5 pin Schlage help...

[ldnlksmth]

I worked on Schalge and LSDA SC1 kwy almost exclusivly for like 3 years. VERY light tension, very light pressure on the pins, and a lot of patience.

you might have more success raking than SPP. again, be very light, and have lots of patience.

[ericm115]

Let me add one more thing to this...

I have a Shlage mortise cylinder. On the rear of the plug is a little textured "nut" that spins around (when you press down a retaining pin on the back) to secure down the latching mechanism that will open the lock once mounted.

When I originally got the lock, the plug needed strong tension. It took about two solid hours of picking before I learned the picking order and pin heights. Once I had the lock figured out, I opened it over and over again (in seconds each time), then loosened the little nut in the back. I tried picking it again and couldn't! Turns out I had to relax the tension a bit because the plug spun much more freely now that the nut on the back was loosened. I could, of course, pick it again quickly once I figured out the tension problem.

The moral of this story is that "how much tension" is not that straightforward. The real answer is, "However much tension it takes to get one pin to bind at a time just lightly enough that you can move it smoothly with a pick."


em

[Romstar]

Eric,

Thats a pretty good statement, and one that many people fail to recognize.

I hope that other people learn from your lesson.

Romstar

[melvin2001]

I too have noticed the exact same thing. my main practice lock is a schalge ultima 5 pin with spindles and I can pick it one moment but if I tighten the collar on the back I wont be able to pick it again for a good 15-30 minutes till I get the feel again (of course I kind of suck too so that doesn't help).

But yes... tension is not a defined thing... I literally couldn't pick a lock one time for like 2 days straight... put my wrench in a vise and put a twist flex in it and BAM it picked like magic. I'm just heavy handed and a twist flex makes a lot of difference for me. Honestly I have 3 different picks I use a lot and they are all different hook styles but I literally have 6 tension wrenches of various materials and sizes.

[darrel.h]

I have picked quite a few schlages and I have noticed a picking pattern that you must follow. If you have the key you will need to pick the lowest cuts first and the highest last and you will usually need to pick front to back. Before you attempt a schalge, I recommend you to remove all the pins except the first one and keep adding pins as you progress.

[ComTech]

I have a couple schlage locks, one KIK and one mortise cylinder. I usually pick one pin at a time, but I've noticed that both schlage rake fairly easily.
My kwiksets are much easier to pick, but harder to rake.
Has anyone else noticed this, or is it just me?

[Bud Wiser]

This is all intersting to me as I only have one schalge light duty, and a LSDA cylinder. I can't rake them, but on occasion can SPP them open. I hate my schlages because they are the only locks that I have defeated that I can not pick consistantly, when I want, at will, like I can my other locks even with security pins! I am begining to think schlage is on par with the junk masters #1-15. Hit or miss

[ComTech]

I don't have much problem picking the 2 schlage that I have, but I do use Southern Ord Euro style picks. I have the C801 and the C2010 pick sets.
I like the very thin picks, they give me a lot more room to work. I have even sanded a couple of them down a little thinner.
While I'm on the subject of picks, Where do you use a round ball pick?
I can't seem to have enough working room to use it in most locks I've tried.
I have ground off the bottom half of a round ball and made a half ball out of it, and it works fairly well in a kiwkset.

[darrel.h]

You usually only use ball picks to rake those cheapo wafers.

[5thcorps]

When I first started picking I was fortunate to have extensive experience in repairing and assembling locks of various design and therefore had intimate knowledge of how they worked. The simplest ones to tear down were the ones I started picking first. Kwikset was at the top of the list. I picked that in about 2 hours. After spending 2 weeks varying everthing in any way possible I was confident I had mastered them. I then moved on to Schlage. I picked it on the second day of trying. It had 2 security pins. I quickly graduated it to 5 security pins. 1 pin would require feather lightness on the tension and then the next would require a lot. I bought several of them and after pinning 3 of them alike I discovered how different each one was even though they were pinned alike. I then spent about 4-5 months on these alone until I felt I had tried everything.
Try every different scenario you can think of mbefore moving on. And after you've moved on, go back once in a while just to brush up. As I go farther the progression goes slower and slower. because I'm always going back in between to be sure my skills are as fresh as possible.