He Blew His Head off with a shot gun

Mortise lock on Apartment door

Computer Chip car keys



Infinity smart key



Inside of Mortise locks

Throughout my fifteen years locksmith career I have not come across something so sad as this.  Today I had the unfortunate chance of dealing with a case where the person who lived in the apartment that I was changing cylinders on had killed himself with a shot gun. Now I ask myself what would lead a person to kill themselves?  As I was changing the cylinders on the apartment door many of the man's neighbors came out to sort of find out what had happened inside on that fateful day when their neighbor had blown his own head off.  So some of them would peek into the apartment and then start to tear up like they wanted to cry.  A lot of them seemed surprised that this man could have done what he did.  To them this guy was a very happy and out going person. 
Our locksmith company works for many city agencies and this job was for one of those agencies.  In Queens Abbaslocksmith  provides all locksmith service emergency and non-emergency.  We provide residential, commercial and auto locksmith services in all of Queens and all of NYC.  

This is a work of art

Old World doorknob with craftsmanship and charm. Reminds me of a Christmas carol - http://pinterest.com/pin/437341813793866127/?s=3&m=blogger

They don't make locks like these.

Antique Norwalk Hoofed Urn Bronze Entry Door Lock Set, c.1885. - http://pinterest.com/pin/437341813793531472/?s=3&m=blogger

Big House One key! Is it Safe?

So I have done jobs in Queens for houses that have two doors and I have done jobs for homes that have five doors.  When you have a home security and convenience are two things you should worry about.  If you just bought a house and it has a front door and a back door then its as easy as one two three.  For a basic set up I would do two high security heavy duty deadbolts with the same key for the front door and back door.  Then I would do the knob sets in a standard key and keyed them alike.  This type of set up saves you money and make life a little less complicated.  So in essence you have two key for the whole house, plus you have the high security pick proof deadbolts. 

Now lets say you buy a huge house that has five doors.  One in the front, one in the back, one on the side, one in the basement and one on the terrace patio.  What do you do and what is best to do.  Well the first thing I would do is call a local locksmith to come over and advise you on your door security.  A good local locksmith will always recommend the best options.  In Queens

 

there is Abco Master Lock and Key in Forest Hills, White's locksmith in Corona, Admiral lock and key in Astoria, Around the Clock locksmith in Rego Park, Jstein locksmith in Jamaica, Joseph locksmith in Jackson Heights, Safe House locksmith in Fresh meadows, Armor in Flushing and of course Abba's Locksmith in Queens. These locksmith companies are experienced and have been in business for a long time.  Their employees are all licensed locksmiths.  When you have these companies at your home ask them what they recommend and guaranteed that they will suggest high security deadbolts and regular knob sets with same keys.  Having a heavy duty deadbolt with the same key for five doors gives you the convenience you need to be able to enter from any door in the house with having to carry ten different keys.  Always ask your locksmith for a new homeowner discount. 

Due Diligence

When I travel to a customer's house, apartment or business I go with the intention that I am going to help them with whatever issue they have with their locks.  There are times when a client just wants his/her cylinder changed, so they call a locksmith to go over and change it.  When I arrive to a client who wants their cylinder changed the first thing I do is ask them a few questions. One is the lock in working order? Do you want the cylinder changed to get new keys? or is the cylinder not turning that's why you want it changed?  Most of the time they tell me that they lost their keys and they want different keys that is why they are having the cylinders changed. Once I know that information I either go ahead and put in a new cylinder or I go and show them a few different quality cylinders they can choose from.  When I remove the old cylinder from a clients lock I make sure to pay attention to the lock it self because there have been times when I removed the old cylinder and the lock was broken from the inside. 


