Professional locksmiths spend years of practice perfecting their craft. They encounter all manner situations in their daily activities. These range from jammed locks that refuse to spring open, to situations where someone has lost their key and cannot get in.

Unless you are a professional locksmith with the requisite experience and appropriate tools, trying to spring open a jammed lock is not advised. In most cases, the more you try, the worse the situation gets.

Professional locksmiths understand that springing locks open takes skill as opposed to brute strength. One also has to be patient when picking locks or freeing stuck keys. Besides, having the right tools makes the work easy and faster. This notwithstanding, you can have all the right tools and still fail to spring open a jammed lock. The following tricks that locksmiths use could be useful.

1. Make Sure You Have the Right Key

This may sound like a no-brainer, but you will be surprised how many lock problems are a result of using the wrong keys. Always make sure you are using the right key before you attempt to spring open a jammed lock.

2. Evaluate the Problem

A professional locksmith will not immediately start wrestling with your jammed lock. They first take their time to inspect the lock to establish what sort of a lock problem you have. Understanding the type of the lock and the condition it is in is an important first step. For instance, an old, dirty lock may be difficult to spring open since the tumblers could have weakened over time. In such a situation, careful use of appropriate tools could increase the chances of prying the lock open.

3. Lubricate the Plug

Before attempting to spring open a lock, thoroughly lubricate the plug with an appropriate spray. You should use a rake pick to lubricate the tumbler. The next step will be to insert a tool into the keyway and exert just enough tension to avoid weakening the springs while leaving the pins intact.

4. Scrubbing

Scrubbing helps to lift the pins (usually four or five) in the lock. This is normally what happens when using a key to lock and unlock doors or locks. Scrubbing involves pushing the lockpick past the first pin and all the way behind the pins. This process can be reversed by pushing the back pin (usually the fourth or fifth) before pulling the pick forward. You should alternate between a lighter and stronger tension in order to set the pins. This skill involves ‘feeling’ the pins set and understanding how to set them in the appropriate order. This could be back-to-middle, middle-to-front, etc. This skill is highly important for a locksmith and is acquired after considerable experience with various types of lock problems.

5. Jiggling

This involves inserting a pin into a lock and jiggling it. However, the tension has to be just enough to set the pin. Once the pin is set, stop the jiggling and move on to another section of the lock. This should sort out your lock problem.

6. Make Sure the Deadbolt Is Properly Installed

If misaligned, adjust and properly position the deadbolt against the strike. You could use a file to widen the strike hole or just remove the strike using a head screwdriver before placing it on the jamb.

7. Remove the Plate or Buy a New Lock

Removing the whole plate covering the lock and retightening the screws could just solve your lock problem. If this does not work, a replacement would.

Dealing with a lock problem is an intricate affair that you should leave to a locksmith. However, if you have to do it yourself, one or a combination of the above tricks should work.