I would like to dedicate this Blog to one of my mentors, Jack Keefe, who passed away in April. I have had five mentors in the locksmith trade, Jim Parker, Jack Keefe, Rich Keefe, Richard Rowan and Jerry Donaghy. Most of my professional standards for excellence and customer satisfaction come from the late Jack Keefe. I worked for Jack and his son Rich between 1979 and 1985 at their shop in Trenton, NJ. These six years were the most important and influential years of my locksmith career. When I moved to Florida and started working around other locksmiths it was clear to me my training was more thorough and well-rounded than any of my peers.

Gater’s Locksmith, Inc opened for business May 1, 1991 with some tools, 14 years of trade experience and zero capital. If I had not signed the contract for the Yellow Page Ad and the warehouse space I think I might have quit after six months of hardly any work and plenty of bills to pay. In that first year I learned the bills always arrive on time, checks for work completed, not so much.

I wish the digital camera was invented at least 10 years earlier. All during my career as a locksmith I have done many routine jobs. But several times a year I am called to do a job nobody wants, or nobody knows how to accomplish. It is in doing the near impossible you will find the true essence of the locksmith trade. I would have loved to recorded with photos many lock installation jobs.  I cannot remember everything, and often the perplexing installation issues at the present blot out any remembrance of past successes.

The “smith” part of locksmith means fabricator, engineer, inventor, designer and craftsman. Often I am asked, “How long does it take to learn to be a locksmith?” My answer is consistent: I don’t know, I am still learning.

I have earned two “Master” trade designations. The word “Master” does not mean “all knowing.” It means quite the opposite. “Master” means a person knows how to find the answers if he/she does not already know. “Master” means you are use to uncharted waters and welcome the challenge of a new experience. “Master” means knowing when to pass on the job, or pass the job on to someone better qualified.

Following are photos taken from very different kinds of jobs, but they are all part of calling yourself a locksmith. I hope to give the reader a taste of how diverse and complex the locksmith trade can be. Some parts of the trade I will not cover, like card-reader access and closed-circuit TV monitoring.

When I started the locksmith trade in 1977 a locksmith was expected to unlock your car, install locks in your house, master-key your business and open your locked safe. Those days are gone forever. Today’s locksmith finds a niche market along with the routine jobs and carves out a reputation for being the best at what he/she does in their region.