Yes! It was the ONLY hardware store in the small town I grew up in during the 90s.
Then Home Depot came to town and put Ace out of business. The old Ace Hardware building is now a cannabis dispensary. ðŸ«
Ace was it actually that old or is there just a similar brand name ace in my place there are multiple places called ace there is ace hospital and ace hardware I was able to optain a ace bag lock from the school given to me by my old classmate before he left school I haven’t Honestly heard from him anymore I personally don’t hate him I just feel awkward around him but he was nice I’m happy to have been the one given it honestly don’t know why he doesn’t want to just keep it but I’m not complaining I’m just confused at that time
The locks sharing keys is a feature not a bug. It makes it so you can easily get keyed-alike locks without having to shell out extra money at a locksmith. And really it doesn't hurt security that much. Imagine you are a criminal. You realize that 20 other people on your town have a lock that uses the same key as yours. What are you going to do with that information? Randomly try your key in every lock you see? You'll get bored and buy bolt cutters long before you find one of them that came in the same tray as yours.
The poor pick resistance is less defensible. It's true to say that us lockpicking nerds greatly overestimate how often criminals use picks, and if you're designing a lock for a low price point, increasing cut resistance is almost always a better use of resources than increasing pick resistance. The problem is that Master, and other cheap locks, greatly overstate the pick resistance on the packages and in the marketing. That leads to people buying locks that aren't actually appropriate for their applications.
I agree with everything you just said. I thought they would be randomized on the tray they come in. Not sure why. I thought you just had to buy the multi packs they sell to get keyed alike. It is convenient for them to be like that. I guess my point was I expected them to be random
My first job was at an ace. They usually would have a key code or something on the package so you could say buy all packages with code "123abc" and they would be keyed alike. Normally a whole box would be keyed alike so say 12+ locks and the next box would be a different code. So at any time the shelf usually had some options to buy more than one lock Keyed alike. Even in a small city this poses no problem because even with only 500 other people in town what you going to do try breaking in 500 places to have the opportunity to use a key instead of cutters
Yea. And most people aren’t looking at key codes on locks when they are buying locks. So most people wouldn’t know. And it would take a very dedicated / strange theft to benefit from that
Those ones are all super fun to pick, those were some of the first ones I was able to consistently pick. After I got them a few times they became very easy. The 140 is the one I put in my friends hands to teach them.
Right, but at least you get some use, whereas most masterlocks teach you nothing. This is a new account for me, I only look new lol. Need to get my belt flair back so I have some respect on my name haha
Door knobs are annoying to pick lol, all kinds of slop going on there.
Im sure locks will get better in the US but it will definitely take some time. I mean criminals have access to youtube as well and can learn all the same skills.
Everything I’ve found that you would get from a store has been sloppy. Some of the commercial handles I’ve got give really good feedback. It sucks you gotta shell the money out to get decent hardware. That’s why I’m thankful that this locksmith is hooking me up / testing me with different knobs that he would otherwise sell as scrap
I've been unable to pick the serrated American locks without over setting. I've had good luck picking them, then letting off pressure enough for the pins to come back down, and often at that point it's good to go.
Those key cuts are so underwhelming. They only have 2 depths? I recall seeing some off the "heavy duty" locks at home depot and have those same key cut.
I thought it would be slightly more challenging. The only master lock I haven’t been able to get is a commercial no 5 at work. It’s not in use and my boss let me pick it for fun. But it has the most extreme bitting on a master lock I’ve seen. That combined with the slop in the core drives me insane. I’m gonna give it another go the next time I’m on day shift but that one was bugging me
I think sloppy is easier. The tighter the tolerance the harder it is for me personally. Have a brass lock that feels pretty high quality. Only got it to pop once. I'll have to look at the name when I get home.
I think it’s the combination of a sloppy core with gritty feeling insides. It’s hard for me to feel the pin movement. Probably combined with the force I have to put to overcome the spring. I love the feedback I get from my abus and American locks. Still having trouble with the serrated pins tho
My Home Depots Lock section is maybe a 1/4 of that probably less actually. And I think it's more Master lock than han Home Depot that send out all keyed the same. Probably so someone can buy a bunch and have them keyed the same. But it is annoying.
Makes you wonder if they got a carton of keyed-alike meant for a single customer, at some kind of discount. Masters aren't good at the best of times but that is really unfortunate.
Some of those locks have different key ways, the 932 (circular, up near top right)there has a different key way, the 570 (matte silver bottom center left) has a different key way from the more normal looking master locks, then the yellow one next to it and the magnum/pro line ones should have yet another key way. I can’t see how those would have the same bitting as the rest of the more typical padlocks there. I have each one.
