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This is the first padlock that I ever owned at age 11 or 12, it was bought at auction for my grandfather a lock collector in hopes that a key could be made for it. My dad took me with him to the locksmith to see if he could open or make a key for it, the first locksmith turned us away stating it was a railroad lock and he couldnt do anything with it, the second locksmith we visited really sparked my interest in locks he tried working it right in front of us at the counter. I was hooked from that point forward. He handed me a practice lock with 2 pins in it and his tools to give it a try and you guys have seen my progress ever since on the forum. So my question is does anyone know how to decode this yale and make a key for it, It would mean a lot to me if i could finally be able to open this padlock.
I snapped a few pics with my iphone, I may not be able to reply as I am sitting in my hotel room in Columbia Mo studing for My Board exam I take tomorrow, but any info would be greatly appreciated on this lock and for the forum.

Standard practice at my shop is to open up the drawer full of old precut bit and barrel keys and try em till you find one that works or is close and than file to fit. Often it is a time consuming task.

God the patina on that lock is deep and rich. Wish I knew more about lever locks. I'd love to help out.

I ran out to walmart and bought some wire and pliers for a study break after watching a youtube video of a guy picking a lever lock, no luck so far just little scratches on face now.

I fit keys to those types of locks with pretty good success, using a blank key, and a candle to smoke the blank. I can do it for you if you're interested.
Keymaster1053

That's a cool story. We don't see that many lever locks in Australia but I am, regardless, interested in lever locks. I'm guessing that the mechanism is just like other 5-lever locks with the exception that the projection on the axis of rotation will prevent you from using conventional lever lock picks. A lock with 5 levers is considered "advanced" so don't be discouraged.

Good luck on your Board Exam!

Nice old padlock. There's a thread on another forum you may enjoy reading...

Cheers

He's the kind of Locksmith I want to be. Truely an amazing craftsman. Im in awe of all those keys that he made. Simply amazing.

that thread floors me, every time i look at it. and i'm pretty sure that lauren, who made that write up, also writes for the independent locksmith magazine. which is an awesome resource when compared to most magazines available.

Wow that guy is amazing

Lauren is a woman.

Umm, nope.

Well bugger me! I thought Lauren was a girl's name (eg. Lauren Bacall). I also vaguely recall someone on chat telling me it was a girl. How embarassing.

LMAO! I recall LSA talking about Laurens U-Change Lock bypass and then the discussion changed to what is Lauren (gender-wise). I went off of this....
http://www.peterson-international.com/bypass.html
"I wish to thank Lauren A. for sharing his creative design work with me. His pioneering efforts made these tools possible."

This Yale lock is one of the more difficult padlocks to pick. The levers have teeth on their edges. You can see where the fence pin resides from my picture.