Heavy duty Apartment door bottom lock



Segal 900 Lock



Aerial view of New York City

Woodhaven Queens



Map of Queens

The normal set up on an apartment door in New York City is a jimmy proof deadbolt on top with a plate and a mortise lock on the bottom with knob set.  When I change cylinders on either one of the locks in an apartment I make sure to check the other lock also.  Clients appreciate due diligence.  When a locksmith observes due diligence they show the client that they are a professional locksmith and not someone who wants to do a quick job, collect money and leave.  Last week I went to a service call out in Elmhurst Queens for bottom lock cylinder change.  I got to the location ask the client what they needed and they told me to change the bottom lock cylinder.  I went ahead and asked the client why they wanted to change the cylinder.  So She tells me that sometimes when she wants to unlock the lock and open the door she can not.  Once she told me that I knew right away that it is not just the cylinder that should be checked out.  I informed the client that in order for me to diagnose the problem I have to take the complete mortise lock out. I told her that if I take out the lock and am able to repair it, that it would be $125 for the repair but if it is not repairable than the replacement would be $225, she agreed and I went ahead and took the lock out.  Once I opened the lock up it became apparent that the bolt spring was broken.  In a mortise lock once the bolt spring breaks the lock never works right.  So lucky for the lady I make my own bolt springs, so I went ahead and made one for her lock.  After installing the bolt spring inside the lock I reinstalled it back in the door, without changing the cylinder.  Checked all the other locks in the apartment, lubricated her hinges and wrote out a receipt. Another satisfied customer.  Abba's locksmith in Queens we always work with due diligence when it comes to fixing lock problems, feel free to call for your next home service call 718-820-2744

Locksmith Help

There are people who take advantage of others who are in need.  Today I went to an apartment to service a lock for a girl.  She called and said that her top lock was not working and she had another company install it two weeks ago. So I asked her why doesn't she call them back to fix it? She tells me that she thinks they are a scam company and she doesn't want to deal with them anymore. To make a long story short, she had called someone from the internet, they came over installed an average lock and charged her $450, complete rip off.  Now that same lock was not working and they were giving her the run around.  So when I went up to the location I saw a Maxtec jimmy proof deadbolt with regular schlage keyway.  The most anyone should have to pay for this lock is $175.00 and if the locksmith had to drill it open and then replace it, then it should be nothing more than $225.00. This particular locksmith did not drill the lock open or anything he basically swapped out the old lock and put up this maxtec.  He should have charged no more than $175.00. She was charged  $450, basically she was ripped off. 
Everyone out there who order locksmith service please be advised that who ever comes to your apartment for service please check their license.  A licensed locksmith would have never charged this lady the amount that she paid.  When you are locked out google search local business so narrow down your searches to your exact location such as (emergency locksmith Astoria Queens).  Once the pages come up don't go with the first three paid ads services usually they are companies out of area advertising locally.  This is exactly what happen to the lady. She went with the first company that popped up, and after doing some research she discovered that the company she thought she had hired did not exist.  It was a phantom company, a company which pays high amounts to google ad words and schedules their ads to show up from 6pm to midnight in the hopes of landing people who are locked out after getting home from work.  So when you see their ads, you end up calling them, but guess what the next day they are no where to be found. Even when you find them they give you the run around so in the end you don't get anything resolved and have to end up calling a real locksmith like Abco Master lock and key in Forest Hills, Admiral lock and key in Astoria, White's locksmith in Corona, JStein Locksmith in Jamaica, Around the Clock locksmith in Woodhaven and Joseph locksmith in Jackson Heights.  Real locksmiths always have store front that serve as their base of operations.  Fly by night companies who spend a lot of money advertising in the internet don't have shops, all they are is an office full of dispatchers who dispatch contracted local locksmiths to jobs. 

