Residential Hijinks

[Andara Bledin]

I spent the morning staying home. Due to a combination of lack of sleep and sinus issues, I wasn't up to going to work until later.

So, I'm heading out to my parking spot when I see a truck parked where a truck should not be.

For a little background, my apartment complex has many different buildings, each with a different address and a building number. Anyway, there is an alley that goes around the entire outside of the complex for parking access and walls around the outside to separate us from the apartment complexes behind and to one side, and a store complex on the last side. My building is one of the back corner ones, on the side with the store complex.

So, when I head down, there is this big gold F250 truck parked close to the wall at the back of the complex, about 50 feet from the gate between the two. Said gate has a lock on it.

The first guy out of the truck is about 6', portly, and has a white mustache. The second guys is a bit taller, younger, and is carrying a hacksaw. I find this to be incredibly suspicious-looking.

So, as I'm putting power steering fluid in my car before heading off, I pull out my cell phone and give the security management a call, letting them know where I am, and all the detail about what I've seen. They tell me that they'll have the car roll by and check it out. I thank them and hang up.

As I am getting into my car, the two men with the saw are getting into theirs. They had heard me describing them to the security people, and decided that maybe they didn't want to be there when the car rolled by. They certainly didn't finish cutting through the lock on the gate. The younger guy gave me the stinkeye as they rolled, too, making me even more certain they were up to no good.

I happened to see the security car heading into the alley as I was hitting the first signal out of the complex.

And the lock was still in place when I got home.

I don't know what they were up to, but I'm not about to let it go unremarked. Not when part of my lease includes an armed security patrol to keep the peace.

^-.-^

[protege]

Uh...they were going to use a *hacksaw* on a lock? Wouldn't a pair of bolt cutters be faster? But, it does sound like they were up to no good.

[marlovino]

Uh...they were going to use a *hacksaw* on a lock? Wouldn't a pair of bolt cutters be faster?

You know sucktomers have no common sense. All they have, which they so generously share with us, is non sense.

[crazylegs]

Having just tried to (lawfully) remove even a small, low security lock, neither would do much damage to the lock itself.

Trust me, I've just broken a considerable amount of kit trying!

[Andara Bledin]

I honestly have no idea what they were up to. I just know that they had a hacksaw, there is a lock on the gate they went to stand next to, and they left when I called security about them.

So, I chalk one up for neighborhood safety and return to my regularly scheduled games.

^-.-^

[Geek King]

Having just tried to (lawfully) remove even a small, low security lock, neither would do much damage to the lock itself.

Trust me, I've just broken a considerable amount of kit trying!

You're not using big enough bolt cutters then. I've used them for just such a thing (removing forgotten locks from lockers), and a good set will cut through the bar on a lock like butter. I was surprised the first time I did it, as I was expecting to have to really squeeze the handles together. I actually banged my knuckles together.

[zzapp the witch]

I got me an old set of No. 4's. They cut through ANYTHING.....

[Difdi]

A Recipe for Lock Removal (and Mayhem):

First, Go find a piece of old, rusty iron. Doesn't matter much what it is, as long as it's pure, or nearly so, iron. Using a metal file, remove a bunch of the rust and use a mortar & pestle (or just a couple rocks, if you're cheap) and grind it up into a fine powder.

Second, go to a thrift store, junk store, secondhand store, or what-have-you and look for an etch-a-sketch. After finding one, put it in a large, clear plastic bag and carefully crack it open. Use the bag to collect the resulting silvery gray dust.

Third, go find a sparkler. One of those little sparking things people like to wave around on the fourth of July, put on cakes, and so forth.

Fourth, mix equal amounts of the powdered rust and etch-a-sketch dust, measuring by weight. Exercise utmost caution after mixing them, with regards to open flames.

Fifth, take some modeling clay and form a ring around the metal part of the lock you wish to remove, shaped very much like a car tire, without the wheel. The idea is to hold the powder in place against the metal. Pack the powder in good and tight, leaving a small hole in the clay.

Sixth, using a long pole (at least six feet long, ten feet is better) with the lit sparkler attached to the end, shove said sparkler into the hole in the clay.


Note that local authorities take a very unfriendly view of this particular compound put to this particular use. But as field expedient versions of military incendiaries go, it's a fairly easy one to use, and nothing works better for removing padlocks. Just don't use it near anything flammable...such as paper, wood, skin, bone, soft metals, etc...

[blas]

I'd feel a lot more secure if I lived in an apartment complex that was secured entry or a gated one. Anyone and everyone can just drive and park in here. Especially with Tommy Lee downstairs and his drug dealing/prostituting/whatever, people coming in and out at all hours, you never know who the hell is around here.

[Broomjockey]

Note that local authorities take a very unfriendly view of this particular compound put to this particular use.

That's called a plasma lance, and they showed how to make one on MacGuyver back in the 80's, so it's been around a while, which means however easy it is to make, check local laws as merely creating it could be illegal in some jurisdictions, due to the uses to which it could be put.

I'd feel a lot more secure if I lived in an apartment complex that was secured entry or a gated one. Anyone and everyone can just drive and park in here.

Hate to break it to you, but anyone can still get into a gated community, as someone living there can just let them in. Those communities just usually have the resources to get people removed, and have some extra security.

[RetailWorkhorse]

A Recipe for Lock Removal (and Mayhem):

This gives me a truly horrendous idea.

If you see it on the news then you'll know I just blew up another car skeleton.

[XCashier]

Hate to break it to you, but anyone can still get into a gated community, as someone living there can just let them in.

Or, if the gate moves slowly enough, anyone who's fast enough can squeeze in after a resident enters. That was the case with our last apt in Phoenix.

[Geek King]

I got me an old set of No. 4's. They cut through ANYTHING.....

I'm not sure what size we were using...we got them on loan from the EMTs next door. I imagine they were rated for tearing car doors off, and the like.

[Difdi]

That's called a plasma lance, and they showed how to make one on MacGuyver back in the 80's, so it's been around a while

It's older than that. It's the preferred method of welding a broken rail road rail back together, and dates back at least to the 1880s (though the compound was a bit harder to come by back then).

[Broomjockey]

It's older than that. It's the preferred method of welding a broken rail road rail back together, and dates back at least to the 1880s (though the compound was a bit harder to come by back then).

Oh, I was aware of the possibility of it being older (80's Tv, something new? Pashaw! ), though I must admit, 1880s is a heck of a shock to the system.