THE SHOVE KNIFE

The shove knife (figure 1) is a forcible entry tool This is used for inward swinging doors (away
that is used in non-emergency situations. It it used from you) and can only be used when a stopped
on either inward or outward swinging doors that jamb is first pried away. This can be done with a
are secured with a screwdriver or other small
key-in-knob lock or a tool unless the jamb is a
spring latch. The rabbeted jamb. When the
most common jamb is out of the way simply
examples would be push the knife straight into
doors in stairwells, the latch, provided the
bedrooms, or offices. tamper pin is inside the
striker plate hole, or it does
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not have one.
This is used for Figure 1
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outward swinging
doors. (towards you) Insert the tool either above This cut out was originally used for older car door
or below the latch and place the cut out on the locks and has been left in the design as an option,
back side of the latch. With light pulling pressure or nostalgia.
on the door, work the shove knife back and forth A Rabbeted Jamb is a stop milled into a
to work the latch back into the door. If the latch wooden door frame or made as a part of a
steel frame.
is equipped with a tamper pin, (figure 2) you will
A Stopped Jamb is a wooden door frame
need to push the door in until you hear a click. with a separate strip of wood nailed to the
This is the tamper pin being pushed into the hole frame to stop the door from swinging through.
on the striker plate. If you cannot get the pin into Generally, a rabbeted jamb is used for
FIGURE 2 exterior doors and a stopped jamb is used
the striker plate hole, you will be unable to defeat for interior
the latch with the shove knife. doors.

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