cb pick

[st7v7n]

just got a cb curtain pick, what am i doin wrong. i'm practicin on an era invincible with anti drill plate taken off so i can partially see levers. once picked wire gets stuck and i can't get it out without alot of messin about. would also appreciate any tips and possibly a beginners excercise. i suppose that's just practice, practice, practice. i know there's 1 on this site for cylinder locks where you take out pins and just put 2 or 3 back in, could you do this with mortise locks as well for a faster learning curve

[SteveW]

Well you cant take the levers out and build it up one at a time

It is just a matter of practice, and as Ive learned in the last few months a good knowledge of the lock your trying to open. With the invincible its a matter of lifting the higher levers above the false gate (which is above the true gate) and then just nudging the low levers up slightly and the lock will pop open. Open the lock and take a close look at the levers and you will see what i mean.

But like everything it takes a fair bit of practice

[nhughz]

Try starting with some non-Bs 5 lever locks if your struggling and you will learn to get a feel for the pick.
Are you getting the wire stuck before or after picking the lock ?

[st7v7n]

wire gets stuck after picking the lock. don't know if i hav wire wrong way round though. findin it hard to find any instruction on this tool. need to see a video of someone usin 1 i think

[pinky]

your mistake is a common one, the wire will be fine if you picked the lock with it, once picked to gate, before turning the stem to open the lock, you must position tool under a high lift lever, and turn the wire with the stem to open.
this will solve your dilema.

[Shrub]

Try and keep to one post, in your other one you cant use the tool now your picking a lock thats fast work.

I dont see why you can cut 3 of the levers down so they have no bottoms on then practise, this would mean the cut ones will keep the lock spaced right inside with the remaining two levers being the ones that require picking but you will need to buy a few extra levers to do that.

[SteveW]

That's a nice idea Shrub, but i still think the best way to get to grips with this tool is either to drill hole in the plate so you can see the gate, or make a perspex face plate so you can see whats going on inside. I would drop the plate after you have a basic feel for the tool though.

Using this pick is all about feel and you wont learn that if you keep looking at what your doing, you have to learn to visualise, you cant see whats going on when the lock is fitted in a door

[bonez]

it's all about the feel and touch,

don't be scared of lifting levers find the binding one and lift
till it hits something!

if you hit the anti pick notches don't worry thats what there meant to do!
keep practising and you'll get the feel of false and true gates.

[chrisjc33]

i was having the same problem as st7v7n and as pinky said position under a high lift lever.
but what if like me you try to pick a profit with all low lift levers and the wire gets jammed solid,the only way to get it out is to remove the cap(thank god this lock was not in someones door).
the problem i now have is i can't pick any lock with low levers on right hand locks

[pinky]

even with all low lifts , the wire can be jiggled free, but takes a while.

[paul1982]

I've had my 5g cb pick for a while now and started on a legge yellow sahlock. I just kept playing and looking through the slot at the levers and bolt. I played with each lever to see what the lever would feel like in different positions untill i knew how it felt. I was then able to pick the lock after a while and changed the levers around untill and kept practicing. I have a large collection of locks that i practice with now some open easier then others. Some that seem easy one day are impossible it feels the next day, but thats been part of the learning curve. Still a couple i havent open as of yet with out looking through a slot that i make. I also found the way i hold the wire made a difference to the amount of feedback you get. I now hold the thum turn with my thumb and fore finger on the outside edges rather then on the two faces of the thumb turn.

[st7v7n]

the low lifts seem impossible. i have an era invincible lock that has 2 low lifts in the middle of the pack, these 2 levers seem to be the last 2 i need to pick but it seems impossible to lift them without the others droppin back down because of all the jiggling that has to be done to get under them. can they be picked first or do i just have to persevere.

[st7v7n]

i also have a couple of red era locks and the levers in these are hard to push up. i've oiled them but still the same. don't want to push too hard cos the wire bends. the levers are short i think thats why there hard to push up.