Cutters, Files, and Hacksaws

These instruments may have to be resorted to if a thief cannot pick a lock, but thinks he has the time to try these desperately slow methods for bypassing the lock. With a file or hacksaw blade the thief can try to saw through the lock apparatus; a pair of small wire cutters may also be useful for disabling some part of the internal mechanism. Usually, only reasonably small locks can be cut through in this way. It may also be possible for the thief to cut around a lock with a hacksaw blade.

Again, use of such instruments is often fairly noisy (although nowhere near as noisy as using a lock chisel). The main drawback to cutting through or around locks is that it takes a very, very long time. in most cases the attempt will be certain to succeed, unless there are special circumstances—e.g., the thief has only one small rusty file and the lock is a huge combination lock device!