IN the ancient times the knights of Englands grandest castles were secured with rod iron, cast iron and further fortified with brick, stone and concrete. For centuries fortresses like this in England stood strong among decades of attack. Part of England’s success in conquering the world is that they hand some of the best blacksmiths of their day. Everywhere that you turned in ancient England there was a blacksmith forging steel to make muskets, knives, swords, tools and of course the good ol fashioned padlock. Out of the blacksmith trade grew the locksmith manufacturing industry. The locksmith was a specialty trade all of its own.
Now can you imagine browsing an old English market in the 1400’s in your tweed overall’s? As you skip through the market you sample the finest foods of the day; oatmeal, bulk grain and range chicken. Yummy! The day is so great. You hum a happy tune to yourself. Then all of the sudden the market square gets involved and everyone starts dancing. la la la It is a wonderful sunny day in 1400’s England!
After getting a tooth pulled by the local dentist/hat maker and a quick trip to the pharmacy for the morphine needed to calm the dry root socket. Today started great, but now the hum is over. Until 5 days from now and a quick abscess jaw. So, give this story a few days and it gets better.
…7 days later (took a little longer)
Now down the corridor to the back side of the castle courtyard where the sewage is collected there is the blacksmith. The blacksmiths shop smokes of coal, soot and iron smelting. The blacksmiths are large burly men. Fresh water is pumped in from the source stream, not for the work of the blacksmith, but because they have to drink so much water. Alongside the blacksmith of course sits the locksmith. In most cases blacksmiths and locksmiths are related. Since the blacksmith shop is such a huge source for metal the locksmith is close by to keep their stock of small custom made lock parts ready to be pounded into shape.
There was virtually no evidence of locksmithing in Houston Texas until the Mexicans thought that they could conquer Texas. They were drinking way too much at this time (bad joke). Ha! I enjoy all cultures and countries as all should. *Disclaimer! Ha!
But the story really is true. There was no evidence of locksmith services in Houston or even blacksmithing. The Native American’s in this part of Texas for centuries used stones and leather weapons for hunting. They were such a peaceful people. They had adobe houses much like what you see in the really poor parts of Mexico these days.
Just think about the first business entrepreneur who came to Houston and thought that he would start up a locksmith service. The Native’s probably that that this person was out of their minds! But none-the-less locksmith services in Houston did eventually pop up all over the geographic area into what you see here today. Every where that I turn I see another locksmith van zipping around the community assisting people with their locksmith needs. Just be careful before hiring a Houston locksmith because you need to make sure that they have the skillset to help your cicumstance correctly.