I'm locked out! Lyon Tool Chest

[Boswell]

the medical cabinets were used for ready storage of drugs, so one would expect that they were reasonably secure.

You are such an optimist

 

[Gaffer]

I'm rarely lucky and it's great when I am. I wasn't looking forward to fighting the tool chest and was prepared for an hours-long event that only took about a second. I grabbed a sheet of 18 ga stainless I had on hand (12" X 36") for a test fit, thinking I'd cut it down to make slim jim. I slid it into the gap in the top drawer all the way and I felt it hit and move the locking bar. The drawer opened and done! No fuss, no muss.

 

[pontiac428]

 

[ChazzC]

I'm rarely lucky and it's great when I am. I wasn't looking forward to fighting the tool chest and was prepared for an hours-long event that only took about a second. I grabbed a sheet of 18 ga stainless I had on hand (12" X 36") for a test fit, thinking I'd cut it down to make slim jim. I slid it into the gap in the top drawer all the way and I felt it hit and move the locking bar. The drawer opened and done! No fuss, no muss.

Sounds like me – more luck than talent at times.

 

[tq60]

Make an extra key and attach it to the bottom of the box, maybe epoxy a magnet to it and just stick it there.

Sent from my SM-G781V using Tapatalk

 

[accokeek]

While most tool chest locks are pathetically easy to pick, another option, since you never lock the chest anyway, is to simply drill out the lock cylinder and then trip the latch assembly. If you do it carefully, you can even replace the lock with a new one

 

[strantor]

Sorry, I just had to revive this thread since I was previously talking about lock picking. Last night I locked up the shop with 6 figures worth of tools, machinery, and inventory, trusting my door lock to have it still waiting for me in the morning. This morning it was all still there, along with my keys and my lock picking kit inside. I spent all morning looking for the spare I know I had made a couple years ago, then for something I could use as a lock pick, then just for anything. Out of options and desperate, I just stood in front of the door looking down at the ground, deep in thought contemplating any remaining options before calling a locksmith, when I saw this wire.



I just crammed the wire between door and jamb beneath the latch, kept cramming until it popped out above the latch, grasped both ends and gently pulled, and the wire caught the beveled back side of the latch, forcing it back into the door, and the door popped right open.

I thought I already had my allotted number of wakeup calls but here's one more. Time to upgrade security in the shop. It needs a deadbolt that I can't pick, like I put on the house. And a new door handle that can't be locked and then shut, which will prevent me locking the keys inside. Step outside with the keys, lock the door with the keys, walk away with the keys. That's how it should work. I will also look into those electronic keypad deadbolts. I'm sure those can be defeated electronically but the person who can do it is probably more rare than the person who can open a door with a wire.