Lockage

[IllustratorVir]

Greeings all, I am new to this hobby and I have a few obervations about a practice lock I picked up.

I picked up a Lockage 40mm lock to practice on, I have picked it a few times by sheer luck. I have read a bunch of articles and posts on the site about SPP and thats what I am trying to do. I have done the pin counting exercises, I press them down individually until I try to put the tension rake in. The biggest problem I have is I think the pins are over setting. I push them down and they don't come back up at all. I suspect they are wedged by too much tension. When I use less tension I can't really get them to set at all.

I am 2 days into this hobby and its frustrating, haha. I hope to stick with it.

[lock2006]

Maybe this guide will help you
also just practice and practice it just a matter of time
you will get this lock and many others locks open in no time
good luck.
http://www.gregmiller.net/locks/mitguide/

[IllustratorVir]

Thanks for the words of encouragement. I just feel kinda slow, a few days in I hear people being able to open Master # in no time, yet here I am still struggling with my first one. Although I am trying SPP instead of raking, guess that takes more time.

[lock2006]

No problem IllustratorVir this is a video picking a master lock #5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6K1sO1Lvlzg

i have a couples of this lock and #1 too
if you want to practice on this locks let me know
i can send it to you just let me know ok thanks.

[RevDisk]

I have a simple exercise I recommend to folks.

Go buy a ok ish door set. Nothing fancy, but not the cheapest one either. I usually recommend the "Master" branded doorknob from Target, about $15. It's cheap, but well constructed. Rip it apart until you have the cylinder in your hands. Remove the cover. Now find all of the bits under spring tension that went everywhere as you didn't remove the cover inside a baggie.

Put one pin tumbler in. Beveled pin first, then the smooth pin, then the spring. Replace cover. Pick it. Not just once, but a couple dozen times. Then add a second tumbler. Spend a lot of time here. Getting the feel for the pin that is binding. Now start adding more. Spend a decent amount of time on each stage.

Here's a much lengthier version of the above: http://revdisk.net/blog/?p=46

[raimundo]

You speak of pressing the pins down. this makes me think you are in europe, however you have a master lock.

your problem is too much tension on the plug, and you have a false Idea of what you are trying to do if you think its about making the pins stay all the way down. the key tells you that they need to be pressed to specific depths, you must try light feeling of the pins under minimal tension, perhaps while deviding your concentration by watching tv

You may be over intellectualizing it by trying to understand, forget understanding, most understanding is beyond human competence, just feel what its doing , listen to it, don't try to force it, don't try to understand it, just lift pins under mimimal pressure and let them fall back.
do not insist that a certain pin must bind because you must have it that way, you can bind pins with force, but picking is more subtle and the first time you get it open, snap it shut again and do it a second time, there is something ineffable happening, no one can describe it to you, but your hand can learn it.

[pjzstones]

this was one of the first locks that i started out with. i had pretty much the same problem. these locks are super easy to rake or jiggle but it takes a bit more practice to spp it affectivly. they are really touchy with the tension, it gives very little feedback, and it's very easy to over set the pins. so not a very good lock to practice spp with in my opinion because you don't really know what you're feeling for when you're first starting out and this lock doesn't help. keep at it though and practice on other locks too till you get the feel down and pretty soon it'll come naturaly.