Years ago, I was fortunate enough to have met a gentleman I will call Bob. Bob had been locksmithing for years, having grown up around locksmiths and others in the trades . Indeed, his father was a locksmith , his two brothers were locksmiths, and his mother held the key to their hearts. All in all, I imagine it would have been pretty hard to get locked out of their house. As luck would have it, Bob and I became pretty good friends over time, and I’m glad to have known him. He’s gone now, but I have a filing cabinet of memories by which to remember him. And one of those memories is this little gem:

BEWARE OF THINGS THAT GO BUMP IN THE NIGHT!

What he was referring to was a technique of lock picking which was developed in the late 20s to early 30s, by which a locksmith (or a thief) might easily manufacture a special key, cut from an ordinary blank, which would easily open as much as 75% of all locks he might come across. This startling thing about this technique IS THAT IT REQUIRES ABSOLUTELY NO LEVEL OF MECHANICAL APTITUDE TO MASTER ! All it really takes is a 15 cent key blank, AND THE WILLINGNESS TO ILLEGALLY ENTER SOMEONE ELSE’S HOME! Can you imagine going inside to investigate a tapping noise on your back door, only to discover an absolute stranger in your kitchen staring back at you?

Now back in the 30s, this technique was called rapping, or tapping (or so I’ve been told). Well, you can call it whatever you like, BUT I CALL IT TROUBLE. For the purposes of this article however, I will refer to it as key bumping, and the the tool we will be discussing will be referred to as a bump key. Before I continue, I feel the need to assure you that it is not my intention to sound the alarm bells on this topic — awareness of the problem is at least half of the solution. Or, as my dear grandma used to say, “A WORD TO THE WISE IS SUFFICIENT”. In any case, it is my responsibility as a professional to raise your awareness of any potential deficiencies in your residential and commercial locking systems, and furthermore, to recommend sensible solutions for you to consider.

I’ll be talking about this in more depth sometime in January– Val

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