May 09--COLUMBUS -- If there's one thing Craig Melliger has learned after more than three decades as a locksmith, it's to expect the unexpected.
"It's been strange for many years," said Melliger, who started his business in 1976 after buying out a local locksmith.
Melliger, who works out of a shop at his 2609 32nd St. home, knows a call for help can come at any time, but he's never really sure what that will entail.
The master locksmith has been flown more than 100 miles on a small, personal aircraft for a job. He's responded after an Omaha woman accidentally flushed her pickup keys down the toilet in Columbus or pet passengers unexpectedly hit the automatic lock button. And Melliger has taken car doors completely apart to unlock the vehicles for flustered drivers.
There's really only one thing about each call to unlock a vehicle, house or business that remains the same.
"A lot of people feel bad when they do it."
A self-taught locksmith, Melliger doesn't exactly recall why he ventured into the trade. It was likely the result of a television advertisement, he guesses.
"I'm not really sure," Melliger said. "So many people ask me that."
Over the past 36 years, he has established a reputation for fixing the unusual and unique.
Melliger has worked on antique vehicles, assisted a man who drove all the way from Minnesota to get a key blank for his motorcycle and once made a new spring for an old flintlock gun.
"You don't see that every day," said Melliger, who still uses the same key-cutting machine he purchased in 1976.
At last count the scruffy locksmith had collected around 8,000 keys, but that was a few years back.
"I don't want to count them again," he said. "I'd hate to think what I've got now."
Customers, though, love the collection.
Melliger has held the key needed to open a 125-year-old lock box and 80-year-old steamer trunk. Other keys go to old Singer sewing machines and clocks.
"I've got a lot of strange keys that people say aren't available," said Melliger.
More frequently, however, he's cutting key blanks or replacing locks to open vehicles, file cabinets, safes and other common items.
These calls come in day and night, whether it's 100 degrees outside or 25-below.
Melliger stays busy, but "I'm not a millionaire," he said. "I'm far from that."
What he does, though, is priceless for those staring at a locked door with no keys in sight -- however it happened.
Copyright 2012 - Columbus Telegram, Neb.