Thomas Thill, Transponder City
Automotive locksmith Thomas Thill has a long history of working with Gale Johnson on many projects over the years and passing along automotive knowledge every month. Both based in the Chicago area, Gale and Tom worked together on a number of detailed, how-to projects.
Thill credits Johnson with helping foster “The passion of locksmithing that we both shared I now share that feeling with Phil from framon manufacturing We both talk about him still. Thanks Gale for your life experiences.”
Thill is a Locksmith Ledger contributor and his latest project involves push keys, which enable locksmiths to decode cylinders and cut keys for automotive locks without taking apart the lock cylinder. A push key is a marked key blank that has a tiny notch cut into the tip at various depths depending on the keyway. When inserted into a cylinder that has wafer tumblers, the notch makes contact with a wafer or not depending on the wafer’s depth.
Thill has used push keys for decades and has made and sold the tools to locksmiths on an individual basis. Now, through a relationship with Framon Manufacturing, Thill’s taking his method for decoding automotive wafer locks to the masses.
