systlin:

frankenuff:

systlin:

kamikaze-kumquat:

levynite:

Then, I do nothing else—because I’m a pretty nice dude who is just fascinated by this sort of thing. That said, however, the specific measurements for any common brand of lock can be found online, and, with a little experience, you can hand-file keys in only a few minutes. Just search for “Depth & Space” charts. Those will tell you how far apart to space your cuts and the possible depths you might find cut into that type of key. Note that, while the space and depth will stay consistent across a given brand, it’s up to you to figure out the specific depths for your key. 

Seriously guys, stop posting photos of your brand new house key in clear fidelity on multiple social media platforms. People with malicious intentions can easily walk into your no longer secured homes.

This is not a new thing. There was a furor with TSA luggage keys a few years back (last I checked, lockpick and lock enthusiasts have managed to decode and recreate most of the keys except for a couple).

https://hackaday.com/2015/09/18/dear-tsa-this-is-why-you-shouldnt-post-pictures-of-your-keys-online/

But yeah, STOP POSTING CLEAR PHOTOS OF YOUR IMPORTANT KEYS ONLINE

https://observer.com/2017/04/instagram-stop-posting-keys/

Um..who the FUCK posts pictures of their HOUSE KEYS? Like. Who even does that?

Also, babies, please, your first rule of moving into a new place is “change the locks”. ALWAYS.

You would be fuckin amazed.

I’m married to a locksmith, remember, and he has had to explain this, at length, to so goddamn many people who can’t figure out how people broke into their house after posting pictures of their house keys to social media.

Fuck, I’m just married to a locksmith, and have picked up enough to be able to cut a house key that’ll have at least a 50% chance of unlocking a door off sight alone.

And people think I’m paranoid when I mention that literally the first thing we did when we bought the house was get the locks changed.

Shit when we got our place he went through and put in good locks, deadbolts, replaced the hinge screws with longer ones, replaced all the strike plates, replaced all the weather stripping, and put the code-unlock deadbolt on the back door so that we can leave the door lock unlocked and still get into the house if we lock ourselves out without other people being able to get in.

Oh and re-keyed the garage and installed padlocks (which he also re-keyed) on the doors so no one can break into that either.

He considers this the bare minimum, because “Well, if I was really going all in I’d install high-security locks.”