Factory Locks is happy to announce the availability of the Accent Lever (F Series) in Satin Chrome (US-26D). Still the best selling lever of the entire Schlage line, the Accent lever has long been available in Satin Nickel (US-15), but recently Schlage as completed the finish offerings by including Satin Chrome.
Satin Chrome has shown tremendous growth in the past five years in the residential lines. Long a favorite in the commercial products, Satin Chrome is sought-after in the residential space due to its whiter and brighter finish; and Satin Chrome neutral color allows it to be paired in many settings. Please contact us a representative via phone or email for further details.

Do you have an architectural vision that needs Satin Nickel on one side and Antique Pewter on the other? Well what was once a complicated task is a bit easier. We're proud to announce that most items in most Schlage Series (F,FA,B,BA,A,AL,S,FE,BE) can now be ordered as split finishes or split designs.

Factory Locks does stock a number of common split finishes, mostly Bright Brass/Bright Chrome or Oil Rubbed Bronze/Bright Chrome, but given the large number of combinations, most customer requests are non-stock orders. The new split finish wizard addresses the needs of customers requiring split finishes for deadbolts, knobs and levers. The wizard (see video) also allows for split designs.

Split designs, like knob exteriors and lever interiors, can allow for a movement of styles and architectural designs within a structure, giving each space its own unique style elements.

Split finishes and designs still are a factory-direct order and generally take four weeks to delivery, but now can be coordinated with stock orders in a fast, convenient process.

Do you have a project where you need some of your locks keyed alike and others in a different way? The Advanced Keying feature on our shopping cart page will allow you to group locks and key them to your specifications. Locks can be keyed differently, keyed alike, master keyed, and a new feature, keyed alike in pairs.

The keyed alike in pairs feature (see video) allows you to group large numbers of locks like deadbolts and entry levers and indicate that they are to be keyed alike in pairs. The group records also contain key way selection, a notes area, number of keys required for the groups, a key stamp (if needed), and a master key selection.
When a group is selected to be master keyed, a master key record is displayed, allowing you to indicate the number of keys, a key stamp, a key structure name (in case you wish to added to the key structure in the future), and the number of keys required.

As in any case, if you have additional needs or questions, please email us or call us at 877-345-6257 (877-34-LOCKS).

Schlage will be increasing prices on nearly every item by 5 to 15% on February 25th. They are citing increased raw material costs, the weak dollar, higher transportation costs and higher labor costs. The items that will increase the most are those with Oil Rubbed Bronze (US-10B) finishes, which appear to be 15%. Most commercial items are in the 7% range.

Ives pricing and Stanley prices will not be effected.

Factory Locks will in instituting new pricing to coordinate with Schlage. We will be honoring old pricing on any orders received prior to Feb 25th.

Are you buying more and more on the web these days? Our partners at Google have given some thought to this and developed Google Checkout. Instead of entering your personal information at each web merchant, you can just do it once with Google. And with Google Checkout, your web purchases are fast, easy, and secure.

We've integrated Google Checkout into our site, so both new and existing Google Checkout users can quickly and easily make purchases, get their confirmations, and receive the shipping confirmation.

All you need to do is just click on the Google Checkout button at the bottom of our shopping cart page and your cart information will be send to Google and you can complete your purchase. It just that easy; plus your information stays on file with Google for your next Google Checkout purchase.

We've received quite a number of inquiries recently about bump keys and the use of Primus keys to defeat this threat. First of all, we should be aware that the use of bump keys is not new, they and other devices have been used by industry professionals for many years. What is new is the use of the Internet to advertise their use and the resulting media attention to the use of such devices.

Given the context that these things happen in, ultimately the news media's attention will move elsewhere, but the possible use of bump keys or other stratagems to gain access will still be available to those who wish to research these on the Internet.

So what is the current threat? Well first of all, bump keys don't work that well in most cases. As these devices are used, the amount of energy imparted to the cylinder pins is proportional to the pins position to the front of the cylinder. For instance, pin 1 gets jostled five times to pin 5's once. So your chance of catching a pin in the right position declines by 20% after the first pin. In our opinion, bump keys work best on cylinders that are keyed within a narrow range of numbers, like a cylinder keyed to 45564. Also it should be noted, that in our tests, they do not work as well as shown in the Internet. In fact they work so poorly, we're pretty sure the infamous YouTube video was rigged.

The news media has been quick to direct its viewers to Medeco and Primus key solutions. We'll restrict the discussion to Primus at this time since we are Schlage Dealer. The use of the Primus name by the media was as a generic term, for a key with a side cut that prevents it from being duplicated easily or bumped. In reality, Primus is the highest security key way that Schlage offers at this time and is well beyond the needs of the average home owner, since Primus is a restricted key way that requires end user certification. What is more appropriate for homeowners is an Everest key way by Schlage. This key way, also known as the C123 key way, has a side cut like the Primus, but does not require end user certification.

So now that you are overly informed, what can be done if you still would like a lock with an Everest key way? In response to your inquiries, we are offering the Everest key way on all A, AL, S, B660, BC160, ND and L series locks as a no-charge upgrade. All you need to do is put into the order notes on the shopping cart page that you want to order the above to be supplied with the C123 key way.

What about the F series or Accent Collection? Currently there are no solutions to provide Everest or Primus cylinders for B60, F, FA, FE and BE locks. They may be available in the near future for some of these items, but not at this time.

And what if you already have a BC160, B660, A, AL, and S? You can order from our site the 23-037 C123 key cylinder right now for these locks. Just enter the 23-037 in our search box and choose either the 606 (satin brass) or 626 (satin chrome) finish for your existing lock.

Also we should reference Schlage's response to this issue at this time as well; you can see read their position on this link: Schlage on Key Bumping