Padlock and chain advice.

[aiden]

sorry got it wrong got the markIV

[Pragma]

Almax 16mm and 19mm chains are good; equivalent to our 16mm and 19mm. They are the only other company that makes decent chains in our opinion. Most other stuff is made in China and the quality is all over the place.

 

Yes, 16mm and 19mm are h-e-a-v-y, but entirely appropriate for chippers and nice trailers as they are so nickable. Most guys we know use a 13mm chain to lock up saws and other smaller items that are still quite valuable and nickable.

 

I've never been a fan of the Hardie anchor, I'm afraid.

[difflock]

Cordless Grinders, Dewalt, Metabo, Ryobi Cordless Grinder

 

As someone said, spend on intruder type alarms, or Mastiff type dogs, rather than expensive padlocks and chains, any one of these with a 1.0mm thick "plasma" disc will make fun of the hardest strongest metal.

cheers

m

[wrsni]

Sure the most of the buggers are that brazen now they'll just use a Stihl saw or set of burners anyway!

 

Our place is NEVER unattended, 24hrs every day. On the rare occasion that the whole family have to be somewhere I've a few mates from Belfast that I arrange it with and some of them come up and house sit.

 

Bit extreme maybe but so far it has worked.

[Mortimer Firewood]

I wander if the guys doing all the thieving sit round and argue who does the best angle grinding disk.

Maybe taking in to account noise amount of spark produced.

[Pragma]

Dogs: Yes. Better than virtually any other security (depending on the dog).

 

Alarms? We all know how much notice people take of an alarm going off, and if there is nothing that is forcing a thief to spend time releasing stuff once he's broken in, he can make a quick getaway with an armful of kit while ignoring the alarm. What is a neighbour going to do that will actually make a difference quick enough?

 

An alarm with a 'Master Blaster' type of siren does discourage them from spending time with tools etc, however. At approx 130dB it is bordering painfully loud so they will tend to scarper. Again, something to force them to use tools after the alarm (and siren) have gone off means they will hopefully then leave empty-handed.

 

I'd discourage mentioning specific discs etc as you may be educating thieves on a public forum.

[Robbo90]

Evening all

By all means buy a good chain. Lots of outlets sell chain that can withstand a nuclear explosion as well as a lock that can withstand 20 minutes with a 9” Sthil saw but the weak link is the lock internals. Maybe I am getting old and becoming a little anal with stopping the little bar stewards from nicking stuff that I have worked hard for…… But…… I will now search out a reputable lock smith that I can talk to and get my lock internals rebuilt with extra wafers and security pins and I never buy a lock now with less than 6 pins. The reasoning behind this is “LOCK PICKING” it is silent and someone with a little practice can pick a lock quicker than it takes someone to start a saw. Try it yourself. My understanding is that it is not against the law to pick a lock that you own. So you can buy a basic picking kit for about a tenner from the inter web and when you have seen some of the people on the tube channel you will frighten yourself with how easy it is. Just get a couple of old padlocks out of your shed and sit down watching the tv and I can almost guarantee within a couple of episodes of corrie you will have popped it open. Once you have done it a couple of times you will be wanting to borrow some old locks from your friends to play with. I try to site my locks with the key hole as close to a solid object as possible so the key has just enough room to enter the key hole but the lock cannot swing into a position that will allow a picking or tensioning tool room to work.

 

Maybe its overkill but I have heard of stories where the local low life have taken a couple of spanners to the front of a trailer, unbolted the towing hitch, slid the chain out of the gap between frame and hitch put the hitch back on the trailer then driven off leaving the unbreakable chain and lock securely bolted to the ground anchor, so I buy breakaway security nuts and bolt covers and replace a few existing nuts and bolts on my trailers with these……. Probably just overkill on my part but touch wood not had anything go walkabout lately

[Pragma]

Hi Robbo90, I'm afraid I disagree with most of your first paragraph, but agree with the second

 

In 10 years of running a security business we have not heard of a single case where scrotes have stolen something by picking a lock. Maybe thieves are different in your area, but we do a lot with the police and have spoken to many Crime Reduction Officers across the country, and I struggle to think of a single one that has ever said lock picking is a significant threat. That's not to say you should use a garbage lock, but on garbage locks there is usually a really rubbish shackle you can chop through more easily and more reliably than trying to pick them! Ask your local police CRO to find out what scrotes are doing in your area.

 

Sure, there are loads of videos on YouTube etc that show locks being picked. Very few of them are genuine when featuring decent locks (e.g. a good 6-pin lock, as you said, and preferably with a restricted keyway). Picking one decent lock repeatedly, especially when you've seen the key and are doing it in good light and sitting down comfortably, is much easier than picking an unseen lock when grovelling on the floor and worrying someone's about to catch you. Thieves don't want something that is time-consuming and hit-and-miss. They might get lucky and pick a lock in 3 minutes, but can they do it again? Whereas bolt croppers will do it every time in seconds on a lot of the chains out there, especially if the chain is lying on the floor (or is simply too thin for the level of protection required).

 

I would agree with restricting access and not just to the lock, but to the chain and the ground anchor, too. Make it difficult for the so-and-sos!

 

I'd agree with anything you can do to allow a chain to be used through a more solid part of a trailer. We would always encourage people to put a chain through something that is properly structural and that doesn't just un-bolt. E.g. rather than going through the front of an A-frame that isn't properly welded, how about going over the axle inside the suspension mounts? Many trailers have welded A-frames so the front of that is still secure regardless of whether the hitch is removed or not, but having a chain at the very front of the trailer may leave it quite exposed to attack, whereas underneath is harder for you but much harder for a thief to attack.

 

Beware that thieves do use devices that basically surround the whole hitch and allow them to tow trailers, chippers and caravans away regardless of whether there is a hitch lock. Likewise, wheel clamps are only limited use as thieves will sometimes tow anyway and allow the wheel clamp to disintegrate a mile down the road. It will wreck the wheelarch etc, but they can fix that later.

 

Shear nuts, wheel clamps, hitch locks, alarms and chains are all useful deterrents. Physically attaching items to something solid is one of the few things a thief has no choice but to deal with, somehow, there and then. We learnt that the hard way and chains and anchors are the main backstops we now rely on for our own stuff. We use alarms, shear nuts, hitch locks, cameras, etc as well. Every deterrent is a good deterrent

 

I hope that helps.