frustration

[maxybaby]

hi all, great forum im really pleased i found you all. i am i newbie so be gentle. i would like to share my first experience of picking with you.
i bought a 22 piece pick set from southord and when it arrived i couldnt wait to have a go, so i found a rusty old ABUS padlock in my garage and set about it with my new tools. what followed was lots of frustration,annoyance and finally an hour later elation, i did it. id picked my first lock and was feeling really proud of myself. i tried again after some dinner and again i was triumphant, this time in only 20 mins, however the next time i tried i could not do it! frustration hit me and i ended up with some bent picks and three painfull blisters! it must have been a fluke the first couple of times. i thought that once i had done it i would be able to do it everytime but each time i tried it seemed different. it doesnt help having 22 picks to chose from. in the end i mastered the ABUS and moved on to a tri-circle chinese padlock. a week later and the beggar has got me beat. the first pin keeps poppin up even when i apply plenty of tourque it is confusing me no end. as i said before i am a complete novice and all i know is what i have gleened from the internet. im thinking of buying an electropick and some bump keys to make life easier. what do you think. thanks for reading my post and any advice is gratefully recieved.

[UWSDWF]

those make it easier but not nessicarly much fun....
just have paitence and have fun... read up on the guides and maybe try some easier locks.... FYI the tricircle has spools

man reading that if i didn't know better i would have thought you were describing losing you cherry

[RangerF150]

Forget about the bump keys and the electropick!
You seem to think that you should be able to open any lock within seconds, just because you have a pickset, not true.

Your gonna have to hold back a bit, slow down, go do loads of reading which you will find no shortage of material here.
Then practice , practice and more practice.
I have been at it for some years now, and have a collection of locks that I have spent hours working on but still cannot open. The collection is getting smaller, but not without some major effort on my part.

It's a skill you have to work on, and will take some time to develop.
Rusty locks are not the best to work on either, get some new ones. And the Tri-Circle locks can be both easy and really hard to open, so do not dispair.

I use a short hook pick for the most part, you will find one that works best for you, stick with that, don't keep choping and changing picks, you will find it harder to get a good feel if your using different picks all the time.

Lastly, if it was easy I would have given up years ago
Don't get frustrated, just take your time and enjoy!

[maxybaby]

thanks guys, all advice is taken on board and lots of reading and practice is the order of the day.

[Chilli]

I found that after a few hours of picking, my hand gets very tired and the attempt becomes futile. I also become very frustrated. Try taking a break and letting your hand rest some. I also picked up a Panavise. It keeps my hand from getting tired and I can place the lock in any position I desire.

[raimundo]

light tension and a loose picking hand, fast and loose, do the hokeypokey