raking

[dmux]

i dont know why many say raking takes no skill, its hard to do sometimes, and if you cant pick a lock pin by pin you might as well try, because the overall goal is to open the lock anyway not the technique you use so rake, shims,......

[Bud Wiser]

i dont know why many say raking takes no skill, its hard to do sometimes, and if you cant pick a lock pin by pin you might as well try, because the overall goal is to open the lock anyway not the technique you use so rake, shims,......

I agree with you. Raking requires just as much skill as luck! I think people try to discourage raking to newbies because it may rob them of learning how to pick and learn more about the lock. Others may feel since you are not single pin pushing your cheating. I enjoy both! But would also suggest that total noobs begin with the basics and learn how to SPP pick first.

[raimundo]

pinsetters tensors with the curves for lefty or righty lower wards on the keyway is an idea I have considered often, but seldom made, just because I did not have a need or perhaps not a piece of found metal with a shape from it's previous use that can be adapted easily for the idea. its a good idea and needs a lot more developement, making them and trying them to get a good near universal shape that avoids binding against the cylinder wall.

[Schuyler]

Yeah, pinsetter, if you could get a few in production I'd buy them the same day I buy my first set of Bogotas

It sounds like an excellent idea.

[dmux]

I dont understand the whole raking thing


everyone always talks about noobs raking and its a noob tactic


but yet everyone here talks about those bogotas and correct me if im wrong they look exactly like rakes and used like rakes but yet everyone makes fun of people videos when the are raking.

i dont know i just want all lock pickers to get along and its about opening locks, not the technique used to do it.

[Bud Wiser]

I dont understand the whole raking thing


everyone always talks about noobs raking and its a noob tactic


but yet everyone here talks about those bogotas and correct me if im wrong they look exactly like rakes and used like rakes but yet everyone makes fun of people videos when the are raking.

i dont know i just want all lock pickers to get along and its about opening locks, not the technique used to do it.

I think there are two main sides to this. Those who simply want newbies to master SP picking first instead of relying on raking because they may never take the time to learn SP picking. I agree with this.

Then there are those who may think raking is cheating because it is not SP picking. I disagree with this. I do believe raking requires at least equal amount of skill and luck.

If we all agreed on every thing, how boring would that be

[pinsetter]

Regarding my bent tensors:

I take regular wiper inserts and grind halfway through the cross section with a bench grinder, then place the wiper insert in a vice with just the small piece, about 1/2 inch that will be the tensor blade in the vice. It is placed so that the tab that the grinding created is sticking out the top of the vice jaws and nothing else, then I take a hammer and bend it over 90 degrees. This creates the blade that is L shaped. Then I remove it from the vice and bend 90 degrees at the center of the grinding I done to create the tab. This gives it the L shape between the blade and handle.

The drawback is that they're not quite as strong since the insert has only half the cross section where the blade and handle meet.

Despite that drawback, I have never had one of these wrenches bind on a cylinder wall and use them if at all possible. There are still some keyways where such a wrench is not possible, such as the Master 140, but in all they work on a vast majority of the locks I've tried them on.

If people are intereseted and don't understand how to make them, I'll post a drawing of the process. Just let me know.

[Schuyler]

Please do. A tutorial would be greatly appreciated.

[pinsetter]

OK, here's how I make the bent tensors. I hope this is clear enough instructions.

[Schuyler]

That's awesome, pinsetter! Thanks for the visuals.

[th516]

From the Noob side of things: I have several locks that open very quickly with raking but I am still unable to open with SPP.

For me at least, swithing back and forth keeps my confidence up and keeps me from getting too frustratred. When I can't get it open via picking I try raking, and vice versa. I feel like I learn a lot from a the lock by exploring both techniques.

At this stage for me I'm sure there is much more luck involved then skill for both techiniques but I know that the skill will develop more over time.

[!*AMP*!]

Yes, I was scared (maybe not the proper use of the word) out of raking as a newb from all the "Noobs rake! Go Pin by Pin!", and have since found that raking still isn't the easiest thing in the world, and it pays to know both methods...because most of the time, especially with security pins, youre best bet is to use both methods.

[Bud Wiser]

I always seem to have the hardest time with hi pins. So can it be that it's not so much the hi-low combo, as it is just the hi pins? SPP or raking, the more hi pins the harder it seems.

[cigma42]

As a budding noob, and one of those who was scared away from raking. I've gotten gernerally proficient at SPP. It took a lot of time, research, and practice to learn all about the sublties of how a variety of locks work and what it really feels like using the right amount of torque, difference between under/over setting, how to deal with some security pins. Personally, all of it was time well spent. Everything I'm learning about locks and security is really interesting stuff.

However, I hadn't tried raking in a long time and this thread inspired me to try it on a couple of my easier locks. It was crazy fast! My jaw hit the floor so fast that I'm still picking up the pieces. Raking is a very fast and viable way of opening locks.

Despite the effectiveness of raking, I'll have to agree with the more experienced majority that if you can't pick a fair number of locks pin-by-pin, then you are seriously missing out on everything that lockpicking really has to offer.

[Unholy Ham]

I've had some serious problems with SPP. Raking seems to suit my needs, but that's because getting lucky with raking is far easier than getting lucky with SPP. However, I am finding out (the hard way) that often the higher-end locks don't rake as well.

I really need to learn how to actually pick...