Car Lockouts

We depend on our cars for a lot of our daily existence. When we are locked out of your car life as you know it slows down and we feel like we are less than what we really are.  Our car has given us freedom to travel anywhere there is a road to travel.  Our car has also taken our freedom away also.  When we are locked out of our car for some reason we feel as if our legs have been taken away from us.  When there were no cars people use to walk miles and miles just to get some milk at the store.
Most of the cars that are now manufactured are equipped with smart key fobs.  Its hard to get locked out of cars today because all you have to do to start you car is have the fob on you body and you are able to start your car.  Most people get locked out of car because they leave their car running with the keys in the ignition and the car passive security system locks the doors automatically do to antitheft devices in the car's electronics.  Having the fob you can walk away from your car and not worry because the fob is in your hand all the time.  Most cars with the fob system will cost you around
$250 for a new one to be delivered and programed into your car by an emergency locksmith. Nisan, Honda, Infinity, Toyota, and some domestic cars such as GMC, and Chrysler, Dodge are equipped with the Fob system.

http://www.wikihow.com/Retrieve-Keys-Locked-Inside-a-Car

Funny

 http://www.wikihow.com/Break-Into-a-Car

Keys and lockouts

People lose keys all the time.  As our city grows we become busy with everything from getting dressed to making sure we have our keys.  There are times when you rush out of your home so you can make the train to get to work on time.  While your doing what you are doing to make that paycheck most of the time you are too busy to notice if you dropped your keys on the train  or left them at the news stand.  The end of the day you get home and guess what you don't have your keys to get into your apartment.  Please don't panic.
If you have your smart phone Google search emergency locksmith(the town you live in) and press enter.  The first page will have at least ten listings, the first three being locksmiths who pay to be first in the page.  From experiance the first three listings usually don't have shops, because they are mobile emergency dispatch services.  There is nothing wrong with using these companies but 90% of the time they employ sub contractors who split the job with them 50/50.  Now you know if one of those contractors end up at your house they are going to want to charge you the most so to get a better split.  My suggestion look for a listed locksmith that has a shop in your neighborhood or at least in your town or city.  The locksmith shop will always charge less because they are local and they probably want repeat business. 
Once you choose the listed locksmith call them and find out what they charge to open your door.  If the person says we charge service call and then a minimum charge to open the lock try to have them give you the maximum end also.  If you get a quote of $90 or less usually you should ordertheir service.  If you get a quote of under $50 don't bother because by the time they let you in you will probably pay ten times that amount. 90% of the time locksmiths can open locks with minimal amount of damage.  If they end up drilling your lock they should only be changing your cylinder not the whole lock.  Whenever possible call at least three people and get at least three quotes then depending on the locksmith location and time in business you should order there service.  When you are locked out always take your time to order the right service if you panic you have already lost.  The fact is you are locked out, you can not do anything untill you get in.  In Queens there are at least seven very reputable locksmiths Abco Master Lock and Key in Forest Hills, Admiral Lock lock and key in Astoria, Around the Clock locksmith in woodhaven, Jstein Locksmith in Jamaica, Armor Locksmith in Fresh Meadows, All emergency locksmith in Astoria, Frog Locksmith in Roslyn Heights. 

Do not let it slam.

Sometimes a service call is simply just straightening out a bent bolt in  the mortise lock.  99% of apartment doors in NYC are equipped with a mortise lock as the main lock on the door.  This lock is two locks in one.  It serves as a latch lock and also as a deadbolt.  On the lock body there is a button that you can either flip or push in to activate the latch lock, and you always have to use the key to lock the bolt lock. The thing is that when the mortise lock is activated with the latch lock, it automatically locks the door when you close the door behind you.  So some people like to through the bolt out in order to keep the door open if they are stepping out for a moment.  What they don't realize is when the door closes with the bolt sticking out and it hits the frame it gets bent a small amount and over a period of time it could bend enough where it will stop flowing in and out and then your mortise lock is deemed useless.  So I went on a service call to one of our previous customers. Her apartment door mortise lock would not lock with either the key or the thumb turn from the inside.  I automatically knew that the bolt was bent.  So I informed the client and told her that I will try to fix the bolt because replacing the entire mortise lock would be in the hundreds.  When I took the lock apart right away it was apparent that the bolt was bent.  I took out the bolt, straightened it out and installed it back into the mortise lock. I went back to the apartment and reinstalled the lock.  So the next time you want to step out of the apartment and you want to keep the lock open just flip the button to the open position and that would be enough. In Forest Hills Queens there are many buildings that are over sixty years old, these buildings have the old Lockwood mortise locks.  The Lockwood mortise lock is one of the best.  It is very durable and very well made.  Sometimes I end up replacing them with the more modern type of lock by Marks. 

