Glass knobs, ornate escutcheons and mortise cases that have turned for generations deserve a locksmith who knows them. In Oakwood we clean, rebuild and re-spring old mechanisms, cut keys for locks that no longer have one, and match period-appropriate parts so the door keeps its face. The same crew covers York.
Open 24/7 · Oakwood
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Glass knobs, ornate escutcheons and mortise cases that have turned for generations deserve a locksmith who knows them. In Oakwood we clean, rebuild and re-spring old mechanisms, cut keys for locks that no longer have one, and match period-appropriate parts so the door keeps its face. The same crew covers York.
We are straightforward about time. A locksmith heading to Oakwood calls when he is on the way, gives you an honest sense of how long the job will take once he has seen the door, and tells you if something changes. Nobody is left watching the driveway wondering, and nobody discovers the visit ran long only when the invoice arrives.
Our approach in Oakwood is the same as everywhere else we work: listen to what the door is doing, look at the hardware and the frame, lay out the choices and let you decide. Then do the job tidily and walk you through the result. Homes, businesses and vehicles all get that treatment, whether it is a snapped key or a full commercial lock change.
28years in business
24/7open every day
Oakwood
The pages linked here cover each lock service available in Oakwood in the same plain format: the situation it solves, what the locksmith checks first, how he does the work, and how to care for the result. Pick the one that sounds like your door, then reach out to arrange a visit.
Business Lockout ServiceA cook stepped into the alley with the recycling and the rear door swung shut behind him.
Lock RekeyingThe whole key ring went missing somewhere between the grocery store and the bus.
Mailbox Lock ReplacementThe little brass key for your curbside mailbox was on the same ring as the one you lost at the gym last week.
Commercial RekeyingThe renovation is finished and the contractors have gone, along with the loaner keys they used for six weeks.
Commercial-Grade Lock ReplacementAt closing time the hookbolt on the storefront door catches the keeper only on the second or third try, and one employee has started giving the door a shoulder to force it home.
Car Key ReplacementThe fob went through the washing machine in a jacket pocket.
Spare Car Key DuplicationThe paperwork for the used car changed hands last week, and the previous owner mentioned, almost as an afterthought, that a second key never turned up.
Transponder Key ProgrammingThe new key slides into the ignition and turns exactly the way the old one did, but the engine only cranks.
Vehicle Lock RepairSince the last heavy rain, the front passenger door has needed two or three tries before the key catches, and moisture seems to sit along the seal right where the lock is mounted.
Lock RekeyingThe whole key ring went missing somewhere between the grocery store and the bus.
Deadbolt InstallationYou bought a keypad deadbolt online and pulled the old one off, only to find the hole in the door is a different size and the bolt latch sits at a backset the new kit does not list.
Lock Replacement & UpgradeSomeone tried the back door while you were away.
Vintage Mortise Lock ServiceThe brass knob on the front door of your century home turns, but nothing happens on the other side.
Smart Lock InstallationHalf the evenings someone asks whether the back door got locked, and nobody is sure.
Gate & Building Entry LocksThe padlock on the side gate has gone stiff every winter for three years running, and this year the key simply will not turn past the first few pins.
Mailbox Lock ReplacementThe little brass key for your curbside mailbox was on the same ring as the one you lost at the gym last week.Toronto, Ontario
2021 Census
About 58% of homes in Toronto were built in 1980 or earlier, according to the 2021 Census.
In neighbourhoods of established homes, keys have often been copied many times over many owners. Rekeying every exterior door to one fresh key is the common first job, and it works on old cylinders just as well as on new ones.
Single-detached houses make up about 23% of homes in Toronto (2021 Census).
Where most homes are apartments or condos, storage lockers, bike rooms and parking gates carry their own locks. A locksmith can supply and key padlocks and cam locks for those spaces so one household ring covers everything it uses.
High security
The new manager took over the shop last month and only now needs the back-office safe open, but the combination the previous owner was supposed to leave in writing never turned up anywhere in the handover file.
The keypad on the office safe blinks a low-battery warning every morning now, and whoever notices it first quietly hopes someone else deals with it before the batteries finally give out mid-week.
Sensible optionBusiness Lockout Service
WhyOn a commercial door the lock is rarely alone.
Sensible optionLock Rekeying
WhyOne key for the whole house is a common request and usually achievable.
Sensible optionMailbox Lock Replacement
WhyIn a condo or apartment building, a single failing compartment often turns into several once a property manager starts asking around, and this service scales either way.
Sensible optionCommercial Rekeying
WhyTaking over a commercial unit is the moment to make the locks yours.
Sensible optionCommercial-Grade Lock Replacement
WhyFor a business running several locations, this service is often less about one broken lock and more about bringing every door onto a single, manageable key or interchangeable-core system.
Sensible optionCar Key Replacement
WhyCar key replacement means producing a key that works your specific vehicle when the original is lost, broken, stolen or no longer recognized.
Sensible optionSpare Car Key Duplication
WhySpare car key duplication puts a second working key into your hand while the first is still around to copy from.
Sensible optionTransponder Key Programming
WhyTransponder-based immobilizers became mandatory equipment on new vehicles sold across the country from September 2007 onward, though many manufacturers had already been fitting them for years before that date.
Sensible optionVehicle Lock Repair
WhyWhich lock is affected shapes the whole visit.
