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

[5thprofession47]

Hello everyone!

I'm new here. I have toyed around with lock picking over the years but rarely found time to devote to it. I hope to learn more now that I've discovered LP101. I recently picked up a set of Bogota Entry Tools over at ITS Tactical and a buch of unique items from Serepick. My wife and I plan to attend OnPoint Tactical's Urban Escape and Evasion course in the next year or two so I thought I'd learn a little more before then.

Stay safe,

Chris

[TomW]

Hi, thought I'd introduce myself.

My names Tom. Live in the northwest of England.

Just recently got a very basic lock pick and started on padlocks.

Managed to pick my first lock this morning, a abus 65/40. Took my ages and I can't do it again!!! Well not yet anyway.

I've definitely got an interest in lock picking and I hope to learn how to be better at it from some of the seasoned veterans on this site.

[unlisted]

Hi to all,
This is my first post and I hope everyone support me.


[edit- this is NOT a place to advertise your business. -unlisted]

[eazypz]

I'm new to lock picking; just ordered a five piece set from SouthOrd.
I've always been interested in the hobby of picking locks. I love to take on difficult tasks, puzzles and things of the sort. I'm a quick learner but lock picking seems like a formidable challenge so expect me to be posting for help pretty soon here.

Anyways, I'm a straight forward person so don't hold anything back when making a point but I can make room for some humor every now and then. Cheers. :D

[Laporte]

Hi Everyone!

I recently stumbled upon some you tube videos of lock picking. My immediate reaction was "How can I get into THAT?!". I am really pleased to have found such a community as this. Kudos on a great forum.

In my regular life, I am completing my degree in Nursing. I live in Ontario.

I am a girl.

I resisted replying to the "are there any ladies here" thread. Totally laughed out loud at the comment Calvinism made saying he couldn't imagine any ladies doing what you guys do.

I am giving up my Bobby pins as soon as my South Ord set gets here. :)

Looking forward to learning more.

[creedalene]

Hello,

I am an American Marine trying to establish myself before I get out of the Service. My interest in locks and lock picking stems from the fact that I am a Southord distributor and I am currently in the process of building up a blog (to be launched towards the end of 2011). I would mostly like to get to know the types of individuals interested in lock bypassing. I hope to be a useful contributor to this forum.

Cree

[efahrenholz]

Hello, just wanted to introduce myself. I go by Erich, I started messing around with lock picking when I was about 16 (I'm almost 27 now) using a cheap little $20 set I bought off of lockpicks.com back when I was in high-school. I still have that set and it still works. So far I have only been defeated by one lock which was a special bank deposit bag. I remember it said "7" on it in old fashioned numerical font. It was my stores bank bag where I worked and it was empty so no foul play. Other than that i'm just trying to learn as much as possible and while I haven't spent too much time picking I pulled the set out the other day and got reinvigorated. I hope to become more advanced in the sport of cracking locks open. Thanks.

[Tom53]

Introducing myself. Tom, from NW Iowa, and interested in becoming a locksmith.

Retired police officer, looking for one more thing to add to the many I already am involved with.

Considering on buying the Foley-Belsaw course to get a beginning unless someone has a better idea where to start. I haven't done much research yet, but its either that or maybe go to the 6 day class at the National Locksmiths Place in Dallas, which is a lot more expensive, but very hands on and intensive from what it sounds like. I have a brother who lives there so lodging and meals are not a problem.

Need to start somewhere, so am going to try opening vehicles for the police department when someone has locked their keys in the car. Will use any money I might make to help pay for locksmith training and equipment.

Could use some advice on any training materials, or videos for that. Please help if you can. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance!

Tom

[ree]

I'm Evan from the suburbs of the Twin Cities. I got into picking about 6 weeks ago on a whim and discovered what could be done with a paper clip and a pen clip on simple locks.

I broke out the dremel and a hacksaw blade and made a hook and scrounged up a handful of locks from around the house. After getting stuck for a while on a Masterlock #140, I finally figured out how to deal with the spools and have gotten to the point where I can pick that one in seconds.

Not wanting to waste too much time on making picks, I bought a small Peterson set. Compared to my home made hacksaw-blade pick, I found them to be a bit thick. But some time with sandpaper has really helped smooth them out. I still like my rigid pen clip for tensioning and my homemade pick the best as I seem to get the best feed back from those. But I'm going out of my way to practice with all the Peterson picks and flat flexible tension tools just to improve my skills. I really like the flat tension tools for TOK tensioning, but find them way too flexible for good feedback. So I plan to make some TOK tension tools from allen wrenches someday.

Since starting I've got a collection of about 18 locks, 14 of which I've successfully picked multiple times. All of the unpicked ones are in-service locks that I don't want to mess up. Despite the fact I haven't yet broken a lock, I'm going to stay hands off of those. But I really have to fight the urge to play around with those.

[Squelchtone]

Welcome all new members, I see we have some future all stars joining the forum lately, and we're glad you're all here.

Cheers,
Squelchtone

[chriswingate]

[quote="ree"]I'm Evan from the suburbs of the Twin Cities.[/quote]

Welcome, check out tcmaker.org, we have monthly locksport meetings at their work space. 1st Tuesday of every month. There are a couple members here that have shown up, myself an Raimundo included.

[ree]

[quote="chriswingate"][quote="ree"]I'm Evan from the suburbs of the Twin Cities.[/quote]

Welcome, check out tcmaker.org, we have monthly locksport meetings at their work space. 1st Tuesday of every month. There are a couple members here that have shown up, myself an Raimundo included.[/quote]
I'll try. I've always got too much to do, but my Tuesday's are usually a little flexible.

[kurt9678]

I have recently started learning, practicing and making my own tools after getting locked out of my house and using a very long extension ladder to climb up to the 3rd floor balcony to get in. I have been really enjoying learning about lock picking and I wanted to thank everyone here for the great information in the forum posts. I hope that one day I will be able to return the favor.

[SilverShadow]

Hello everyone.

I joined last night, but have been lurking around here for some time, reading and learning. The wealth of information on this site have been a great help so far. Lock picking is a very obscure subject in my native country of Denmark and lock picking as a hobby/sport, even more so. But this site has made this fascinating skill much more approachable.

I have long been fascinated by the art of lock picking but it wasn't until recently that I decided to try and learn these skills for myself.
I made a couple of very simple picks and a tension wrench and went to work on the various locks I have around the house. From what I had read on this site, I stayed clear of the one that are actually in use, which left me with a number of padlocks and a couple of old bicycle locks. The padlocks (3,4 and 5 pin tumblers) were relatively easy and have been a great help in getting a more physical understanding of how things work.

I have now started making a proper set of picks and have been looking for some good training cylinders. I believe that making my own tools is the way to go and that it will help in, not only getting the right ones, but also inn gaining a better understanding of why they are shaped and made as they are.

Thank you for all the information you have made available. It is truly a gift to newcomers such as I.
I hope that I will be able to contribute to this site in the future.

Cheers.

[85 Bucks]

Hey Guys!

I'm a locksmith and am looking for information that will help me get going on automotive keymakes and ignition replacements. I did AAA keymakes and ignition services about ten years back and still have the tools to do it. I plan to stay away from the higher end electronic stuff, at the most servicing vats and pats. Maybe next year ill step it up to more cars.

I do a lot of residential and commercial work at the moment but now that I have a full time employee and an extra van setup its time to stop turning down that extra automotive work.

Hope to learn a lot here and share some info as well,

85 Bucks