Picks for anti-pick keyways

[EmCee]

I don't think the OP is saying they are trying to push the key pins out of sight into the bible, but that as the pick moves further into the lock, the shaft of the pick pushes the previous pins down more and more.

Three points:

Firstly, are you just saying 'first, then second, then third..' as an illustration or is that how you are picking? The pins will bind in a certain order but that won't (usually) be sequential...the first pin to bind might be the fourth, for example.

Secondly, you don't try to put the pick vertically into that green space. As Squelchtone said, you angle the pick so that the tip goes into the green area when you need to touch a pin and the 'base' of the pick sits in that unmarked black area. That can mean a sort of 'rotating/pushing' picking motion rather than just pushing.

Thirdly, you might have an unfortunate (from a picking point of view) bitting. Regardless of the shape of the keyway, it can be tricky to pick a lock where a deep cut (long key pin) is followed by a shallow cut (short key pin), because in order to set the short pin you have to reach under the long pin without pushing it.

[mmcc]

Squelchtone and EmCee that was a brilliant explanation. I've started to be able to pick these, with an type of half diamond on an angled pick. I'm slowly getting the hang of it. I think the lock does have a bad bitting for picking, the first pin only need depressed slightly to set, so deeper motions can cause the key pin to stick.

I'm not fully up to speed on the order of binding, on any lock, yet. Firstly, I still find it difficult to tell which pin I am on. The feedback on the Klom tools is not great. I tried making a pick out of a hacksaw, but it is too flexible to be of much use. The picking motion on it is fine, it is just the handle tends to bend. I will need to solve that.

Secondly, I'm not 100% sure how to tell which pin is binding. I can sort of tell when it is set, because the spring-like quality to the key pin has gone and if the key pin is stuck, I can usually feel that because it has no give in it.

[zeke79]

Simple solution if you are having a problem oversetting the front pins with the pick shaft is to pick the lock in the opposite direction so rear pins set before the front pins.

[daniel22747]

I find that a small half diamond works well on locks that have challenging keyways like that.

The small half diamond fits a moves fairly well in tight spaces like that. Sometimes a short hook works ok too, however you may have enter on the sideways cut and then slide the short hook into place under the pins.

[mhole]

This might be a UK/US thing, but that is by no stretch a challenging keyway. I can maneuver my deep hook round that type of keyway, and set nasty high/low combinations. It's all about practice, and remembering that there is no keyway to get around once you're actually on the pin - you can use the pin chamber to straighten up your pick for better control, then tilt it again to move onto the next pin.

[boggif]

For difficult keyways one way is to angle the pick. Another method is to move the pick up while a kind of circling around the barrier. By rotating the pick you'll be able to manouver it through the keyway.

Sometimes slimmer picks and/or low picks like small hook or diamond helps. (Low picks are not good for hi/low combos though) Once you get better at manouvering the pick you'll find thicker picks easier in and the wish to take slim picks might get more rare.

[IndigoChild]

I have been seeing these keyways a lot. It is actually a Yale Y6 which is like Y1 but significantly smaller. I find that a Stainless Steel Rake from HPC gets them first try almost every time.