Anyone know the trick to this one?

[Kayvon]

Putting a black mark on it also turns out to be a lot EASIER than keeping a finger on it the whole time. If you have two black marks, you can see how far it's moved by how far out of alighnment they are from each other. After you get the hang of it, permanent marker will usually pub off the stainless steel. (If it doesn't, try some hairspray.)

[Buggs41]

After you get the hang of it, permanent marker will usually pub off the stainless steel. (If it doesn't, try some hair spray.)

Fingernail polish remover also does a great job of removing the ink.

[dry132]

I have the same lock, except a little bigger size. It has "Made in China" stamped on the back, so I think it's not a German lock by Abus as one poster suggested.

It is my current "Challenge Lock", and I have only picke d it a few times. The trick, I've found, is to use just enough tension, and not an ounce more. Too much tension gets those darned spool pins binding. You can tell the spool pins have bound when the lock gives about 3-5 degrees, and you get that feeling like "OH YEAH! I did it!" but then trying to turn it further gets you nowhere. Then you get that feeling like "oh no, what did I do wrong?" Probably a hair too much tension, so keep it loose with just enough to overcome the spring. The spring can be rather stiff, but you should develop a feel for when you're pushing against the spring and when you're pushing against the tumblers.

Another suggestion is to try raking the tumblers with a little too much tension, then back off the tension and single-pick each one to figure out which pins are spools. The spool pins will set again if you press on them hard enough with the pick, but the non-spool pins will just bind in the cylinder. A few rounds of that should get you to be a little more familiar with the lock. And familiarity breeds pickability.

Hope that helps!

[salzi684]

For me this works better than what everyone else does so therefore I don't want to hear anyone say that it doesn't work, while it might not work for you it works great for me.

When dealing with spool pins use more tension than you normally would. Pick the lock as you normally would until it turns a couple of degrees and hangs up on the spools, after this has happened take the pick and individually press on each pin (you have to be sure to use a good amount of turning force or else the pins that are already set to their correct height will be pushed up into the plug and become false set) when you have hit a spool pin you will notice that your tension wrench will want to rotate in the opposite direction, allow the wrench to rotate slowly in the direction it wants to go while keeping pressure on the pin, this will allow the spool to clear the shear line and become properly set. If the plug turns a few degrees and, after testing all of the pins, you do not notice an opposing force on the tension wrench you either have to lessen tension or increase the force that you are putting on the individual pins.

This method of increased turning force also works well for serrated and mushroom pins. The mushroom pins will behave very similar to spools and can be picked in much the same way. With serrated pins it allows you to more accurately distinguish between a serration and the shear line, this method is difficult to explain but basically you will be able to whether you are on a serration or on the shear line by applying light force to the pin and detecting a slight “squishiness” which indicated you are on a serration as opposed to very solid feeling which would mean you are on the shear line.

[Sabin37]

That technique works great for me too. If the tension wrench gets pushed back when you push on a pin, it has false set. Then all you have to do is lessen the tension slightly while still pushing on the pin and it sets. If you let off too much tension though, the other pins will fall back down. Setting a spool pin is almost easier than a normal pin once you get the hang of it.

[salzi684]

Setting a spool pin is almost easier than a normal pin once you get the hang of it.

agreed.