Quality Padlocks?

[Rhyolith]

All the ones I find in shops seem to poor quality with rough mechanisms and vulnerability to damage, in particularly decay such as rust. I do use them outside, but that is what the ones I have use have been advertised for... so no excuse really :? I have tried Master and Squire, which seem to dominate the market and have not been impressed with the survivability of either.

Are there any good manufactures of Padlocks?

 

[NazNomad]

ABUS make some nice ''marine grade'' locks. The weather don't mess with 'em.

 

[novocaine]

as said, ABUS.
Masterlock are considered a joke in most locksmith circles, you can genuinely open them with a stick.

Yale are ok, as long as you get one that is actually yale and not a rebranded something or other.

squire don't show up much but are on par with masterlock these days.

heres a waste of a few hours (or days) if you are looking at locks.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp1orO ... AvckyxC4Nw

 

[Duncan A]

Although this is a cheap Squire, I find this type far more reliable than the snap-lock type:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/squire-440-ol ... 18mm/4419g
Had one outside for 7 years now, no problems at all.

And, remember - DON'T OIL PADLOCKS - all it does is wash the grease out. If they have to be lubricated use a proper lock lubricant or a nice sticky anti-fling bike chain lubricant.

Duncan

 

[novocaine]

Although this is a cheap Squire, I find this type far more reliable than the snap-lock type:
http://www.screwfix.com/p/squire-440-ol ... 18mm/4419g
Had one outside for 7 years now, no problems at all.

And, remember - DON'T OIL PADLOCKS - all it does is wash the grease out. If they have to be lubricated use a proper lock lubricant or a nice sticky anti-fling bike chain lubricant.

Duncan

I find that type can be opened with a quick blow from a hammer, or cut with a pair of crims snips without much hassle though, so it depends if you want long life or security from your padlock.

if you want to piss off a lock smith grate a pencil into oil and fill your lock with that. it'll last forever but you'll have black hands everytime you touch it.

or use white grease (spray type) instead, it's dirt cheap and nothing shifts it (look at the door hinge on your car)

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

+1 for ABUS. I've used them on my motor bike for years and still going strong.

 

[Cabinetman]

ERA are quite good quality but as I have found in the past it's all down to the hasp, even hardened ones can be chopped up using long long handled bolt croppers, have a look on building sites where they have steel shipping containers to store valuables. You will find that the padlock is hidden inside a short section of steel pipe that is welded to the container door this prevents the jaws of the bolt croppers getting to the hasp. Sorry I don't know what's available to buy, you may have to have something fabricated up.

 

[Sheptonphil]

if you've finished paying the mortgage there is always Abloy, this baby http://www.abloylocks.com/proddetail.ph ... 2-Padlocks for only £166.80 (but that does include VAT)

We had a keyed suite from Kaba and the 15 padlocks there totalled well over a grand.


Phil

 

[No skills]

Cisa 285 range.

 

[Homers double]

if you've finished paying the mortgage there is always Abloy, this baby http://www.abloylocks.com/proddetail.ph ... 2-Padlocks for only £166.80 (but that does include VAT)

We had a keyed suite from Kaba and the 15 padlocks there totalled well over a grand.


Phil

+1 for the ABLOY padlocks, I've had some ASSA ABLOY padlocks on my driveway bollards for over 15 years, regularly treated with powdered graphite, they were about £80 each back then, I didn't mind the cost as they are protecting my trailer.

 

[n0legs]

We use the Yale CEN4 high security padlocks for substations.
I've got people cutting through doors, hasps, keepers and bolts before they attack the lock :evil:

 

[Bod]

Little bit of practise first.
https://www.reddit.com/r/lockpicking/co ... ock_ne14h/


Bod

 

[novocaine]

I forget regularly when I pick up a padlock, but the only person who's going to SPP or even rake out a lock is a locksmith (or me because I'm board and it's cold outside), a thief is more likely to smash it with a rock.
so for me, order of wants from a lock are:
concealed shackle if possible then non vertical loop i.e. if you hit down on the top of the body it isn't pulling the shackle out.
hardened shackle and depending on design, body.
heavy duty body
2 sided detent
key way and key type
number of pins
shielded

the abus 83cs is a cracking lock that does most of these but I'm also rather partial to container locks (sliding shackle) because they are so awkward to get at.
I avoid combination locks like the plague.

 

[Rhyolith]

Thanks for the suggestions. Honestly I am not that bothered about security and I think really secure locks would be a bit futile without better bolts and so on to attach them too, may consider this for my workshop sometime if I have more money

I really just wanted something that was better quality and didn't jam.

 

[Rhyolith]

And, remember - DON'T OIL PADLOCKS - all it does is wash the grease out. If they have to be lubricated use a proper lock lubricant or a nice sticky anti-fling bike chain lubricant.

Duncan

This was useful, I have sprayed a lot of my existing locks with bike chain lubricant and they are much better, least in terms of smoothness!

 

[Rhyolith]

Bought this second hand, mainly because it looks nice :roll: but it seems well made relative to the other locks I have. Anyone know what "KMD" is?

Brass Yale Padlock by Rhyolith, on Flickr
Brass Yale Padlock by Rhyolith, on Flickr

 

[bugbear]

Bought this second hand, mainly because it looks nice :roll: but it seems well made relative to the other locks I have. Anyone know what "KMD" is?

Very pretty.

Given the uneven spacing, I would guess KMD is the owner/purchaser of the lock, and (s)he
used separate letter punches.

BugBear

 

[novocaine]

could be the key holder or the locksmith that sold the lock, that was pretty common practice up to the 70/80s and they usually marked them.

looks to have been engraved not stamped which makes me think a locksmith as they usually had access to engraving equipment too.

 

[BearTricks]

I have an ABUS one that kept my shed from being broken in to a couple of years ago. I bought a few cheap ones from The Range which all ended up at various levels of rusted and I had to break in to a few of my own doors at one point.

The ABUS one is in the loft at the moment so I couldn't tell you which model it is. I think it cost about £12 on amazon or ebay. It has a blue cover to prevent water getting in to the mechanism, but I'm not sure it actually needs it.

Edit: Interestingly, I was listening to a program on locks the other day and I learned that Yale sell 95% of all the locks in the world. Despite this, the vast majority of Yale locks can be broken in to by anyone with a basic lockpicking kit and half an hour's worth of training online.

 

[Rhyolith]

Yeah I bought a master one with such a plastic cover, supposely for boats and so on... it still rusted after a couple of months -_-