Little tip for novice pickers

[89ls1]

Just thought I would share a tiny little tip I have found while picking which has helped me greatly and I am sure its been said on here before. I am by no means an expert but have been advancing very quickly do to all the tips and howto's on this board. Thank You everyone who contributes. It is said that applying the proper tension is the hardest thing in this art for a beginner and with my tip it is a little more difficult to control pressure on the tension wrench at first, untill you get used to it so practice good control of your tension wrench.

Anyway...
Instead of using your tension wrench in the bottom of the key way put it at the top of the key way in front of the pins (or on bottom if its upside down) . This frees up ALOT of room for your picks when SPP and in my opinion makes picking easier in most cases due to all the extra space to maneuver. It is a little harder to control the tension but once you get used to it, its great to have all that room under the pins.

Hope this helps someone.

[Olson Burry]

Yes, this has been mentioned before but it never hurts to refocus on a subject.

Top tension is very useful on all kinds of locks, especially padlocks with small restrictive keyways. It also allows a more centralised rotation of the plug.

What I have done with a few of my tension wrenches is to shorten the part that enters the plug drastically, to the point where when inserted fully it doesn't interfere with the first pin. This enables the tool to sit flush with the lock body and eliminates the popping out that can happen if something longer is used.

[5thcorps]

refreshments are welcome.

[hydruh]

I can't make it stay. No matter how hard I try, I always get a wonky angle, and it slips out. I'm left handed, and that might account for my awkwardness.

So, I have taken to shortening the part of the wrench I put in the keyway. I have some down to a quarter inch.

S

[Olson Burry]

Hydruh, I have the same challenge being left handed as well.
Shortening the wrench makes a great deal of difference to prevent the slipping out.

Ultimately I have adjusted my approach and now pick the lock upside down when using top tension. It takes some getting used to but seems better than applying tension upwards with the first finger of my right hand.

You're not alone buddy

[Engineer]

I'm left handed also - Not really suprised, we are supposed to me better at this sort of thing, so I bet more than the average 10% of LP101 are lefties.

Your handedness should make little difference really, it is more about having a massive selection of tension wrenches! It has been said many time on here that you might get by with just a few picks, but you can never have enough wrenches.

Shotening them always helps to stop them slipping out, but can cause problems with some keyways. You really need a wrench that is only slightly wider than the keyway itself.

I had a load of street sweeper bristles, so made myself a complete set of tension wrenches from 1 - 5mm wide in 0.5mm steps. These take care of most things, except the really weird ones!

They are one of the best things I ever did, they really help stop the wrench slipping out. If I was making them again, there is one little trick I would perhaps try and that is undergrinding them just a little.

By undergrinding them, I mean not making the edges parallel to each other, but like a reversed wedge if you know what I mean? The underground edge will "wedge" into the keyway and I think might help prevent cam-out?

[lock2006]

Well i did try top tension and is very useful on all kinds of locks
but not on all locks,sometimes i try top tension on the 1105 and 5100
american lock series and the best locks,but sometimes i hate it when
the tension wrench it slips out that's why i rather used
bottom of the key way.

[TheSkyer]

Don't they make special wrenches for top pressure, like pertersons?

[femurat]

... They are one of the best things I ever did, they really help stop the wrench slipping out. If I was making them again, there is one little trick I would perhaps try and that is undergrinding them just a little.

By undergrinding them, I mean not making the edges parallel to each other, but like a reversed wedge if you know what I mean? The underground edge will "wedge" into the keyway and I think might help prevent cam-out?

I know what you mean...
If you're not worried about modifying yours, give them a soft shot with a flat needle file and you're done!

Cheers

[le.nutzman]

Something that was discussed recently in one of the other postings was about how tension is distributed across the body of the plug based on either bottom keyway or top keyway tensioning.

IF memory serves me correctly, it was stated that ideally, you want the tension as equally as possible across the length of the the plug to prevent over canting towards the front and under canting in the rear, which is a somewhat known but not explored issue with tensioning from the bottom of the keyway. Tensioning from the top of the keyway is allows for a more uniform distribution of turning force and thusly leads to all parts of the plug canting more equally at the same time. The Falle Tension wrenches, homebrews and the like where there is a top/bottom tension grip simultaneously is by some, considered the ultimate in tension control. I personally have not used them (only drool over owning/using them), but can tell you from my own experiences that I prefer top keyway tensioning as opposed to bottom keyway. Hope you find my input useful.

[Engineer]

Le.nutzman is quitre right, actually I am supposed to be posting on that with my experiments with street sweeper bristles, but I've just not had chance to grind some yet sadly... <hangs head in shame>

The thread if you are interested in reading the ideas about applying middle tension is:

http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=43776

[89ls1]

hmm... Im left handed also and I dont seem to have any problems with the tension wrench coming out while picking and mine are standard length. Guess Im a lucky lefty

[hydruh]

hmm... Im left handed also and I dont seem to have any problems with the tension wrench coming out while picking and mine are standard length. Guess Im a lucky lefty

You very well might just be more sure-handed than me.

S

[poor paperclip picker]

I am right handed and my wrench falls out of the top alot. But when I made my own wrench I made a shorter bend on one side that I use for the top of the keyway. I have it bent at about 1/4".

[Moosekace]

If you're tension wrench is jumping out you might not be applying tension in the right plane. The direction you tension it should be on the same flat plane as the face of the plug. If your tension is applied at an angle from above or below that level it will probably pop out. Maybe?