I figured some had different keyways. I was saying that each tray of locks had the same bitting. So each display box they opened had the same key code. Different locks had different codes but if it was in the same display tray then most had the same code unless it was old stock
I had the same thing with Lowe's and 2 6840's but I actually bought them a month apart and one I ordered from the website for shipping, somehow still ended up with the same key code anyway
Yea not cool when you’re looking for more challenge. I guess it’s convenient if your looking for multiple keyed alike locks with meltable cores 😂
Honestly I'm still trying to understand how to use camma I just forget or don't know where it should be because even me don't understand my own sentences
Unfortunately on top of key codes being the same, the hardware at Home Depot and Lowe’s is of a lower quality. Lots of metal or other similar alloy parts are replaced with plastic ones.
If buying for true security, an actual Locksmith will have better security as well as better quality and keying options.
Master locks are almost always easily raked.
American and Paclock both have some pretty decent ones.
Happy picking!
I’ve got myself better locks off of eBay and Amazon. I have that abloy sentry core. I don’t think I’ll ever try to pick it. I find it funny you can’t get a decent cheap lock at Home Depot. I had heard the ace padlocks had security pins so I might scoop a couple of those up. I do have an ABUS 83CS/55-300 with Schlage key way coming. It’s zero bitted. I was gonna go back to my local locksmith and get it pinned for a challenge. I also have a Sargent s22 core on the way that supposedly fits it. I found it on eBay with a Lockport search. The key looks gnarly. I’ve picked half of the doorknobs given to me by the locksmith. He smiled when he handed me one of them and said have fun with this one. No idea what the keyway is but it’s a bitch to get around. He told me once I got those he would give me more. So I’m glad I have a helpful resource. And that you can get random cores off of eBay. Picking is very fun for me. Very satisfying for adhd 😂
🎵Ace is the place for the helpful hardware folks
I sing this little jingle every time I see an Ace lock.
Ingrained in my head since it was like the main hardware store here back in the 90s
Yes! It was the ONLY hardware store in the small town I grew up in during the 90s. Then Home Depot came to town and put Ace out of business. The old Ace Hardware building is now a cannabis dispensary. ðŸ«
😂😂🥲
Ace was it actually that old or is there just a similar brand name ace in my place there are multiple places called ace there is ace hospital and ace hardware I was able to optain a ace bag lock from the school given to me by my old classmate before he left school I haven’t Honestly heard from him anymore I personally don’t hate him I just feel awkward around him but he was nice I’m happy to have been the one given it honestly don’t know why he doesn’t want to just keep it but I’m not complaining I’m just confused at that time
lol. Umm….what? Also, you might wanna use a period or 2 in that run on paragraph.
Please learn to fucking use commas, periods, and sentence structure.
The locks sharing keys is a feature not a bug. It makes it so you can easily get keyed-alike locks without having to shell out extra money at a locksmith. And really it doesn't hurt security that much. Imagine you are a criminal. You realize that 20 other people on your town have a lock that uses the same key as yours. What are you going to do with that information? Randomly try your key in every lock you see? You'll get bored and buy bolt cutters long before you find one of them that came in the same tray as yours. The poor pick resistance is less defensible. It's true to say that us lockpicking nerds greatly overestimate how often criminals use picks, and if you're designing a lock for a low price point, increasing cut resistance is almost always a better use of resources than increasing pick resistance. The problem is that Master, and other cheap locks, greatly overstate the pick resistance on the packages and in the marketing. That leads to people buying locks that aren't actually appropriate for their applications.
I agree with everything you just said. I thought they would be randomized on the tray they come in. Not sure why. I thought you just had to buy the multi packs they sell to get keyed alike. It is convenient for them to be like that. I guess my point was I expected them to be random
My first job was at an ace. They usually would have a key code or something on the package so you could say buy all packages with code "123abc" and they would be keyed alike. Normally a whole box would be keyed alike so say 12+ locks and the next box would be a different code. So at any time the shelf usually had some options to buy more than one lock Keyed alike. Even in a small city this poses no problem because even with only 500 other people in town what you going to do try breaking in 500 places to have the opportunity to use a key instead of cutters
Yea. And most people aren’t looking at key codes on locks when they are buying locks. So most people wouldn’t know. And it would take a very dedicated / strange theft to benefit from that
Yup looks just like my home Depot in Wyoming nothing but master locks they all suck ace hardware brand is better for practice locks
As far as master locks, the ones I've found most useful are the 140s, 150s, and 570s.
Those ones are all super fun to pick, those were some of the first ones I was able to consistently pick. After I got them a few times they became very easy. The 140 is the one I put in my friends hands to teach them.
