ARCHIVE 2003-2013 Introduce yourself HERE if you are new. :)

[americanlockservice]

hell to all my name is jim i have been working in philadelphia for over 30 years as a locksmith. I hope i will be able to help you with my experience

[Cruiky1]

Alright people? Im new to the site although I have popped in for info in the past. Im a locksmith based in Oxford UK, dealing with anything from cabinet locks to Manifoils, Mersey locks, VDS, among others. Love my work and looking forward to participating in any discussion I can add to.

[Sherwood]

Hi All, fairly new to lock picking, been installing Architectural Hardware for just over a year, got the picking bug through the foley belsaw course. Mandatory where i work not the best course around, but a solid starting point, i think i will learn more here though, great site. Thanks, Sherwood.

[nightlybuild]

Just got in on lock picking yesterday and found you guys. Hope to be here for a long time.
;)

[jamesobrady]

Hi there,
Very happy I have found this forum...some great info here.

My own interest in lockpicking has come from losing keys to a Toyota corolla a few years ago...a japenese import that unknown to me had an immobiliser and cost a fortune to get a replacement programmed key. I wondered how could I learn to do that myself in the future.

And of course did nothing about it..... lol.

A few months ago I was caught waiting for a friend in his garage for an hour and was bored silly.
There was a padlock on his bench, among other detritus, and i decided to test out the youtube videos on lockpicking I'd watched..... lol-the things you do to entertain yourself.

There was a cotter pin and a hammer and some files nearby, so I fashioned a squiggly pick and a tension lever, expecting nothing more than to be entirely wasting my time.

An hour later, he arrived home, and I was grinning from ear to ear having picked the small padlock. He didnt believe I had picked it,and of course it was a feat I havent been able to replicate since and got bored with.

Last week I "lost" the one and only key to my immobilised Citroen Picasso....a day of cursing ensued until it was found. I spent that evening looking into do-it-yourself cloning equiptment from china....and trying to educate myself a bit about keys and codes and immobilisers and whatnot. There are plenty of folks nearby operating commercially that will clone keys, reprogram ecu's etc, but it feels like something I would like to be self-sufficient at.

The way I weight up self-education, is that if it costs the same(or not too much more) to buy the equiptment as it does to pay someone to do something one time, then thats educate yourself time.

So i went looking for forums...and found this one...and am very impressed by the commitment to sharing of information here. Isnt that what the internet is all about !

So my "interest" here, is to find guidance on lockpicking, impressioning, key making, and eventually auto locksmithing and the electronics of it, as that is where my main interest and professional life lies....Im an aircraft avionics technician by day, and hobby electronic-er by night :)

I hope to learn lots here, and hopefully find some way to give to the community here.
If anyone needs any help with anything auto electrical, please dont hesitate to ask/pm etc, and if I can help I certainly will.

Many thanks,
James.

[geckomage]

Hello, my name is gecko. I have always been interested in lock picking and made some of my own tools out of hack saw blades when i was about 12 on the grinding wheel (i've worked with tools all my life) and got fairly sufficient at picking simple tumbler door locks, or simple tumbler padlocks that require a key. Recently i have ordered my own set of nice tools and have had some great success with them so far. But i want to expand my knowledge and learn what you all have to offer. One question quick though, if anyone could enlighten me. There is a higher security lock my father put on his office door several years ago back at the house because he didnt want me in there and i was picking any lock around the house i could find. And now he's locked himself out of his office. I have gotten all the pins up to the shear line and gotten the inside cylinder to turn quite a ways (which normally means success and the door opens) but this one just wont move the door knob or the little metal thing (excuse my lack of vocabulary terms) that protrudes from the door into the door frame to act as a latch and keep the door closed. Could it be possible there is a safety pin somewhere in the lock that i must also push to allow me to fully turn the cylinder? i do not know what brand of lock it is. Thanks for your help!

[Kumorigoe]

Well, here goes...

I'm Kumorigoe. I live in Texas, and have been collecting locks and keys since about the time I started grade school. My collection at the moment is small, and I would very much like to enlarge it. However, I also want to build on my understanding of just exactly how these devices are designed, how the operate, and how to bend them to your will.

My interest in security also extends to the world of computers, as that is probably my primary interest, and how I make my living. I've been working in IT for almost a decade, and security there is a hugely growing field.

I moved to Texas about fifteen years ago, and had to give up my picks, as at the time, they were illegal to possess unless you were a law enforcement officer or a locksmith. Several years back, they changed the law, and I just recently ordered a set of picks from TOOOL. I also was fortunate enough to be able to purchase an Abloy Protec PL350 off eBay. This will be my first "high-security" padlock.

I plan to be around here for quite a while, and I'm glad to be part of the community!

[Flannelbear]

Hello everyone I'm new to this forum, I'm in need of a hobby and I thought lock picking sounded fun. I like the puzzle solving aspect.

[The Lock Artist]

Hi, I am new here but not to lock picking. My first and only set is a southord PXS-14 (Nothing too fancy) that I have had for a while. I am fairly good with it and can open locks pretty fast thanks to The Visual Guide to Lock Picking, which I purchased with my set. I have also done some impressioning on pin tumblers before and even picked a few higher security locks with serrated pins and such. I may buy a larger pick set soon, or some tubular picks, but for now I am fine with what I have. lol sorry for such a long post, hi everyone.

[bughouz]

Hi everyone,

My name is Bags, I'm 32 old male.

I just joined Lock Picking 101, and have never picked a lock.
I found this site while searching for lockpicks, decided to join because it looks like a good place to learn lockpicking ive ever seen.

[jdudzy]

Not too new here, I joined about a year ago but never signed this page. Started lockpicking about 15 years ago when my grandfather made up a fake locksmith business to order me my first set of picks I was 13. Been doing it on and off for the last 15 years but recently started getting into hobby picking. Looking to getting into some really difficult locks something that is a little more challenging then the standard pin tumblers with a security pin here and there. Open to suggestions.

[jdudzy]

And I've been into locks and keys since I was born, literally.

[krystal6481]

Hey all.. I've been interested in picking for a long long time.. about 6 months ago I landed on this site and started lurking.. I found it very informative for basic knowledge and didn't figure I needed the membership.. until a qestiong popped up in my head about a more or less advanced lock... currently seaching for the info..

I've so far created 2 picks (one is currently lost somewhere inside of 10 ft from me ATM) and 2 tension wrenches.. been playing with an old door lock for the past month, and only recently just trying to get a feel for the pins instead of blindly raking and stabbing...

[Huabtais]

I've always wanted to learn, but filed it away in the back of my mind. This winter I was at work one night (I'm an LEO) and had a 2 am medical alert call where we weren't for certain the victim was even in the house. Options were to risk destructive entry and possibly have no one there and a repair bill, or risk the victims health if she was there. I called the local locksmith as he lived about three blocks away and he ran over and picked the door in about two seconds, and didnt charge us a dime. Happy ending for the lady who had fallen down stairs and couldn't answer.

I decided it was time to learn, after all, I always wanted to and the locksmith made it look so stinking cool. So, I've been learning and loving it since December, lurking around here gleaming all I can. I finally made an account and decided to start participating so here I am.

[thefonz]

Licensed locksmith in N.C. New to this forum, but not new to forums in general.