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A Blast From the Past and an Easy Fix

Historical Locksmithing

Some time ago, we were able to practice our locksmithing skills in a blast from the past moment. Undoubtedly, Cochise County is the home of many historical places and events. Located in the southeastern corner of Arizona, it features Cochise Stronghold, Fort Bowie, Tombstone and many other historical places.  Cochise County is indeed a fun place to visit. In fact, every year, many people do just that. In addition to all the historical significance, Local Locksmith was located in this historical county from 2003 until 2015.

Blast From the Past in Tombstone, Arizona

One day we received a call from the owner of the Crystal Palace saloon in downtown Tombstone. The owner said that they tried to clean Wyatt Earp’s roulette wheel but the case would not unlock. Since we always enjoyed visiting Tombstone, we unquestionably, scheduled a service call that same day.

The story of the roulette is interesting to say the least. It seems that Mr. Earp used to take the wheel out to the remote mining camps. Earp reasoned that the miners wanted entertainment and or course, he wanted their money. So Wyatt would load the wheel onto a wagon and take it to the mining camps.

Calling an Inexperienced Locksmith 

The owners of the Crystal Palace had mistakenly called another inexperienced locksmith. Unfortunately, the other locksmith was not able to get the case open and damaged it in the process. 

After borrowing a step ladder from the saloon owner, we inspected the lock holding the case closed. We examined the lock and determined that when the case was varnished, the lock face had been varnished too. Undoubtedly, the varnish acted like glue and kept the lock in the locked position. 

We used a pocket knife to remove the varnish and a lock pick to manipulate the lock open. The case door swung open and the owner was happy. In fact, the owner was so pleased with our service, that he bought the entire locksmith team lunch.

Clearly, it was truly an honor working on this interesting piece of history. This is especially true since it had been handled by Wyatt Earp himself. Also, we really enjoyed spending the afternoon in Tombstone.

Furthermore, the saloon owner was so happy with our service that he called us back at a future date to fix the Crystal Palace’s front door locks. But that is a story for another day.

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