MacGyver Lockpicks: Picking with household items

[cuttinedge1]

That or they are the newer ones with grooves cut into them to make them break if you bend them. Hate those paperclips.

Gordon

I always avoid those when making tools from paperclips. The ones I had the most success with were quite thick, non-serrated, and were almost perfectly round in profile.

They do a great job on wafer locks. Just bend the paperclip like this

and push it to the back then pull it out slowly while turning it slightly. This is called over lifting.

[YouLuckyFox]

I've never had trouble with a wafer lock unless it was double sided. All the single sided wafer locks I can invariably open by seesawing a streetsweeper bristle with slight turning pressure. Every now and then I'll use a ball pick just to know I can SPP a wafer lock, but using a streetsweeper bristle is just too easy for any field work I do.

[Divinorum]

That or they are the newer ones with grooves cut into them to make them break if you bend them. Hate those paperclips.

Gordon

I always avoid those when making tools from paperclips. The ones I had the most success with were quite thick, non-serrated, and were almost perfectly round in profile.

They do a great job on wafer locks. Just bend the paperclip like this

and push it to the back then pull it out slowly while turning it slightly. This is called over lifting.

Ditto on using the bent paper clip on double sided wafers. I have had great success using the method that now when I have to pick one I will actually use the paper clip first before trying anything else. Just shape it to the size of the keyway, find a place to fit your tension wrench, and jiggle away.

[KPick]

Aw HAAAA! Now I know what my coworker is doing with my paperclips. No wonder he hasn't bought a pick set yet. There are unlimited amounts of picks in my office drawer apparently.


That is GRRRREEEEEAAATTTT BS!

[Smrtz]

I know bobby pins have already been posted here, but I like to keep a few in my wallet. In the dead center there's a little gap in the seam where the inside is sewn to the outside along the bottom; slide them right up there.

Disclaimer:
I saw this on Burn Notice while channel surfing a few years ago.

[CMS_SAFECRAKR1]

Lets not forget the long hose clamps as well as the classic windshield wiper. When you use a pen clip bend it slowly because the metal is brittle.
This type of pen clip has two small prongs on one side which I think might actually work on tubular lock.

What count is not the pen but the pen clip that says zebra. Uniball works great for regular tension wrench.

When my roommate locked me and my girl out one night while we were on the front porch talking and then passed out drunk, I repaid him by removing a blade insert from one of his windshield wipers, snapping it in half, bending one half to make a tension tool and grinding the other on the concrete until I had a half-diamond. It took more time to make the tools than it did to pick the knob and deadbolt. It was a cool feeling and my girlfriend at the time thought I was James Bond or something. Wiper blades... yes...

Well played sir.

[daniel22747]

The basic hair pin is my favorite household item lock picking tool.

[cuttinedge1]

The long piece of metal underneath space bars on keyboards works great. Best part is the space bar still works with out it.