    

Lock maintenance

Too many times I go to clients with lock problems and all I do is lubricate their locks and everything works perfect.  Some clients refuse to pay me my service call because "you didn't do anything".  Well I did do something, I just saved you 2 to 3 hundred dollars because I didn't lie to you and tell you that you need a whole new lock.  What happens is that people come home and all of a sudden their key doesn't go into the cylinder, so they panic and call a locksmith, now when the locksmith comes to their location he/she can do either one of two things, he/she can either squirt WD40 into the cylinder and see if that works or just drill out the cylinder and replace it. I usually squirt WD40 first to see if the cylinder is just dried up and needs to loosen up.  Most of the time the lubrication works and I am able to use the clients key and get them in. 
Many people don't realize that, like everything else mechanical locks also need a yearly maintenance check up. During this check up you should have a locksmith come over take the lock apart, check all the internal parts, lubricate and adjust all parts and then reinstall.  Now if the locksmith takes the lock apart and if either has broken internal parts or missing parts then its usually a good idea to have the lock changed.  Locks such as Mul-T-Lock or Medeco are so well made that usually a squirt of WD40 every now and then they will work for a very long time.  Cheaper brands such as Guard, defiant, or any other foreign made locks would not last for very long, so it is a good idea to have your locksmith upgrade your regular locks to something mid level or even high security.  In Queens most private homes have a set up of a tubular deadbolt and knob set.  In most cases the deadbolt and knob set is usually a defiant Home Depot brand or a Kwik Set also Home Depot brand.  I usually upgrade these type of locks at the minimum to Arrow deadbolt and knob set or Schlage deadbolt and knob set.  If the door and frame are not reinforced with hard wood or paneling then I usually install super strikes.  Always have your locksmith reinforce your door and frame.  When you move into your new home and or apartment always change your locks.  Once your locks have been changed keep them maintained by lubricating them on a monthly bases and doing a maintenance call by a locksmith every year or so. www.abbaslocksmith.com/Queens


digital locks

Lockout specialists

When you are you locked out, you want someone to come right away and let you in for the cheapest price.  When someone gets locked out the first thing they do now a days is google search emergency locksmith look down the list see a locksmith advertising $15 lockout service and call them. Please stop and ask the person you are about to hire a few questions. One question should be "Do you have a locksmith store or are you a mobile service"? Two "What is the exact price for a typical lockout service?  Three "Are you licensed?  One you have heard the answers to these question then you should be able to make a better decision in hiring the company or not.  If the person who answers the phone call says that there is no physical store front, please do yourself a favor and do not hire them.  The reason being is that either the person coming to let you in is not licensed and if he/she is licensed they are not local.  Don't fall for the minimum service call quote, because it could turn into hundreds if not thousands when they are actually there doing the job.  Hire a company that provides a free visit, and a free quote advisement.
In the locksmith industry there are many companies that are just dispatch locations located far from local who spend a lot of money advertising on line in order to get in front of you and charge you a lot of money.  I have had customers in queens who have hired companies off of the internet and then have been taken advantage of .  When they call from their home in Queens New York they thought they were reaching a local locksmith but instead a company in Maryland had dispatched a sub contractor in the local area.  The thing is that the sub contractor gets paid a commission based amount so the more they charge you the more they make.  If you live in local neighborhoods such as Flushing, Elmhurst, Forest Hills, Astoria, Jackson Heights, Corona, Rego Park, Woodhaven, Whitestone or any other neighborhood in Queens, Please do local Google searches such as "emergency locksmith (neighborhood).com" this will give you a close to an exact local business who will be able to do your job in a timely manor and cost effective way. 
An average lockout service in Queens should never be more than $125 for one lock, normally it should be about $90 but if its after 6 pm then you shouldn't be surprised to pay $125.  If you receive a locksmith to let you into your apartment or home 90% of the time they should be able to pick the lock open without destroying the cylinder to do it.  I have done lockout service in Rego Park at 10pm at night for $90 so when it comes to choosing a locksmith for an emergency lockout service please remember to hire a local locksmith who has a physical location.  Abco master lock and key in Queen is a local locksmith doing business since 1965 always willing to help people in queens with their locksmith services.  Around the Clock is another locksmith in Queens, Admiral lock and key  is another, Jstein is also a very good locksmith.  Any of these guys would be a good choice for emergency locksmith.


