Locksmith work

[Jerry Bruette]

Anybody ever try to rekey a Schlage deadbolt with the tumbler kits from the BORG? Did it actually work? Local locksmith says I'd have about a 10% chance of getting it right, but he might be looking for business.;)

[John Olier]

My locksmith charges $6.50 to rekey a lock. No way in heck am I going to buy a kit, take a lock cylinder apart and try to rekey it to save $6.59 and possibly have to go buy a new lock because I screwed that one up.

[John Coloccia]

Rekeying a lock is very easy, but locksmiths do it so cheaply that it's not worth it. BTW, doesn't HD rekey locks too? Anyhow, that 10% chance thing is just complete nonsense. There's no reason you can't get it right the first time.

But it's seriously not worth it.

[Lee Schierer]

Schlage makes a lock now that can be rekeyed with just a special tool that comes with the lock. You put in the original key,rotate the cylinder to a certain position, insert the tool in a slot, then insert the new key and turn it back to the original position and you are done. It can be done countless times as long as you have the key that opens it and the special tool.

[ray hampton]

If a locksmith charge under a 10 dollar bill to rekey your lock, then get him/her to do it, but you need to consider that if a smith can rekey for this low price then it must be easy, if you do the rekey alike then hold the key in the cylinder in your vise so that the key will not move while you file the pins

[Steve Peterson]

I have re-keyed several Baldwin locks that are similar to Schlage, or at least the pins are the same. Kwikset has slightly different pin sizes. Make sure to buy the re-key kit for Schlage.

Once you have the lock apart, it really is only a 2-3 minute job to re-key the cylinder. You need the old key in the lock. Push the inner cylinder out using the plastic tube. Drop out the old pins. Put in the new key and put the new pins in to the proper positions. Slide the inner cylinder back into position and re-assemble the lock.

One problem with the borg re-key set is that it provides a key and pins that are specific to that key. If you are trying to match a different key, then you may need other pin lengths. You can file down a long pin, but it is difficult to get the exact length to make the lock work smoothly. I bought a used lock re-key set from Ebay for about $30 that has about 20 of each pins from 0-9, plus about a pound of random pins in a ziplock bag. When I run out of a certain length, then I should be able to find the pin I need. For 1 or 2 locks, it would be cheaper to just pay the locksmith.

Steve

[Ole Anderson]

When I bought my new set of Schlage locks a few years ago, including the front door deadbolt, the guy at HD rekeyed them in the store while I waited. No extra charge. One key fits all.

[Jerry Bruette]

Schlage makes a lock now that can be rekeyed with just a special tool that comes with the lock. You put in the original key,rotate the cylinder to a certain position, insert the tool in a slot, then insert the new key and turn it back to the original position and you are done. It can be done countless times as long as you have the key that opens it and the special tool.

Schlage quit making this type of lock. I have two deadbolts of this type and one that doesn't have this feature. When I called the locksmith to see if he could help with the special key he talked very badly of them. So now I have two keyed the same and one different and was wondering if it was worth it to rekey myself or have him do it and listen to him bad mouth Schlage and the type of deadbolts I didn't buy from him.

[John Coloccia]

Schlage quit making this type of lock. I have two deadbolts of this type and one that doesn't have this feature. When I called the locksmith to see if he could help with the special key he talked very badly of them. So now I have two keyed the same and one different and was wondering if it was worth it to rekey myself or have him do it and listen to him bad mouth Schlage and the type of deadbolts I didn't buy from him.

It's like anything else. Ask a serious woodworker what they think of Black and Decker, they'll probably say they make garbage. Ask your typical homeowner, and they'll brag about all the cool Black and Decker stuff they have. It's not much different here. I'm kind of into locks a little, and I'd tend to somewhat agree with your locksmith. The "smartkey" locks are needlessly complicated contraptions that detract from the simple elegance of a typical lock. That said, there's really nothing particularly, glaringly wrong with them. I might site some concerns over the mechanism, or even some security concerns, but the fact that these really aren't practical concerns since the things generally work and do what they're supposed to do.

