A
lot has changed throughout history,
but one thing that’s remained constant
— and probably always will — is how
we protect our valuables. We’re talking
about guarding the things you have
from the people who want to take them from you. The
devices we consistently rely on, but seldom give much
consideration to, are locks. When was the last time you
evaluated the physical security of your home or your
bug-out shelter?
Locks are your first line of defense against theft and
burglary. So, what makes one lock better than another?
With locks costing anywhere from $10 to thousands,
there are a plethora of factors to consider when choos-
ing a lock for your possessions or for the doors to and
within your residence. Today’s locks are most often
made of bronze, stainless steel, or similar metals, both
for strength and corrosion resistance. Good locks are
also precisely machined so that the tolerances between
the moving parts are very small, making “smart” attacks
like picking or bumping more difficult. The more precise
a lock is — through machining parts rather than casting
pieces, intense scrutiny during quality control, and the
use of quality materials — the less room there is for at-
tackers to defeat it.
Even relatively cheap locks typically offer solid construc-
tion, and most even have security pins thrown in for good
measure. The addition of these special pins, such as spool or
serrated pins, is commonly used to thwart more thought-out
attacks. A truly strong lock should have some special fea-
tures, such as restricted keys, specialty pins, or even abstract
features, such as warding, making not only brute force but
also more well-planned attacks more difficult to carry out.
Warding is the use of wards or barriers that a key must
navigate around in order to operate a lock — not a new
practice by any means. Warded locks were used through-
out Europe as far back as the Middle Ages, but they were
notoriously easy to defeat with the use of a so-called skel-
eton key. Such a key could fit between the wards on these
locks and operate them, granting the key holder access
without leaving behind any evidence. This led to manufac-
turers abandoning this security measure in favor of a “pin
and tumbler” style lock, still the most common style found
today. This requires a key with distinct cuts on the top
and milling on the sides that fits perfectly into a two-piece
cylinder, thus lifting up on pins of various lengths in order
to rotate the inner cylinder, called the “plug,” and to operate
the inner workings of the lock. If the pins don’t line up cor-
rectly, the plug won’t rotate and won’t grant you access to
whatever you’re trying to open.
Not All Locks Are the Same. We Provide You
With the Keys to Understanding the Differences
By Travis Dionne
Photos by Jorge Nuñez
ISSUE 32
OFFGRIDWEB.COM 065
