Failure

[acl]

Had my first failure with the Wendt gun yesterday afternoon on a bloody Mila cylinder of all things.At first i just couldnt see what the problem was as it was dark and i wasnt on the best of form due to an extremely late/heavy night at the RS christmas jolly followed by a drive from London to Cambridge to Newmarket and then to Bedford. On closer inspection and a few questions to the custommer i found out that the cylinder in question had been whacked a few times with a screwdrivwr in a futile attempt to gain entry.Patience and will to live evaporating fast i resorted to the rotary and (eventually )got it open the blows with the screwdriver had burred the metal fom the inner plug over the cylinder body making it VERY diffficult to turn the plug. Does this mean i can no longer claim the Wendt to be 100% or not??!!
Andy

[Omikron]

That would depend on your definition of 100%. If you were to include damaged cylinders, I think there are very few tools that would have a 100% success rate, although the "rotary picking tool" would have a very high one. Just be glad your Wendt is still okay.

That being said, I've seen several times where large, beefy screwdrivers were used to try and open the lock. One of my collegues had locked himself out once and decided that he'd bend a very large screwdriver into a 90 degree angle and try to "snap the pins" by torquing the plug as hard as he could.

He ended up destroying the plug, the screwdriver, and any hope of re-using that lock. He had to call a locksmith to come and drill the lock, and replace it. After the whoel ordeal was over, he found out that his back door had been unlocked...

Needless to say he was not amused.

[Rockford]

Andy, using your reasoning above - I can no longer hand pick garage (L&F) handle locks.......

Had a call last week from a Lady who was moving house and wanted to put furniture in her garage as the house was still having work done on it. She called me to change the lock as she'd lost the keys to the garage - "no problem" I say, "I'll open it for you and then change the lock". "Oh, there's no need to open it, as the removals guys are breaking the handle off the lock at the moment to open it" was the reply....

Well, I asked her politely to run outside and stop the guys, otherwise opening it would be a bugger.

When I get there, the handle is bent, and the garage door had started to buckle under the force of the hammering ! I bent the handle into some sort of shape, and then tried to pick it, only to find they had forced a screwdriver into the wafers, trashing the inside. So picking wasn't an option, so I Bosched it to remove the remaining bits of wafers, and then manipulated the mechanism to open it.

I guess what I'm trying to say, bit long winded, is that skills and NDE tools are not much use if a bloody idiot with a screwdriver/hammer has been before you.

[acl]

Dean,so its official mate were both crap,fancy going into business?!!

[Rockford]

I'd never keep up with your ale intake Andy - I'd need to put a bed in my van to let me sleep off the previous night

Off to make sure I have a BIG screwdriver and hammer in the toolbox - to force feed the next moron I have to clear up after.

[panalman]

Had my first failure with the Wendt gun yesterday afternoon on a bloody Mila cylinder of all things.At first i just couldnt see what the problem was as it was dark and i wasnt on the best of form due to an extremely late/heavy night at the RS christmas jolly followed by a drive from London to Cambridge to Newmarket and then to Bedford. On closer inspection and a few questions to the custommer i found out that the cylinder in question had been whacked a few times with a screwdrivwr in a futile attempt to gain entry.Patience and will to live evaporating fast i resorted to the rotary and (eventually )got it open the blows with the screwdriver had burred the metal fom the inner plug over the cylinder body making it VERY diffficult to turn the plug. Does this mean i can no longer claim the Wendt to be 100% or not??!!
Andy

Yes indeed your claim for the wendt is still 100%. As any form of lock picking either manual or mechanical is intended for a lock that is healthy you will struggle when a lock has been at the mercy of an idiot of course there is an exception the rotary pick takes no prisoners and will get you in at the cost of a new lock and in the hands of an idiot maybe a new door and sometimes more.