Key Bumping: Could Your Home Be in Danger?

Every morning millions of people lock their door before going to work. They may lock their door for various reasons, but the most important reason is the fact that they do not want people to go into their house when they are gone. The standard pin and tumbler lock (the lock used in most of America) is a lock that is very easy to open using tools that are available to everyone. This is technique is often called "key bumping" by locksmiths and is generally frowned upon by sport lock picking societies.

In order to perform this technique all you need is a file, a blank key, and some sort of heavy object. You can even make things simpler by going to your local hardware store and purchasing a bump key (in which case, you won't need a file or a blank key). A bump key can be used to open almost any pin and tumbler lock.

If you do not want to purchase a bump key, then you must create one. In order to create a bump key you simply "carve" equal length teeth into the key blank. After that, you have the only key you'll ever need to open any sort of pin and tumbler lock.

The next step is to put the key in the door, and hit it lightly with some sort of heavy object. The handle of a screwdriver, a mallet, or even a large wooden stick will do the trick nicely. While hitting the key you must simultaneously make an attempt to turn the key with your other hand. Using this simple technique even a 12 year old could open almost any door with a pin and tumbler lock. Do you like the feeling of 12 year old running rampant in your house?

The ease of this technique has led to more high tech "dimple" based locking systems in most of Europe, but America is lagging behind in this adequate security trend. In order to protect your home, it is probably a good idea to go to a local lock smith and ask about "dimple" based key systems or other locking systems. These locking systems are cheap, increase the value of your home, and provide you with a unique home entry solution.

As soon as people realized that locks using skeletal keys could easily be opened, skeletal keys were slowly phased out of existence. In fact, to this day skeletal keys are mostly only used for ornamental purposes. When will we quit being stubborn and ignorant to the problems inherit in the 4,000 year old pin and tumbler locking system?