broken lock



rekey cylinders

 
  

Master the skills

Many counties require individuals to be licensed before they can practice locksmith work.  New York City requires individuals to get licensed before doing locksmith work.  Many individuals do locksmith work without a license or under the license of the company they work for.  In the past the licensing agency use to give individuals a locksmith test before issuing a license but now a days all they require is two licensed locksmiths to sign two affidavits in order to get a locksmith license.  The test in the past use to be where the applicant would be placed in a room in front of a desk and someone would come take apart a lock dump all the parts in front of the applicant and give them 5 minutes to put it together, if they were successful in doing it correctly they would be given the status of being a master locksmith.  In today's field there aren't many master locksmiths, just individual who learn how to install locks on door and then they call themselves locksmiths.  I feel that people who cant use everything around them to create solution for everyday lock problems they don't deserve to be called locksmiths.  Today I was able to help this old man repair his 70 year old lock which two other locksmiths refused to fix because it is too "old".  So this old man went to home depot and bought a mortise lock. When I arrived at his apartment he was holding this lock that would in no way fit in the space of the old one.  He asked me if I could fix the old one.  I looked at the lock and I looked at the old man and then I asked him to show me the problem.  From the first try I knew what the problem was so I told him that I could fix it and I could replace it.  I gave him two prices for fixing it the cost is $185 and replacing it would be $350.  The particular lock that was in his door was a Norwalk wide face extended face plate probably made in the 50's. The problem was the internal thumb turn disc inside the lock. The disc hole where the thumb turn goes into was worn out hence not allowing the thumb turn to throw the bolt in and out so if someone dead bolted the mortise lock from the outside the person inside would be locked in.  So I took the lock out removed the plates and installed the new disc and reinstalled the lock.  Another satisfied customer.


Mortise lock



tools I use for rekeys



Gif the shop

Parts of locks

There are many locks in the world, but throughout the world there is usually a basic set up of a knob lock on the bottom and deadbolt on top.  Here in New York City everyone who lives in an apartment building usually has a jimmy proof deadbolt on top and mortise lock on the bottom.  People who live in houses usually have a tubular deadbolt on top and regular keyed entry knob set on the bottom.  So the jimmy proof consists of a drop bolt type of lock which is on the inside and a keyed cylinder which is on the outside.  When you turn your key in the cylinder the mechanism inside the cylinder lines up and your able to turn your key.  The cylinder is inserted into the deadbolt with a tail piece, so when you turn the key the tail piece turns and your are able to lock and unlock the drop bolt.  The bottom lock which is known as the mortise lock has six parts to it, it has the cylinder, the outside escusion plate, the inside escusion plate , a knob set, a spindle, and lock body.  Inside the mortise lock body which is inside the door, all the lock system is concealed.  For the house locks its usually the deadbolt on top and knob on the bottom.  The deadbolt has the bolt and the cylinder and thumb turn.  The knob on the bottom is two pieces the key part on the out side and thumb turn piece from inside.  If you live in an apartment and you only have the bottom lock and no top deadbolt, your apartment is half protected, please call your local locksmith and have them install a drop bolt.  If you live in a house and have two locks on the door, but they the regular cheap brand from home depot please call your locksmith and upgrade the deadbolt to a high security deadbolt and have them add a super strike.  Many locksmiths in Queens carry the high security deadbolts.

key finders