necessary to ask some specific questions to a customer to help in determining a suitable product to recommend.

Many people do not understand the ratings systems for safes, probably because there is no written industry standard.

In the early 1990's, I worked for one of Australia's oldest manufacturers of quality safes, Kelly Safe Co PTY LTD. (they closed down in 1995, I believe). Kelly safes were considered a staple of the Australian landscape for about 100 years previously. They manufactured impressive quality safes for many of Australia's institutions, banks, high-society clubs, hotels etc.

The increasing competition from foreign products combined with the significant increase in raw materials cost, saw Kelly become less competitive in later years.

I learned much from my short time with them about how to grade safes.

There are many classifications of safes that are determined by each individual country/locallity as suitable for local conditions. The leading tester in the world (most respected) is known as the Underwriters Laboratory.

The questions I like to ask my clients are:

1. What approximate cash value of personal documents, jewellery, bank notes etc are you looking to secure?

This determines what grade of safe would be suitable for the contents.

2. Approximately how big (dimensions) would the individual pieces of content be for storage?

This determines the necessary internal dimensions of the recommended safe.

3. Are you looking for Burglary Protection, Fire Protection or both?

4. Would you prefer a bolt down facility, free-standing, on castors, wall-mount, floor mount, vault etc?

5. How much are you looking to spend?

The most important question is question #1, because this separates the designations of safes from each other and directly guides a professional to make the most suitable recommendation.

In California, the CDOJ (California Department Of Justice) uses the following terms:

California Department of Justice Burglary Rating (CDOJ)

Regulatory Gun Safe StandardsDOJ regulatory standards require a gun safe to meet either:
All of the following requirements:

1. Shall be able to fully contain firearms and provide for their secure storage.
2. Shall have a locking system consisting of at minimum a mechanical or electronic combination lock. The mechanical or electronic combination lock utilized by the safe shall have at least 10,000 possible combinations consisting of a minimum three numbers, letters, or symbols. The lock shall be protected by a case-hardened (Rc 60+) drill-resistant steel plate, or drill-resistant material of equivalent strength.
3. Boltwork shall consist of a minimum of three steel locking bolts of at least ½ inch thickness that intrude from the door of the safe into the body of the safe or from the body of the safe into the door of the safe, which are operated by a separate handle and secured by the lock.
4. Shall be capable of repeated use. The exterior walls shall be constructed of a minimum 12-gauge thick steel for a single-walled safe, or the sum of the steel walls shall add up to at least .100 inches for safes with two walls. Doors shall be constructed of a minimum of two layers of 12-gauge steel, or one layer of 7-gauge steel compound construction.
5. Door hinges shall be protected to prevent the removal of the door. Protective features include, but are not limited to: hinges not exposed to the outside, interlocking door designs, dead bars, jeweler’s lugs and active or inactive locking bolts.

or All of the following requirements:

1. Is listed as an Underwriters Laboratories Residential Security Container;
2. Is able to fully contain firearms;
3. Provides for the secure storage of firearms.

BURGLAR SAFES:

Burglar safes are usually made of solid steel plate or a combination of solid steel and composite fill material such as concrete. These safes are divided into categories based on the level of protection delivered and the testing endured. Here we will discuss only seven classes: B-Rate, U.L. RSC Rating, B/C Rate, C-Rate, U.L. TL-15, U.L. TL-30 and TL-30 X6.

B-RATE SAFES (ALSO U.L. RSC, RESIDENTIAL SECURITY CONTAINERS):

B-Rate is a catchall rating for essentially any box with a lock on it. The safe industry had an unwritten standard of ¼ inch body, ½ inch door. As steel prices (and shipping costs) increased manufacturers tried many things to reduce their costs. No tests are given to provide this rating. When buying a B-rate safe, look at things such as lock work, hard plates, and relocks.

U.L. Residential Security Container rating (RSC) - This UL rating is based on testing conducted for a net working time of five minutes, on all sides, with a range of tools. See U.L. TL-15 and TL-30 descriptions below for "net working time" description.

