Buy Once, Cry Once

[Leatherman]

I have absolutely no experience in picking locks, but I am looking forward to getting started. I work a lot of hours, I am building an addition on my house, and I have lots of other responsibilities and hobbies, so I want to make the most of whatever time I can devote to learning this new skill.

Since I will only be practicing on my own locks, I won't have much of a variety to learn on. All the locks on my house are keyed the same, so the only different door hardware I can practice on would be the door to my barn. I also have a lot of padlocks I can practice on, but they are pretty much all Master locks, and again, many of them are all keyed the same, so not much variety there.

I'm seriously thinking about buying one of the training station kits that I see offered at LockPickShop.com, but I would like your thoughts on going that route.

The main advantage I see in purchasing a kit like that would be being able to leave it set it up right here in my home office. I believe I would be more likely to spend time practicing if I could simply swivel my chair around from my computer and practice at my convenience.

The other obvious advantages are having a wide variety of locks to practice on, being as comfortable as possible while practicing, and being able to practice in complete privacy.

So, I've laid out my thought process and now I welcome your input. Should I 'buy once and cry once' and buy a big training station kit, or should I start out with a small set of picks and practice on what existing locks I have and then expand from there?

Whether or not you feel a big kit is the way to go or just a set of picks, I would appreciate your recommendations on which products I should purchase. I'm not looking to for a career as a locksmith, I'm just interested in learning the craft.

[Yoder]

I'm fairly new myself, so take this with a grain of salt, but I bought one of the cheaper stations with the progressive locks. I feel it was totally worth it. I had started out a few months before that trying to pick random padlocks and cylinders one of my friends had. The progressive locks that came with the station, especially the cutaway, made all the difference for me. Single pin picking didn't make since for me untill I could watch the pins set while listening and feeling for the click.

I also ended up with a "drilled and tapped" cylinder so I could re-key it whenever I wanted. That was a very valuable training aid as well. To add to that, when I bought the stand I knew it came with picks, but didn't care. I already had a cheap SouthOrd set. The ones that came with the stand ended up having the reinforced handles, so they were a lot more comfortable then the picks I had.

Worth every penny!

[Onz]

First thing I say is Welcome, and the second is "Don't be picking locks in use". You might stuff up the insides by jamming the pick in the lock.
Third is if you pick 10 master #3 locks (Bidding might be close together) they will never be the same. Indeed they will have the same tactics like pin 4 has a spool in all locks but the binding order will not be the same. This is caused by a manufacturing problem where the drills get worn out and is not 100% the same diameter on all pin holes.
Forth is a suggestion: Get a IC (Interchangeable core) Lock. Where you can pull the lock apart and have only the core instead of the padlock. Usually you'll notice 2 circles that indicates one. When it's unlocked you can screw out a screw where the shackle comes from.

In my Lockwood 234/45 padlock you'll get a core that looks like this: http://windywindycitytech.files.wordpre ... =320&h=240 this makes it so you can repin the lock and get better with only 1 lock! Breakdown of the lock here: http://windywindycitytech.wordpress.com ... k-padlock/

Good luck by the way.

[cuttinedge1]

I really dont think that a lot of locks are necessary. i started with a kwickset deadbolt that could be easily repined. Then from there I learned to pick an american 5200. If you want to save some money just find a hard lock and work up to that.

[Kridge]

Can't say that I know much about those training station kits...though they don't really look like they'll give you much variety in the way of key profiles.

I definitely second Onz's advice about not picking locks in use....big no no that only tempts Murphy's Law.

I'd say for the price of those kits, you can pick up a decent number of new locks at the hardware store...
Kwikset locks are easy enough to come by and easy to start with.
Schlage's commercial grade deadbolts can be a little more tricky to open...they'll definitely have security pins to cut your teeth on.
Brinks padlocks are overpriced, but I've found some of them (model 527 for example), to have a lot of security pins and provide a nice challenge.

It's really nice to be able to try a variety of different kinds of locks though. Door locks feel different than padlocks, and padlocks can all vary depending on the type (e.g. Diskus style vs typical shackle padlocks and shackle padlocks with or without springloaded cylinders).

Not sure where you're located, but around here there are a number of ReStore locations that I have an easy time finding used locks of all variety for CHEAP. You may have similar luck at any of your local junk shops. It even pays sometimes to ask around at yardsales, as a lot of times people will have a few locks they've lost the keys for.

