How many pins did you start with?

[Bladen]

I've read the practice tips and can clearly see why working up in the number of pins you pick could be of benefit.

Just out of curiosity, how many pins did you start with?
And what locks for that matter?

Thanks in advance,
Bladen

[vienessewaltzer]

I started on a 5-pin kwikset deadbolt. If you start on something like that, removing pins isn't necessary in my opinion. You'll get the feel for the pins if you just play with it for a while. I got that lock within 5 minutes of ever picking up a torsion wrench and half hook. It may be better for some to get the feel of picking individual pins if you start with one or two, however. I just didn't want to strip the lock down and kind of guess and checked on the lock. I also did a TON of reading about different locking mechanisms, lock picking theory, and watched a bunch of videos that showed different picks on different locking mechanisms in 3D recreations BEFORE I ever picked up a pick. Not saying that I'm a great locksmith at all considering I think I have a list of about 10 locks so far that I've picked as opposed to the many other, more experienced, pickers here have probably picked way more than me, but I think I'm off to a good start. It's all what feels right to the person starting I guess.

[Bladen]

Outstanding!

Thank you for your reply.

Anybody else?

[chaos4zap]

Lockpickersmall sell's a "you tube practice kit"...that's what I started with. It come with 6 cylinders (3 kwickset and 3 Schlage keyways) and one of each is a cut-away so you can see what's going on inside. You can also remove the top's to the core and remove pins/re-pin...but I never did even when starting. It also comes with a stand to hold them while your picking. I'm sure other sites sell similar set's so you might want to look into something like that. It worked for me. I especially think having a cut-away was crucial to my progress and matching up what you "feel" with what is going on inside the lock.

[raimundo]

one pin is a no lock at all, and two pins is a no brainer. At three pins you have an effective lock, I have seen medeco keys that are three pins, not high security, but still a good lock, those keys were all made for IBM company.

You can start right out on a master padlock #3 or #1 or some of the other master locks, these all have four pin cylinders in them and are easy picking. Learn to look at a key and know how many pins a lock has in it, there are some higher end master locks that have five pins and they may even have a six pin lock, im not sure.

Your problem and every newbies problem is to give up on the idea that more force is better. and don't even get the idea that its about making pins stick after pushing them up.
All this leads to heavy tension which can actually pick a few of the cheapo locks but the heavy handed ness will be your biggest problem,

You have to learn light tension, pulsed tension, and slow tension release, that last one is about the pin that is bound above the shear line and the lock finally opens when you are slowly releasing tension, with a little bit of pulsing as you do it.

So, yeah, I agree with the vienna walzer, with certain easy locks, you can jump right in there and have some early success, then you have to get past the part where you are tempted to use too much force. As I said, too much force can actually work sometimes, but only on bad locks, so you will have some success with too much force, TMF Lets just abbreviate it.
This will be the biggest obstacle you will encounter while learning. You cannot change the locks fundamentally, but you can change your approach to them, its you that has to change and understand, the lock will not yield to threats, only to seduction.

[dls]

Fourteen lever Chubb Lips

[spooky]

Just started with a regular 5 pin lock. But I see value in starting with 2 pins and working your way up. My start was raking and jiggling. My skill at single pin picking would have come faster if I had started with less pins and could really feel what was happening in the lock.

1 pin...seems useless. 2 or 3 pin, I think that's a good place to start.

[shadow11612]

I have a couple of American 5200 padlocks with only one pin in them. One has a spool pin and the other has a serrated pin. Every so often, I will pull these apart and put a different "security" pin in them. I have also played with using different springs, even putting in 2 springs. I do this just to play with setting the security pin. I will also vary where in the cylinder i place the pin, to get a different feel also.

[Phrop]

I also started with a 5 pin Kwickset then on to a no-name Kwickset knock-off. But now I have a challenge lock where I can easily change the number of pins and types of pins so I now plan on starting with one regular pin and working my way up from there. I have only been picking for a couple of weeks and am having a lot of fun with it.

[Marbles]

I started with a practice lock that had pins that were very simple to remove and change. When first learning I started on one pin and worked up to six, adding pins one by one. It sounds really tedious, but I also wanted to get the feel down as best as I could and increase speed. It's also a lot easier to figure out spool pins and the like if you can practice with just one pin starting out.

However, I can understand just jumping into 5-pin locks if you don't have a lock with easily removable pins.

[irate-turtles]

I started with 1 pin in a Defiant lock, but like most other people are saying on here, starting with 2 or 3 pins is more practical, unless you're just completely unable to get a feel for manipulating pins and using the right amount of tension.