southord comb picks......oh boy...thoughts....

[Nismo-san]

they look pretty, they weren't to expensive, and i thought they would be easier to use but i was wrong....they are horrible. i cant get them into anything that actually has a key way that fits....i have a figure out a better way to use them. anyone have a modification or technique for these things?? im thinking about filing a ramp into the front tooth for ease of entry. anyone ever tried it??

another question.... there are a number of different combs on the set, anyone compiled a chart of pin configurations that corisponds to the picks? i searched and found nothing much about comb picks in general in this section.

[kromedge]

First off, you probably won't find much info as these are considered to be advanced (most likely because they are considered a bypass tool). Having said that, do a search and you will find at least one other thread on this topic. I actually bought a set from DX (not Southord) because I wanted to see what all hype surrounding these was all about and because they were rather inexpensive. My opinion: put your curiosity to rest and walk away from any notion of buying them because while the set I bought did work on several locks, it wasn't easy. For the time I spent with a hook feeling out the pins so I could use the right size comb (put the wrong size in and you could find yourself with a comb jammed in) I could have easily picked it open. Secondly, pushing up 5 or 6 pins up at the same time isn't exactly easy. Third, there is absolutely no joy or "eureka" moment when the lock opens as there is in traditional picking. As I said I only used them just to see what it was all about and that was close to 2 years ago. They now reside in a junk drawer in my tool bench and have no place with my other lock picks and personally (after trying them) cannot see why anyone who is serious about lock picking would ever consider having them. Just trying to pass on my experinece here so that people don't go out and waste their money because really, thats exactly what it is - a waste of money.

[deception]

Comb picks work well against locks that have unbalanced pin stacks. Locks with balanced pin stacks, comb picks won't work well, if at all even. They are kind of a novelty, a cool thing to have, but not a effective tool 100% of the time.

Stick to normal picks, and leave the comb picks out of your kit.

[Nismo-san]

i have to agree they are horrible. bought them and still have not found one lock to stick them in. i got suckered into the gimmick of it i guess.

[MacGyver101]

Comb picks work well against locks that have unbalanced pin stacks. Locks with balanced pin stacks, comb picks won't work well, if at all even.

Whether comb picks work or not on a particular cylinder does have to do with the overall height of the pin stacks... but there's nothing that would prevent a comb pick from working on a lock just because it had balanced drivers. (Sorry, I can't really be any more specific about bypass techniques in this forum.)

That said, I agree: they're a bit of a gimmick, and tend to only work on very cheap locks.

[scriptguru]

I used to have comb picks, then sold them, and now going to buy again.
Yes, you have to develop some skill to use them, but they can be handy for many cases. Try googling "comb picks" video to see some advanced uses of comb picks (like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5-hC2oBQG4 )

[raimundo]

comb picks were a tiny sensation several year ago in the european lockpickers community,
Euro locks are slightly larger in the upper chambers, (lower chambers actually considering they install pins down.
They also have stronger pin springs in them,

because of the standard size of the "bible" of pins some locks are mal=engineered leaving too much room for the entire pinstack to be forced into the upper/lower cylinder
I believe that the shape of the cylinders is a european standard and so all manufacturers have the outer dimensions exactly the same spec. while whats inside is possibly of different dimensions/keywayshapes etc. Comb picks only work on locks that are badly engineered.

the best comb is of course the michaud comb pick for multilock. which lifts the inner pins and leaves the lower tube pins auto picked, multilock patched this by drilling out the cap on the top tube-pin