Corner a locksmith in a conversation and more than likely you will hear an interesting tale or two. Jim Dixon will be at the trade 34 years come August, and he has experienced his share of unusual or remarkable work-related events.
Dixon is starting a new chapter in his business, as he has moved Dixon Lock & Key to 1121 Summer St. in Burlington. The location has changed, but not the phone number, (319) 754-4159.
The first 13 years of his business were spent in his garage in Biggsville, Ill., and the last 21 years the shop was located at 602 Jefferson St. in Burlington.
The influx of downtown residents created parking problems near his Jefferson Street location and inspired him to seek a new location.
"I still have my old customers, but I'm seeing a lot of new business," Dixon said.
His fascination with locks and objects with moving parts began during his childhood in Henderson County, Ill.
"I always wanted to learn to pick a lock, and to do stuff that was mechanical," Dixon said.
He remembers tearing an engine apart when he was only 12 years old, but can't recall if it started when he got it back together.
After graduating from Union High School in Biggsville, Dixon went to work for Case as an assembler in 1972. Eventually, his interest in locks returned.
"I enrolled in a correspondence course for locksmithing," Dixon said. "The more I got into it, the more interesting it became."
It took six months to complete the course, and later, he also took a correspondence course for servicing safes. Dixon opened his own shop in his Biggsville garage in August 1978.
He didn't mind learning from an experienced locksmith, as Dixon would hang out at Bill's Lock & Key in Burlington. Bill Palmer was the proprietor of the shop and a former Burlington police officer.
"He'd give me the jobs he didn't want to do," Dixon said.
Now it is nearly 34 years in the business, and Dixon has the experience and stories to prove it.
"There was about only three safes in 34 years that had a lot of valuable stuff that the people didn't know was in it," Dixon said.
In the 1990s, a family inherited a safe from a relative that couldn't be opened. When Dixon used his skill to open the safe door, they discovered more than $100,000 inside -- all in $100 bills.
In contrast, he went about opening the door of another safe, and the 50- to 60-pound door nearly fell on his toes. The owners of the safe had sawed the hinges thinking it would open that way and neglected to tell Dixon of the previous attempt. The only thing discovered in that safe was a membership to the Klu Klux Klan from Blandinsville, Ill.
On the comical side, Dixon was summoned to a Casey's convenience store in Knoxville, Ill. The store safe in the floor would not open after the combination was run. Dixon retrieved a dead blow hammer from his vehicle.
"I ran the combination and then smacked it," Dixon said.
When Dixon handed the store manager the bill, she complained, "that cost $300 to hit it with a hammer."
"It's $300 for knowing where to hit it with a hammer," Dixon said. "It took 34 years to learn this knowledge."
He continues his education by taking safe-opening classes through the Associated Locksmiths of America.
Some of Dixon's safe jobs require him to drill a three-quarter-inch hole into the door and push a camera scope inside to figure out the problem with that particular safe.
Being a locksmith, also means he's gotten a great many people back into their houses and cars. However, he used to do four to five a day, and now he may unlock a house or car two to three times a week.
One of the more unusual moments involving a key involved a couple eating dinner at the Olive Garden in Davenport. The couple owned a new Corvette, and the man threw his jacket in the trunk before dinner. Unfortunately, the key to the car was in his jacket.
"I got a call from roadside assistance," Dixon said on how the job started for him.
The couple informed Dixon they needed to get back to Burlington that night. They gave him permission to pick the lock on their house, retrieve the spare Corvette key and drive to Davenport to rescue them from their situation.
Most of Dixon's work involves making keys, and servicing locks and safes. A great deal of his lock work is commercial in servicing area businesses. For example, for a bank he might service the locks on safety deposit boxes, the teller drawers and the entry doors.
He still will get his share of people wanting to change the locks on their houses. And of course, he makes keys for anything and everything.
"You can always make a key for something," Dixon said.
Whether that something is a car, boat, motorcycle or a cabinet in the house.
Dixon Lock & Key stocks about 1,500 different key blanks. About 95 percent of the blanks are made of brass, while the remaining 5 percent are made of steel or aluminum.
Dixon has a computer program, which keeps a record of each master key. Once he's located the key he needs to make on the computer, he can put a card in a key originator that allows him to cut a key within a half of 1/1,000th of an inch.
Of course, he can make copies of keys supplied by customers. In some cases, the use of electronic card keys in hotels replaced some of his past business.
But on any given day, Dixon doesn't know what problem will come through the door. In a half hour on Wednesday, a young man needed a key made for a frozen door lock for a 1988 Camaro and an older gentleman required an old post office box bank to be opened as the combination no longer worked. Of course, it isn't anything Dixon hasn't dealt with before.
Copyright 2012 - The Hawk Eye, Burlington, Iowa