Describe the property, the hardware and what has changed, and the visit starts from what you have seen.
01
Has it been forced, does it drag, who has had keys? Those answers tell us whether the frame, the cylinder or the key list needs attention first.
02
A box strike and three-inch screws into the studs, long hinge screws, and filled holes where the wood has split, before any cylinder is changed.
03
Doors open, doors closed, both sides, then a push on the locked door to feel for play. We finish by writing down what was fitted.
After last night's power flicker the card reader beside the clinic door shows nothing. Fobs do nothing, the electric strike stays locked, and the small brass override key that came with the system is in a desk drawer on the far side of the door.
Business Lockout ServiceEvery copy of your house key seems to work a little differently. One needs a jiggle, another sticks halfway, and the original wore down years ago. The lock itself is fine; the keys have drifted so far from each other that none fits cleanly.
Lock RekeyingAfter a winter of road spray and salt, the little lock on the mailbox door has gone stiff, then gritty, then almost immovable. Rust has crept in around the keyway, and the key barely turns anymore no matter how it is worked.
Mailbox Lock ReplacementThe renovation is finished and the contractors have gone, along with the loaner keys they used for six weeks. Trades, delivery drivers and an inspector all came through, and the front door still answers to the key that was passed around the site.
Commercial RekeyingA new tenant moved into the unit next door, and the property manager just found three different cylinders on three doors, none of them cut to the same key.
Commercial-Grade Lock ReplacementThe engine cranks, catches for a second and dies, and a small key-shaped light keeps blinking on the dash. The blade turns the ignition and the doors perfectly well, but the car has stopped recognizing the chip inside the key.
Car Key ReplacementThe proximity fob has ridden in a pocket for years, the range feels shorter than it used to, and a dashboard warning mentioned a battery a while back. Nobody has sorted out what happens on the day it finally goes dark.
Spare Car Key DuplicationEvery key that ever opened the car is gone at once, one taken with a stolen bag, the spare misplaced months ago and never replaced. There is no working key left anywhere in the house, the garage, or a coat pocket, and the car sits exactly where it was parked.
Transponder Key ProgrammingThe car came with a second key that grinds and catches in the rear door, unlike the smooth key you use every day on the front two. It eventually turns, but the roughness has been there since the day you brought the car home.
Vehicle Lock RepairYes, and usually without disturbing the access system. Many readers and electric strikes go dark because a power supply, breaker or backup battery has failed, and restoring power reopens the door. Where a mechanical override cylinder is fitted, it opens like any other lock; not every system includes one. An ordinary magnetic lock releases on its own once its power is actually removed, so a genuine power loss opens that door without waiting on a remote release. Afterwards, credentials and schedules are confirmed with whoever manages the system.
Yes, with your landlord's agreement, which is what the tenancy rules here expect before a tenant changes a lock. Most landlords are glad to consent when a key has gone missing or a former roommate has moved out, and the locksmith will want to hear that the landlord knows and will be holding one of the new keys. The rekey itself runs the same as for an owner, and a short note listing the doors done is handy to pass to the landlord.
Drilling is kept as a last resort, used only when the lock is seized, the key is gone, or an earlier attempt has already damaged the mechanism, and it is explained before it starts. The drill is aimed precisely at the lock itself, so the compartment door around it is left alone, and a new lock is fitted during the same visit so the compartment is never left standing open.
Rekey when a key has not come back or when the departure was unfriendly; when a key is returned and the register confirms it, the cylinders it opened are as secure as before. Businesses that want a response to every departure without a visit each time fit interchangeable cores and swap them in-house. Whatever the trigger, dealing with only the cylinders that key opened keeps the response proportionate.
It helps to know roughly what is on the door now, knob, deadbolt, exit device or something else, whether other doors on the property share a key with it, and who in the business can authorize the work and sign off on keys. Photos of the current hardware and any fire label on the door are useful if you can get them ahead of time.
It depends on the starting point. Adding a spare to a car with a working key is often the shortest kind of visit. An all-keys-lost job on a newer vehicle takes longer, because the car has to be opened, the lock decoded, the immobilizer reset and any security timer waited out. Milling a high-security blade and pairing a proximity fob add their own steps. The locksmith gives you a realistic window once the VIN and the situation are known.
Every door lock, the trunk or hatch, the ignition or start button, and any remote functions are checked with the new key on its own, apart from the original, so neither key is quietly helped along by the other's signal. The vehicle is started more than once to rule out an intermittent issue, and only once both keys pass independently is the visit considered finished.
It depends on the vehicle and what its factory ignition system supports; some older models can accept an aftermarket immobilizer and matching transponder key, while others were never built with a compatible module at all. This is worth discussing model by model rather than assuming either answer, since the mechanical side of an older ignition is often the easier half of that conversation.
The interior trim panel is removed using tools shaped to release its retaining clips without marking the panel. On many doors that exposes the cylinder, the linkage rod and the power actuator for individual testing and repair, though some doors keep a carrier plate, water shield or window guide in the way, or use an integrated latch and actuator assembly, and are worked on accordingly.
We are straightforward about time. A locksmith heading to Oakwood calls when he is on the way, gives you an honest sense of how long the job will take once he has seen the door, and tells you if something changes. Nobody is left watching the driveway wondering, and nobody discovers the visit ran long only when the invoice arrives.