Archive for December, 2009

The frozen lock advice …

Monday, December 21st, 2009

These days a lot of people call me with questions about locks, most of them when they are in some sort of trouble….

Yesterday was no exception. An old friend (who lives far away) called me because his neighbor had a problem with his lock. Not strange if you keep in mind it’s really cold here now and there is a thick layer of snow covering the Netherlands. This neighbor had his house well protected and was using a LIPS OCTRO to lock his house (15 pin dimple lock). And now because of the cold the lock would not open anymore. They did notice the key went in and out the lock smoothly. So they tried heating the key with a lighter and keep the heated key in the lock for some time, yet that did not work. And now they called me for advice.

I did gave them advice but to be honnest that did not open the lock. And a couple of hours later I received a text message with the full story. And I will tell you the details in one or two days.

My question to you is: what would you have advised him to do (or what questions would you have asked)?

* Update: Tom gave the correct answer in the comments …