Trouble feeling pins? simple pin feeling exercise

[Shrub]

Spurred on from another thread i had a very simple idea that may or may not help those of you who struggle feeling if you are on a pin or not or if you struggle knowing how much you should be pushing the pins up in the keyway or even if you just cant judge the spacing of the pins properly,

The pictures will explain it well enough but basically,

Remove the plug from the lock body,




Your now left with your plug and bottom pins,




Take some cellotape and put it over the holes on the plug,




Now you have a plug that can be held in a vice and manipulated, everytime you hit a pin you can see it move,
Every time you lift the pin up high enough to the shear you know what sort of height differance in the keyway a pick has to move to pick a lock,
You can lift the pins to shear and by putting a little more pressure on not unlike the setting of a real lock, the pin will stick on the tape and act as a set pin,
You can try differant binding orders,





You might like the idea or might not, its worth a thread just incase it helps one of you, you may like to try coloured tape to hide the pins or even an elastic band to better simulate the springs of the lock with a correctly moved pin showing as a dimple moving under the elastic,

It was only an idea

[fizzmahon]

thats interesting. would definetly help a beginner learn to feel distances within a lock. im going to give it a try just for the hell of it the next time i pop a plug out, which should be..... 2 minutes.

shrub how come you arnt on IRC?

[JackNco]

thats a novel idea the the VERY least. Could be cool for a complete beginner.

Im voting sticky... can i have a second?

[Fackifiknow]

Good idea. This is much more practical than those $100+ cutaways on a cheap mount many sites sell. Also easy enough that anyone with thumbs could do this.

[Shrub]

shrub how come you arnt on IRC?

I was on it as admin but it was pretty dead, it seems i got edged out as it was getting popular and im so busy that i didnt take up the offer of gogin back again and instead removed the chat client from my already full laptop,


As regards the sticky thing, im giving up stickying my own work as i now think its a bit cheeky,

[JackNco]

As regards the sticky thing, im giving up stickying my own work as i now think its a bit cheeky,

I guessed as much, thats why i said it. and drop by IRC some time, although it doesn't get busy till about 2am GMT.

[Knowthebird]

This is a cool idea. I would like to think that I already have that down pat, but I don't, so I will probably try it out tonight.

[riscphree]

Hey thanks for posting this, it actually helped with a lock I had laying around!

[quicksilver]

An older fellow I knew (in his 80's at the time) gave me some interesting advice. He was a locksmith and I was very interested in "explanations" so I asked him what pressure is used in feeling the pins set when picking.

He smiled at me and said every lock is different and I persisted and asked if there was a "general" range of pressure, etc, etc. I asked what was the range of pressure for a tension wrench, etc, etc....

He told me that when I could tell the difference between when an old Zippo lighter was empty and when it was filled with lighter fluid; that was the pressure difference in feel from the turn. I, of course tried it and thought nothing of it. Actually it sounded like some Kung-Fu type thing... I think I could feel a difference but didn't notice it to any degree. Some years later I tried the same thing and I notice a real difference of weight. But it is so subtle that when I think of that in terms of finger pressure I am impressed that it really is close to what I feel when picking.

Experienced older fellows have a LOT to say. When I first started picking I have come to realize that I didn't know what questions to ask. Today, I know very little but my questions are starting to get better.

[freakparade3]

I been going back to basics the last couple days, I used this exercise to practice high/low combos, It helped alot. Security pins stopped being a problem long ago for me, but the extreme high/low gets me. Thanks Shrub

[Claustrarius]

Speaking of high/low combos (I've searched and this is the first post that mentions it as a problem) I just bought an Abus 40/60 padlock a few days ago. I've spent about an hour a day trying to pick it and succeeded only once (and that was on the third attempt! Frustrating! I keep going back to my Cheapo Wickes cylinder that I've set in a board and I can single pin pick it in under a minute no matter how I repin it just for confidence as suggested elsewhwere). Looking at the key the final pin seems to be a very high lift and the pin immediately in front of it is the lowest on the key. It's a padlock and being a total newbie I don't have the know how or tools to crack the cylinder to see if there are any security pins in there that are complicating things. Listening to the lock as I release tension after picking for five minutes or so I usually hear four distinct clicks, though I can feel five pins (and the lock packaging agrees). I'm fairly certain I'm either not setting the back pin or (more likely from what I think I'm feeling) that in the process of setting the back pin I'm pushing that long low fourth pin up past the shear line and getting it caught. I'm using the cheapo Southord basic set (half diamond, snake, hook and ball [is the ball useful for anything? I can hardly get it to move in a lock even filing cabinet type wafers] with a single tension wrench). Does anyone have any advice on getting around this? I know it's possible to pick as I did it once but I wasn't concentrating on *what* I was doing at the time as I wasn't expecting to be able to open it at all (it's my first 5 pin padlock and I've only ever sprung a 3 pin, having failed miserably on two old four pins). If there's a thread about it out there that I've missed in searches please point me at it and I'll read to my heart's content. If not any words of specific wisdom (beyond Yoda's "Try not! Do!) would be welcome.

[quicksilver]

I'm using the cheapo Southord basic set (half diamond, snake, hook and ball [is the ball useful for anything? I can hardly get it to move in a lock even filing cabinet type wafers] with a single tension wrench). Does anyone have any advice on getting around this?

I used to think the ball was just a wafer oriented tool until I tried using it as a rake for some specific pin locks.

IF the pins are spaced wider apart than in a pin-set that is designed for conserving space (padlocks, small pin tumbler-types) like the older Yale commercial (picture the Y1 key design) the ball can be an effective "rake". The camming action will be smooth and fast provided the surface of the ball edge is smoothed and buffed.

Peterson offers a style of tension tool that is VERY useful for this whole issue. You can certainly duplicate the design but basically it's a "Z" w/ no twist and an assortment of tip sizes. Once you see the design; it may give you a big leg-up in getting around the typical "7" design of many tension tools.

I realize they (ball-style picks) were made for wafers, etc but they can "cam" quite well and a scrubbing action with one MAY yield results with pins that have enough space between them to respond. but the surface of the ball needs to be smooth as silk. the common stamping pick leaves a microscopic edge and a roughened surface on the ball that slows the speed and binds to a degree. I also think that many ball-picks are made too large but by cleaning-up the surface to a smooth surface will shrink the ball a few hundredths almost certainly. If you are good with a whett- stone and a buffing wheel you can turn most common picks into very fine tools. Most all picks (with some obvious exceptions) are stamp-cut and have an edge which should be cleaned up as it will eventually cut into the brass and make shavings, etc.

Moving from one pick to another can be very effective and fun. Starting with a raking-style action with one pick; maintaining tension and quickly picking up a spp hook has been productive for me with some locks.

[wadded2]

wow very helpful thx for that ive been doing that every night in the dark and it has helped me improve alot
great idea and thanks

[robin11]

wow very helpful thx for that ive been doing that every night in the dark and it has helped me improve alot
great idea and thanks

Agreed - Its really very helpful in improving skills

[illusion]

Nice Idea Shrub - Simple and effective.

P.S: Darn, I knew you'd beat DB on post count eventually.