Wed Mar 24, 2010 9:13 pm by Solomon
My opinion is that it is a good selection of stuff, but most of it can be learned by yourself with a little research. Not worth $1200 if you ask me... that money would be better invested in tools and advertising. Ironically, the most valuable thing of all doesn't even cost anything. It's called PRACTICE!!! And you aren't gonna get much of that in a week, especially with such a wide variety of stuff to learn.
Theory of Locks - 5 minutes, any lockpicking guide.
Automotive Locksmithing - You can pick any car door lock with a small selection of tools, but if you wanna know about linkage systems and other forms of bypass then that kind of info is harder to find... but not MUCH harder. The most important thing here is practice, anyway.
Disassembly of Rim and Mortise Cylinders - very easy to do, can be learned in 10 minutes. All you need is a couple of locks to practice on. I should also mention that rim/mortise cylinders are exactly the same when it comes to disassembly.
Key making by Hand and Code Machines - you can learn the basics of impressioning and copying keys by hand very quickly, again it's all down to practice... and as I said before, that's something the course won't provide much (if any) of. As for code machines... depends on the machine, but they'll probably teach you how to use the most common/recent models. If you're gonna be working somewhere that has code machines, it takes 5 minutes for someone to show you what to do. If you buy your own machine, there will be a freakin instruction manual.
Rekeying of Locks, Pinning Kits - not hard to figure out when you know how locks work and have some experience taking them apart and reassembling them. If a customer wants a lock rekeyed it's cos they want it to work with another existing key, ie. they don't want seperate keys for 2 different locks. All you have to do is strip the lock and repin it according to the depths of cut on the key (which you can do by measuring or trial and error + guesswork). Again, practice is the biggest factor in this.
Key Decoding and Duplication - see above.
Identify key blanks and cut keys - this comes from working with lots of different locks and keys, anyone who is really into locksport and has been for at least a few months will know more about key profiles than you'll learn in that course lol. It's a good idea to get ahold of the most recent (or even an old) davenport burgess catalogue... I'd like to think they include a copy for the price of the course, but I doubt they do.
Operate Key Machine - I think I did key machines already lol. There are 2 main kinds, code and trace. Both can be learned very quickly.
Measure for accuracy - I'm assuming this is to do with keys you've copied. Put it beside the original and use your eyes, goddamn.
Maintain Key Machine - cleaning and general upkeep of key machines doesn't need to be taught.
Lock Coding to Existing Keys - same deal as what I said about rekeying. That's 3 things now in the list which are essentially the same thing!
General Lock Servicing and Repair - all you gotta do is ask any locksmith here what the most common problems are and how to fix them and they'll gladly tell you.
Lock Functions and Finishes - ok seriously. What.
Impressioning of Locks - Mentioned this already aswell.
Picking and Raking Tools and Methods - same as the very first point. Any lockpicking guide... and same as most things, this is more to do with practice. Even if they have you picking a solid couple of hours every day for the whole week you still won't be awesome at it. You don't need the course for this at all.
ITL Code Machine - can't comment on this because I'm not familiar with it, so I don't know how complex (or not) the machine is.
Computerized code software - this would definately be useful to get to grips with.
Code Books, Depth Key Sets, Try-out Key Sets - once again, you can learn this on your own very easily.
Key Reading, Wafer Reading, Progressioning - I don't even know what progressioning is, so chances are you're not gonna be doing a lot of it. Can't hurt to learn though, whatever it is
Basic Masterkeying Formula and Set-up - handy to know, but you can learn the basics on your own.
Advanced Masterkey - realistically speaking, you'll never deal with advanced master systems.
Panic Hardware - common sense and a little research is all you need to learn about this.
Door Closers - easy to install. Teaching you about upgrading security as a whole would be better than a brief mention of door closers.
Installation of Locks - this is easy as pie, all you need to remove/install any common lockset is a screwdriver.
Basic S & G safe combination lock service - pretty sure you can look this up on the internet all by yourself. If not, any lokie here will be more than happy to assist you.
Perimeter Security - oh look, something about upgrading security. I retract my statement about door closers. Actually no, because this stuff is actually all common sense stuff like security lights and keeping hedges/fences low and othersuch things.
Access Control - not sure exactly what they're gonna cover with regards to this, but it isn't really complicated... whether it's mechanical or electronic, it's the same deal.
Maintaining Key Control - common sense, folks!
Lock-outs created by vandalism - I'm assuming this refers to superglued locks. Drill the fucker and replace it, case closed.
OK, so in short... everything you learn in that course you can learn by yourself or with minimal assistance from sources online. 90% of your learning actually comes from practice and experience, the course is only a foundation. A massively overpriced one, at that. I'll put it this way... if you do that course and spend a year afterwards actually putting the stuff into practice and learning it properly, you'd come to the realisation that you'd have learned the same stuff all by yourself.
They will think you're a natural. 