B/C-Rate Safes

This is a catchall rating for safes with at least a 1/4" steel body, 1/2 inch door PLUS additional 10 or 12 guage metal layers where composite fire resistant material is also deployed. No tests are given to provide this rating. Look at the lock work, relocks and other features when making your decision.

C-Rate Safes

This is defined as a ½ inch thick steel box with a 1-inch thick door and a lock. As before, NO tests are given to provide this rating. Look at the lock work, relocks and other features when making your decision.


The Underwriters Laboratory information:

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL) Ratings
http://www.ul.com

TL-15

Safes given a U.L. TL-15 rating have all passed standardized tests defined in UL Standard 687 using the same tools and usually the same group of testing engineers.Construction Requirements

• U.L. listed Group II, 1 or 1R combination lock.
• 750 lbs. minimum or comes with instructions for anchoring in a larger safe, concrete blocks or on the premises where used.
• Body walls of material equivalent to at least 1" open hearth steel with a minimum tensile strength of 50,000 P.S.I.
• Walls fastened in a manner equivalent to continuous 1/4" penetration weld of open hearth steel with minimum tensile
  strength of 50,000 P.S.I.
• One hole 1/4" or less, to accommodate electrical conductors arranged to have no direct view of the door or locking mechanism.

The label means that the safe successfully resisted entry (i.e. opening the door or making a 6" square opening entirely through the door or front face) for a NET working time of 15 minutes using "…common hand tools, drills, punches hammers, and pressure applying devices." Net working time means simply "when the tool comes off the safe the clock stops". There are over fifty different types of attacks that can be used to gain entrance into the safe. Usually they will try only 2 or 3 based on what they know about the product, and they know a lot.

TL-30

Construction requirements are identical to the TL-15 above. Tests are essentially the same as the TL-15 tests except for the net working time. Testors are allowed 30 minutes and a few more tools (abrasive cutting wheels and power saws) to help them gain entrance. The label signifies the testors were unable to open the door or make a 6" square opening entirely through the door or front face within 30 minutes. Keep in mind these engineers have the manufacturing blue prints and can disassemble the safe being tested before the test begins to see how it works. They know their stuff. TL-30 x 6 - The TL-30 (30-minute) test is conducted on all six (6) sides of the safe.

Other Considerations

When you begin the search for a safe it is a good idea to speak to your insurance agent and see if a particular type of safe will reduce your insurance costs. Many times you can justify the additional expense of a higher security safe because of the premium reduction. Remember no safe is burglar proof, you are buying time. The longer it takes to break in the greater the chance to be caught, and thieves don’t like to get caught.

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10 Things You Didn't Know About UL's Safe Testing

1. The best safecrackers in the business never steal a penny. They work for UL.
   
   
2. UL has been testing and certifying safes for more than 80 years. The first safe tested for burglary resistance was in 1923 and the first bank vault in 1925.
   
   
3. Chisels, wenches, screwdrivers, power saws, cutting torches, crowbars, abrasive cutting wheels, jackhammers, even specified amounts of nitroglycerin are just a few of the "tools" UL technicians use during a safe attack. The idea is to test safes to worst-case scenarios. They use tools that could be found at any construction site or hardware store. They also analyze blueprints as if the burglar might have blueprints of the design and attack its weakest points to evaluate the safe for certification.
   
   
4. UL's safe attack tests are conducted by a two-person crew. The object is to create an opening large enough to withdraw "valuables" (anywhere from 2- to 6-square-inches on a safe and up to 96-square-inches on a vault), activate the locking mechanism so the door opens or to cut as many bolts from the door as necessary to pry it open before the time specified in the rating requirement expires.
   
