Practice locks for Europeans

[klarre]

Hi.

Just starting this new hobby of mine. I've seen several lists and YouTube clips with lists of locks to start with. Unfortunately for me it's very rare to see those Master Lock locks that are almost always recommended. In Europe where I live there is much more common with abus locks.

Because it is very hard to find Master Lock locks in Europe I'm looking for the "corresponding" Abus versions of those Master Lock locks that are usually recommended. Is there are good site that has technical details about locks or how should I find them? I'm looking for the Abus version of this https://www.art-of-lockpicking.com/best ... k-picking/

Thanks for tips!

/klarre

[jwrm22]

It does help if you give a approximate location as the locks in Portugal are different from France and different from the UK or Germany.
There are off brand locks but much of it is bad quality. It's much easier to find good easy locks in the UK than Germany.
Get a cheap but good pick set. Thin enough to traverse the European keyways like Southord slim line or even "daniu lockpick 12ps high quality".

For the Germany good brands to get are Basi padlocks or cylinders. Abus are good too but will have some security pins.
For the UK almost anything low shelf. But there are many forums and groups, ask around and you might be able to pick up some at scrap value.
Regularly I'd advice against buying new locks as the hobby can get pretty expensive. Don't be affright to remove some pins and pick a 2 or 3 pin lock.

Padlocks are considered to be easier overall as it has a spring that pushes back. At this moment I would suggest getting the Abus 85/40 or 55/40 etc.
While you might think you are skipping ahead. Spools are not that hard as a good spool lock will just tell you what pin needs to be picked.

Sorry, the learning curve will not be as shallow in Europe but you'll get there.

[GWiens2001]

Tesa makes some reasonable Portuguese locks to start practicing with. So does OMEC. Don't be intimidated by the two keyways on some OMEC locks.

Gordon

[klarre]

Thank you for your responses. I'm located in Sweden, and today I got a Cocraft 300B which I managed to open after 10 minutes or so. Must have been mostly luck though since I didn't manage to do it again.

I will take a look at the suggested Abus locks. Regarding the other brands it might be hard to find here, but I'll have a look at those too.

/klarre

[GWiens2001]

Thank you for your responses. I'm located in Sweden, and today I got a Cocraft 300B which I managed to open after 10 minutes or so. Must have been mostly luck though since I didn't manage to do it again.

I will take a look at the suggested Abus locks. Regarding the other brands it might be hard to find here, but I'll have a look at those too.

/klarre

Bitlema sells a number of less expensive locks.

Gordon

[pemlock]

Most hardware companies in Sweden have their own cheap brass and laminated locks (all made in China of course). The quality varies a lot, from having horrible design flaws that can be bypassed to fairly decent (for the price), and some are really easy to pick, some can be surprisingly tricky. There's no way of telling from the outset...

I think I have most of them in my collection. (See viewtopic.php?f=58&t=65502 for some of them).

Abus locks are good for picking as well of course, but generally a little harder (and more expensive), I consider them to be "next level" after beginner's level.

If you want to find cheap locks, try tradera. (https://www.tradera.com/las-c3_301875)