was pretty cool, I wonder who they had make them.

As someone who knows lock-picking in an amateur sence I would say if you want to get a new basic lock for your house and are limited in budget to what you can afford from the home depot or whatever take a look at the keys that come with the locks and find the one with the largest end profile and smallest center, this wont stop someone from kicking down the door but will give any inexperienced lock picker a hard time. Also consider installing a steel kickplate around the lock on cheap lightweight doors, this will diperse a kick through a larger portion of the door than just the 1/4″ of wood beside the deadbolt.

If someone wants to get in they will, not much you can do about it, but a security system will either make them leave before they steal stuff or possibly get the police there before they do leave. We have had a couple people caught breaking into where I work. The security system makes no noise it just calls the police, the intruders were quite surprised.

Thats the way to make a residential house secure (it may be possible to do more but I doubt there is anything you could do that would be worth the investment)

Even just the strong doors/frames, strong locks and window film on the glass should stop 99% of burglars (who don’t care who’s house they break into as long as it as has something they can steal to sell and make some cash)

If you want to second-guess me, you can ask two of my co-workers who got their homes broken into. One of them had it happen twice in the same year.

Some people have been debating the merits of using a high-quality (and thus possibly an expensive) lock in a cheap, easily-compromised door or the wisdom of putting a heavy lock and door on a house that will almost always have alternate routes of entry for a theif (like a window that can be broken)

It is important to remember that locks (particularly very reliable, high security locks) act not just as deterrents or barriers but also as a SEAL upon your premises. If you leave for the night and your door is locked by a cheap lock, returning in the morning to see it still locked is not a guarantee that someone wasn’t there anyway.

Surreptitious (also sometimes called “non destructive”) entry is a whole different category of security risk that some people seek to avoid.

Using a heavy lock on a properly-installed solid-core door means that if someone wants to get in to your property (regardless of whether they’re a thief or an agent of the state attempting to search your home) they will have to BREAK in… shattering a window, etc.

If you return home after a night away you may indeed find that someone has been there in your absence… but you will KNOW for sure that this is the case and then have the immediate opportunity to take whatever steps are then appropriate.

I should point out a couple terminology problems, however…

1. The /pins/ of a standard lock are what can all also be known as “tumblers”… the part that rotates when the lock is operating is called the “plug”

2. The varied cuts on a “blade” style key are called the “bitting” (and for those who are curious, can be described via manufacturer’s cut depths with simple integer numbers… zero is no cut, one is a very tiny cut, etc etc down to nine being the deepest cut. one lists the bitting values from the shoulder out to the tip if you are specifying them to another person, say a locksmith who is using a code-cutting machine to make a new key for you)

Terrific work on the model… very creative and well-done. :-)

I dare you to try that on my doors. You need to correct yourself in “will bust many low grade doors down” Any door? I think not, not by a long shot.

My front door can take a 250 pound guy running full speed and nailing it hard without damage. It’s called a steel frame and a steel door with a real deadbolt and properly installed setup. not the el-crapo garbage sold at home improvement stores that grabs 1/4 inch of wood.

I think the locks on our houses are more to keep the average theif from just walking up and entering a house without contest, making it a little more obvious to neighbours when someone is picking a lock, kicking a door in, or breaking a window.