   
5. Safes are rated for their resistance to attack against specific tools for a set period of time. There are a dozen different ratings, everything from ATM machines, to gun safes to bank vaults. For example, a safe that bears a Class TRTL-15X6 rating, which might be found in a jewelry store, should resist a hand tool and torch attack for a minimum of 15 minutes. A TRTL-30X6-rated safe, which would protect important documents or store money, should withstand an attack for 30 minutes. The ultimate safe rating-a TXTL60-should withstand an hour's worth of attack that includes the use of 8 ounces of nitroglycerin.
   
   
6. Because of the size and weight of certain safes and vault doors, it is not always practical to have the product shipped to UL's laboratory locations. UL's burglary protection staff has traveled to destinations such as Japan, France, Israel, England, Finland, Taiwan and India.
   
   
7. In addition to burglary protection ratings, UL also rates safes for their fire resistance protection. Class 350 safes protect paper documents, Class 150 safes protect magnetic tape and photographic film, while Class 125 safes protect floppy disks. In addition to the Class Rating, safes obtain an hourly rating for fire resistance-anywhere from 30 minutes to four hours.
   
   
8. Another cool test UL runs on safes is an impact test. This test simulates a safe falling though multiple stories of a building-resulting from a fire that has weakened the structure. After the safe is heated to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a furnace, it's raised three stories and dropped onto a pile of bricks. In order to meet the requirement, the safe can't pop open. Temperatures inside can't rise to above 300 degrees Fahrenheit and sample papers left inside have to be readable.
   
   
9. The specialized suits you sometimes find technicians wearing are not just for show. Their entire ensemble, including protective coat, helmet and gloves, protects the crew against the adverse effects of sparking. After all, safety can't be taken for granted, even within the walls of UL.
   
   
10. Safes are just one of the 19,000 product categories that UL tests and certifies. While UL's burglary protection team cracks combinations, shatters glass and fires .44-caliber bullets at body armor, other UL engineers and technicians keep busy testing everything from TVs, coffee makers and holiday light strings to fire extinguishers, medical CAT scan equipment and building materials.

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What Brands Of Locks Do You Recommend?

Being in the locksmith business, I am obviously asked often for recommendations on types and brands of hardware.

Having been in the industry for over 25 years, does not necessarily make me an expert, but having used and installed many different brands over the years, I do have my favorites.

Previously to the last 3 years, I worked in the USA almost 20 years ago and the products available back then were significantly better quality than what is generally found today.

Recently, I have been quite impressed with the Cal-Royal brand of products. In fact my signature product Bilock, uses a Cal-Royal brand deadbolt as it's choice of hardware to re-brand with the Bilock name because of the superior quality of manufacturing, the ease of installation and the aesthetic finishes of the trims.

Pictured here, is the HIL series residential entrance kit.

Meets ANSI A156.2 Series Grade 2 requirements "UL" listed for 3 hour doors 6-pin solid brass "C" keyway standard

Unique individual spring on exterior and interior side of lever to prevent lever sag Simultaneous retraction on both latch and deadbolts from inside by turning the lever in a panic-proof exit situation

Pictured here, is the Genesys Series commercial lever sets.

Meets or exceeds standards of BHMA/ANSI A 156.2 Series 4000, Grade 1 requirements Standard 6 pin solid brass "C" keyway "UL" listed for 3 hour fire labeled doors Extra Heavy Duty Cylindrical Lever Sets (Clutch Style)

Thru-bolted assembly through door with separate spring cage for each lever Featuring CLUTCH System, free turning handle to deter breaking of the handle Key removable outside lever for fast rekeying

Pictured here, is the M series commercial mortise lock.

Rust-proof heavy duty 2 3/4" Backset lock case Individual spring to prevent lever sag, easily reversible Forged brass lever handles exceed requirements of ADA Auxiliary latchbolt

Armored front plate conceals lock mounting screws 1" Throw Heavy Duty Deadbolt with Anti-Saw Hardened Pins Heavy Duty 3/4" latchbolt with anti-friction latch, easily reversible Heavy duty stopworks

There are many choices today when selecting hardware for your applications. This is but one choice worth considering.

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