The Boston Area has a lot of old houses with old original hardware. With many of these old residential locks beginning to show their age and have problems and failures- home owners are finding they need to be replaced. Locating parts for these mortise locks can be difficult to near impossible. Buying a new mortise lock of the same quality is usually very expensive, as the hardware alone can cost $600 and often times more. The most cost effective and durable replacement is usually to modernize the door by installing a door reinforcement plate along with a commercial rated lockset. The attached pictures are of work completed in Somerville, MA. The work involved the replacement of a mortise lock that had completely failed, including installation of reinforcement plate and commercial entry lock. If you are experiencing problems with your locks, give Cityside Locksmith a call today- we can offer multiple fixes, advise and guide to the most appropriate solution.

Have you lost the keys to your Ford vehicle and tried calling the dealer only to discover that they will only make keys to cars that are less than 10 years old? Frustrating and unreal. But at Cityside Automotive Locksmith, we make keys to all Ford vehicles- whether 1 year old or 50 years old.  The procedure is fast, and we come to you. It entails decoding your car's lock cylinder, and cutting a new key. We will program the vehicle as well if the key has a chip. We stock Ford remotes on our vans as well.

Ford ignition lock cylinders are generally well built and long lasting. The exception to this rule would be the ignition lock used on the Focus for the models years 2000-2006. The ignitions during these years can frequently experience issues that manifest after years of inserting and removing the key on a regular basis. These issues include difficulty in getting lock to turn, inability to get the lock to turn, or even a key getting stuck with the lock unable to be turned all the way to the off position.
These problems are due to a combination of low quality wafers (tumblers) and heavy use of the lock, such as frequent on and off of the lock, or heavy key rings hanging. If we are able to turn the lock, it can be repaired good as new. If we are unable to turn the lock cylinder, then it needs to be drilled for removal; and a new ignition lock cylinder would be coded to the existing key and installed. If the key also appears to be excessively worn, we will sometimes recommend that a new key be issued, cut onsite and by Ford specifications- to prevent premature wear of the new internal parts or the replacement lock cylinder. Cityside Automotive Locksmith serving Greater Boston is very familiar with this issue and competent in properly resolving the issue. Our prices will be much cheaper than what the dealership charges, and we come to you!

At Cityside Locksmith, we believe in being honest and fair. We will suggest alternatives that will be more practical and save you money. Many people may be unaware that locks can be rekeyed, saving on new hardware purchases and unnecessary expenditures, Rekeying a lock entails taking apart a lock and changing the internal pins, resulting in a new key being used to operate the lock. Its is a way to change your locks without changing the physical hardware, and is an option that is recommended in many different scenarios to solve security concerns or even add convenience to your life. You'll usually want to rekey the locks to your house or car because of a break-in, theft or act of vandalism. You may also wish to rekey your locks if you lose your keys, if you feel that too many others have copies of your keys or if you want the convenience of having one key operate all your properties' locks. We hope to assist you with your security concerns, and aim to impress. Call Cityside Locksmith today!

Cityside Locksmith feels it is important that anyone looking to hire a locksmith should be informed about the unfortunate reality that there are scammer companies to avoid. This is a long video, so below please find our summary of the important points:

• Scam type operations are heavily advertised and their listings are known to outnumber legitimate ads 100:1! It can make finding a legitimate company like searching for a needle in a haystack.
  
• Scam companies have very deep pockets and operate nationwide, overcharging by a lot. It is very difficult for a legitimate locksmith company to compete.
  
• The scam type companies will do anything to get you to call them. Their websites will often mislead you to believe that the service will be very inexpensive, advertising service calls or $15, and labor as $35 and up.
• Scam dispatchers will be unable to answer locksmith related questions or to give a flat rate price, or even a ballpark price. They will instead attempt to commit you to the service by rushing off the phone and dispatching a scammer technician, often lying and saying a technician will arrive 15 minutes.
• Scam technicians are taught to lie and deceive in order to charge high prices. They are dishonest and will force you into unnecessary services and paying too much.
  

At Cityside Locksmith, we are committed to operating a business with high morals. We care about our customers and would be happy to serve you!

We don’t really think about them too much, but keys are a part of our daily lives. Not only physical keys, but also the idea of needing a secure way to unlock something that is important to us. We need keys to access things like our home and cars, but even with possessions like our phone and laptops. You need a password, a key in a sense, to get into your devices. The concept of the key has definitely evolved over time, but where did it initially get its start?

6,000 Years Ago: Keys were first seen at the same time locks appeared, which was in ancient Babylon and Egypt. The small wooden devices used small pins, and a wooden toothbrush-shaped key would be used to lift those small pins and unlock the bolt. Unfortunately wood was not the best material, considering that it was not only bulky and heavy, but also easily broken.

700 BC: The next major evolution of the key came in Ancient Rome, where inventors were able to make major leaps and bounds upon the design of the wooden lock. Wood as a material was thrown to the wayside, replaced with iron and bronze, which allowed for stronger and smaller locks, as well as lighter keys.

Aside from materials, another drastic change was the shape of the key. It went from a flat structure with pins on the end to what we would call a skeleton key today., a cylindrical shaft with a rectangular bit at the end. This design continued to be used for 17 centuries after the fall of the Roman Empire.

1800’s: Linus Yale introduced modern flat keys in the 1800s, using a more sophisticated way of regulating the pins, which allowed the design of the key to change drastically. The flat keys were easy to manufacture, and with the invention of key cutting, they could be duplicated quickly.

Today: We continue to use flat keys today, although the process and mechanisms have become sleeker and provide greater security. Keys with magnetic signatures have also come into play, but are mostly used in hotels and office buildings. As mentioned before, passwords and thumbprint recognition can also be seen as evolutions of the key.

Keys have changed drastically over time, but the one thing that remains the same is their purpose. They are used to keep what we deem important safe, and that will never change. Here at Cityside Locksmith, we are just continuing to keep that history alive and well.

Source: http://www.historyofkeys.com/keys-history/history-of-keys/