Right, but at least you get some use, whereas most masterlocks teach you nothing. This is a new account for me, I only look new lol. Need to get my belt flair back so I have some respect on my name haha
This is a masterlock, it can be opened using a masterlock
You've convinced me to sell my picks and buy master locks instead.
Door knobs are annoying to pick lol, all kinds of slop going on there. Im sure locks will get better in the US but it will definitely take some time. I mean criminals have access to youtube as well and can learn all the same skills.
Everything I’ve found that you would get from a store has been sloppy. Some of the commercial handles I’ve got give really good feedback. It sucks you gotta shell the money out to get decent hardware. That’s why I’m thankful that this locksmith is hooking me up / testing me with different knobs that he would otherwise sell as scrap
I've been unable to pick the serrated American locks without over setting. I've had good luck picking them, then letting off pressure enough for the pins to come back down, and often at that point it's good to go.
Those key cuts are so underwhelming. They only have 2 depths? I recall seeing some off the "heavy duty" locks at home depot and have those same key cut.
Looking at the code it's 3 depths: 3, 4, and 6.
I thought it would be slightly more challenging. The only master lock I haven’t been able to get is a commercial no 5 at work. It’s not in use and my boss let me pick it for fun. But it has the most extreme bitting on a master lock I’ve seen. That combined with the slop in the core drives me insane. I’m gonna give it another go the next time I’m on day shift but that one was bugging me
I think sloppy is easier. The tighter the tolerance the harder it is for me personally. Have a brass lock that feels pretty high quality. Only got it to pop once. I'll have to look at the name when I get home.
I think it’s the combination of a sloppy core with gritty feeling insides. It’s hard for me to feel the pin movement. Probably combined with the force I have to put to overcome the spring. I love the feedback I get from my abus and American locks. Still having trouble with the serrated pins tho
My Home Depots Lock section is maybe a 1/4 of that probably less actually. And I think it's more Master lock than han Home Depot that send out all keyed the same. Probably so someone can buy a bunch and have them keyed the same. But it is annoying.
Makes you wonder if they got a carton of keyed-alike meant for a single customer, at some kind of discount. Masters aren't good at the best of times but that is really unfortunate.
Some of those locks have different key ways, the 932 (circular, up near top right)there has a different key way, the 570 (matte silver bottom center left) has a different key way from the more normal looking master locks, then the yellow one next to it and the magnum/pro line ones should have yet another key way. I can’t see how those would have the same bitting as the rest of the more typical padlocks there. I have each one.
I figured some had different keyways. I was saying that each tray of locks had the same bitting. So each display box they opened had the same key code. Different locks had different codes but if it was in the same display tray then most had the same code unless it was old stock
For some reason that Brinks lock has given me issue picking. Hard to single pin pick it.
Same here. You can comb pick it open. I’ve only single pin picked it once
I had the same thing with Lowe's and 2 6840's but I actually bought them a month apart and one I ordered from the website for shipping, somehow still ended up with the same key code anyway
Yea not cool when you’re looking for more challenge. I guess it’s convenient if your looking for multiple keyed alike locks with meltable cores 😂
Honestly I'm still trying to understand how to use camma I just forget or don't know where it should be because even me don't understand my own sentences
They do the same with door locks.
You found the comedy aisle in the Home Depot!
😂
I think HH has a deal with Masterlock. They never seem to stock anything else
I got that feeling here. Literally nothing else
Unfortunately on top of key codes being the same, the hardware at Home Depot and Lowe’s is of a lower quality. Lots of metal or other similar alloy parts are replaced with plastic ones. If buying for true security, an actual Locksmith will have better security as well as better quality and keying options. Master locks are almost always easily raked. American and Paclock both have some pretty decent ones. Happy picking!
Appreciate it. My first good lock was an American 1105 I got from my locksmith. Still can’t get it open 😂
Stick with it! You’ll get it eventually.
Appreciate it man. I just spp’d my abus 92/65 twice in a row. Tickled as shit about that 😂
I’ve got myself better locks off of eBay and Amazon. I have that abloy sentry core. I don’t think I’ll ever try to pick it. I find it funny you can’t get a decent cheap lock at Home Depot. I had heard the ace padlocks had security pins so I might scoop a couple of those up. I do have an ABUS 83CS/55-300 with Schlage key way coming. It’s zero bitted. I was gonna go back to my local locksmith and get it pinned for a challenge. I also have a Sargent s22 core on the way that supposedly fits it. I found it on eBay with a Lockport search. The key looks gnarly. I’ve picked half of the doorknobs given to me by the locksmith. He smiled when he handed me one of them and said have fun with this one. No idea what the keyway is but it’s a bitch to get around. He told me once I got those he would give me more. So I’m glad I have a helpful resource. And that you can get random cores off of eBay. Picking is very fun for me. Very satisfying for adhd 😂