ERSI meeting in Bologna Italy

[femurat]

Today I attended my first ersi meeting http://www.ersi.it/convegno2017.html
It's the Italian association of locksmiths.

I participated in all the three opening competitions. This is the picture of the first lock I opened.


I got the second place in manual picking of padlocks and cylinders in less than 4 minutes.

Then got the first place in the quick picking competition, 1 minute to open a lock or a padlock of our choice. Then we swapped the locks and so on.

Then got the first place in the freestyle opening, 4 minutes to open locks and padlocks with whatever you want. Picks, rakes, bump keys, pick guns, electric pick gun etc. I always used my homemade picks.

It was very exciting. Now I'm happy and exhausted.

Cheers

[GWiens2001]

Excellent job, Femurat!! Keep up the good work.

Gordon

[Squelchtone]

Congrats! Were the locksmiths curious about who you were? Did they know about locksport?

[femurat]

Thank you for the compliments.
They were very curious about me being a hobbyist. They couldn't believe I wasn't a locksmith. I took it as a compliment.
In general the idea of someone that spends hours playing with locks seems unlikely to locksmiths. They welcomed me even if I was not one of them, and I'm happy for it.

I'll add some more pictures next week.

Cheers

[Ralph_Goodman]

Awesome to hear about the inclusiveness of the community and your success.

Can't wait to see the pictures!

[femurat]

This is the moment the competition was about to start. There the conference room was still empty and we already got the black envelop with our first lock. After the first minutes it was full of people and someone was standing around the chairs.
Here are some pictures of locks I opened in the first competition. After these I stopped taking pictures but I didn't stop opening locks















And here are some pictures of the sponsors area, it was way bigger than this, with electronic and mechanical combined with electronic, and auto locks. There were some picks for many different locks and auto opening tools makers. I only took pictures of some mechanical locks.

















Cheers

[GWiens2001]

Want that Viro!!! That is so cool.

Of course, I'd not decline that DOM display. I can just imagine the door for that looooooong cylinder!

Great picking, Femurat. And thanks for sharing the pics.

Gordon

[femurat]

Thanks for the compliments Gordon. I said I was into picking locks to the guys at the viro stand, so they were not very happy to let me take pictures. But they said that since I asked politely, they allowed me to take a couple pictures of that huge prototype.

Here is the second prize, a pickset and a book





And here is the first price: pliers, a half round swiss #2 cut file, a magnifying glass with a led light (I pictured only one prize because they were identical) alongside with my pass and a keyring



I had a couple blanks I thought were the correct ones for a padlock I got without a key. I tried to impression one of them but failed





I took the second blank I had and tried again. I found out that the key was too long and was impossible to turn it because its tip got caught by something at the end of the keyway.
So I took a similar blank and filed it down to fit both the height and the depth of the keyway



And this time it went better



So I examined the second attempt I made and decided to file out the key tip and finish impressioning it. Got two working keys



And here is a lock a very nice guy in the competition gave me as a gift



Cheers

[femurat]

Last month I went to 2018 meeting, it was great, like last year. There was only one competition, the manual picking.
The competition was about to start and I already had the first lock in front of me, inside its sealed envelope.



Here are the locks I opened during the first 10 rounds of 4 minutes each: 9 open out of 10 locks. I'm always a bit nervous at the beginning and failed the first one.












And here are the two that I should have opened during the finals. I only got one open.



I had fun and got the second place again. And the same guy got the first place again by opening both of them in less than 4 minutes.
This is the prize I got: a very cool flashlight



While I was there I saw many cool locks, old and new. For example this masterpiece



and this cool multlock





This year many people recognized me from last year meeting, I enjoyed the event even more.

Cheers

[Gantry]

Great Job, Looks like you had a lot of FUN! And you also showed some in the lock smiting community that pickers are just normal guy's and gal's just like anyone else...

[GWiens2001]

Love that old warded key! It was a true work of art by a master.

Gordon

[stratmando]

Thank you for the compliments.
They were very curious about me being a hobbyist. They couldn't believe I wasn't a locksmith. I took it as a compliment.
In general the idea of someone that spends hours playing with locks seems unlikely to locksmiths. They welcomed me even if I was not one of them, and I'm happy for it.

I'll add some more pictures next week.

Cheers

Great Work, There IS a difference between Someone who does it for money and someone who does it for the love and challenge of it.
Business Locksmiths I know, would drill a lock, and sell them a new one. I don't think you would, as it would be like cheating(No Skill).
I think many Hobbiest can pick locks better than many "Locksmiths", they can afford the extra time. Love your Posts, Keep up the Great work.

[billdeserthills]

That Lockmasters Master Light II looks like it was designed for opening cars,
after you wedge open a car door, you can poke the light down into it and see
the linkage(s)

[femurat]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Bill, the flashlight has a suction cup that helps hold it in place. It's the transparent thing in the ziplock bag in the picture.
I thought it was for safe opening but now that you mentioned cars, I think you're right. A suction cup works better on a car glass rather than a safe.

Cheers