by nostromo » 31 Jul 2010 23:13
You're not going to like this response but here goes:
So much of the skill is tactile and psychomotor that you really need to use a particular tool or technique with a wide variety of locks and in different situations to see if it works for you. Experience in other words.
I worked for an impatient locksmith in his eighties who would grab whatever was on the bench (sometimes just a bit of wire) and pick open something that had been devilling me for a long time. But he'd used almost every tool around and spent a lot of time with them.
The best recommendations from others that you can hope for are quality of design, materials, and construction. And maybe an assortment of folks with actual handson experience (not just hearsay or opinion) with the particular tool in question about performance. Like car shopping. Yeah, you can get specs and reviews from all over but you won't know if it's the car for you until you put your hands on the wheel and drive it awhile.
That's the reason for my tagline, btw. You have to try the tools yourself - then be willing to put a lot of tools aside for special applications. Or even as trade stock. There is no one set or technique that can handle all tasks equally well - some are better than others.
So get yourself a set and try them for awhile. If it doesn;t work out for you, trade them for something else.
And enjoy the experience!