Sometimes you don't need Festool...Black and Decker's fine. I think this is probably one of those times. But if I recall the mechanism correctly, and I'll admit I'm not an expert but just from memory, isn't the rekey tool just a flat piece of metal? I think all it does is slip in there and disengage a bar so that the wafers can get a new orientation in relation to the pins. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but I'd guess that nearly any flat piece of metal might do? Don't yell at me if you break it off inside the lock and ruin it! :)

[Jerry Bruette]

Sometimes you don't need Festool...Black and Decker's fine. I think this is probably one of those times. But if I recall the mechanism correctly, and I'll admit I'm not an expert but just from memory, isn't the rekey tool just a flat piece of metal? I think all it does is slip in there and disengage a bar so that the wafers can get a new orientation in relation to the pins. Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but I'd guess that nearly any flat piece of metal might do? Don't yell at me if you break it off inside the lock and ruin it! :)

The model I have uses a bluish colored key to reset the tumblers. Supposedly Schlage quit making the unit because people didn't pay attention to the directions, which say not to use the bluish colored key to repeatedly open lock. Eventually the lock stops working if you do this.

Now I have two units that are keyed alike and are rekeyable and one unit that's keyed different and not rekeyable with a bluish colored key.

Locksmith claims the "smartkey" units are prone to failure from something as simple as sand that might get blown into the unit or other debris that can get into the lock.

Guess I'll just bite the bullet and bring the deadbolt to him and let him rekey it.

[ray hampton]

how will sand or water get into the lock cylinder IF you got storm doors

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

Smartkey locks are made by Kwikset, and still available at BORG.

[ray hampton]

Smartkey locks are made by Kwikset, and still available at BORG.

Kwikset, I hope that this not the company that make concrete mix

[Shawn Pachlhofer]

that would be Quikrete

[ray hampton]

that would be Quikrete


thanks for the correction , same name but spell different

[Ron Citerone]

Personally I would go with the locksmith. With that said I have 3 smart key locks at the cottage. 4 years in high salt air and they are working fine.

[John K Jordan]

The HD here has re-keyed even old lock purchases for no cost, at least they used to. I’ve had 8 Schlage deadbolt sets re-keyed although rarely use the keys - all are keypad keyless entry. Took the guy at HD just a few minutes.

(BTW I have no problem when old threads are revived. There is a wealth of timeless information on SMC and much of it is not necessarily recent. Sort of like an encyclopedia vs a daily newspaper.)

[Tom M King]

Old thread. Looks like reopened by a Bot.

[Myk Rian]

8 year old thread.

[Edward Weber]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XFhpctuUwb4

[Rick Potter]

I love the Kwikset locks for my rentals. I used to have a bunch of keys to fit 5 different houses, and had to get them rekeyed by a locksmith, at about $125 a house, every time someone moved. You cannot leave the same lock on a house, since the old tenant may come back.

Now, I have key#1, and key #2, that fit all the houses. Someone moves out of a place, change lock from #1 to #2, and you are done. The other houses that may use the same key are unknown to tenants, so no problem. Saves me a lot of time and moolah. One house alone has 7 locks to change, and it is now easy to keep just one key for all of them, and the tenants really appreciate that.

[Alan Rutherford]

I managed an apartment house years ago. The locksets were Schlage and I got several new cylinders with keys. When I wanted to change a lock I just swapped cylinders. Took about a minute. Sometimes when you want locks changed, you want them changed right now. There were enough units and enough extra cylinders that I never felt the need to actually rekey one as long as I was careful not to swap a cylinder back into a unit it had come out of.

[Bill Dufour]

The kwikset smart key has a interesting feature. You can buy a used smart key lock with no key for fairly cheap on the bay. For 30 dollars or so you can buy a special smart cylinder rekey cradle. You remove the unkeyed cylinder and place it into the special cradle and turn some knobs and what not and insert any kwikset ket and it is no keyed to work with that key.
One of the digital smart locks with no keys can be had for under $50 on the bay.
Bill D