My point is, those kits are available...but for the cost you can easily find more of a variety new and used locks that will be a better bang for your buck. It's a good idea to not get stuck on one specific cylinder, or even one type of cylinder. Even if you repin the cylinders in those kits, they'll always bind in the same order, which will cease to be a challenge in fairly short order.

[GWiens2001]

Not to be critical, but have never seen a Master No. 3 with any security pins. Perhaps you mean another number.

Gordon

[parkourer]

That actually depends entirely on you. For me, i didn't want to spend more than 10 dollars on picks. I bought them from SouthOrd. I bought a hook and rake pick to start off. I started off in a Master Deadbolt, then went and bought some Master Padlock No. 3's. Currently I am on security pin padlocks.

However, the benefit of buying a set is that you get everything from the start, and don't have to buy anything else. However, it is a bigger sum.

BTW: Can anyone suggest a good I.C lock?

[Leatherman]

I thought I would post an update. I ended up getting the "Locksmith School In A Box Progressive Lock Picking Learning System - ST-23 " along with the "Fourteen Piece Lock Pick Set - PXS-14", both by Southard.




I mainly ended up with these choices due to availability. I wanted to get started practicing right away and the only physical store I found which I would have easy access to did not have a lot to choose from.

If you are not familiar with the ST-23 learning system, it comes with five practice cylinders which will all open with the same key, but each cylinder has a different number of pins. Cylinder number one only has one pin, cylinder number two has two pins, and so on. The idea is to progressively increase your skill level with each cylinder as you practice.

I did not time myself, but I'm sure it was only a few minutes (3-4) before I was through all three of the first three cylinders. I was not surprised when I got through the first two cylinders quickly, but getting through number three quickly made me think I had just wasted my money and that this practice set was junk, because there was no way that lock picking was this easy.

When I got to cylinder number four my attitude changed though, as I quickly realized this was not going to be as easy as the first three cylinders. Again, I did not time myself, but cylinder number four took me quite some time (45-60 minutes). Even though I wasn't ready, I went ahead and moved on to cylinder number five, which also took me an hour or better to get open and even when I did get it open it was more luck than skill.

Bottom line, this kit was not a waste of money. I do feel that this progressive system is a good way to get started in this hobby. I'm not really progressing at this point though. I feel I'm almost going backwards at times, due to me changing my style, trying to find an easier method.

I started out using mainly the diamond pick, or half diamond, whatever it's called. I still think that is my favorite, but I've spent just as much time with the short hook, as most of the YouTube videos I've watched seem to favor hooks over the diamond.

I'm not real happy with any of the tension tools I have. The PXS-14 kit came with four tension tools, two of which appear identical. I've actually cut one of those two identical tools down a bit, so instead of being about 9/16" long, it is only about 1/4".

I've tried playing around with having the tension tool at both the top and bottom of the lock and with the tool hanging out to both the right or left sides. I've also used the thinner tool inserted so it points straight down. Having the thin tool pointed straight down is one of the positions I favor. It allows me to use the flat surface of the tool as a nice smooth platform in which to slide and pivot my picks on.

Overall, thanks to this site and YouTube I think I have a good understanding of the basics of lock picking, but I need a lot of practice. I certainly don't hear any of the clicks people talk about when the individual pin finally sets. I can't say I can even definitively feel the point at which they set. I'm hoping that is due to how new these cylinders are, as opposed to lack of ability on my part.

Luckily, I am blessed with an enormous amount of patience for tedious activities such as this, so I'm confident that if I put the time in, I'll be able to improve, but as challenging as cylinders number four and five are for me right now I've got my work cut out for me. I really think having a different set of tension tools would help me the most. It seems to me that the tension tool is more important than the pick and I'd welcome any suggestions you may have on your favorite tension tool(s).

[billdeserthills]

My fav tension tool is the hpc TR-4. I have lots of tension wrenches shaped like yours & I hate them. They work ok for me when I'm opening a lock like a kwikset if I am putting the wrench in the lower part of the keyway, but I dislike using them for anything else. Even with the TR-4 tension wrench I find I only ever use one side of the wrench, and that is the side with the twist. I like it best for top of lock tensioning, especially on a schlage lockset. It is also good for a master padlock but I grind half of it down so I can get more room underneath the tension wrench for my picking tools. It really is a world of difference and I'm gonna tell again for like the 5th time how to make your own tension wrench because the ergonomics feels soo right, not because I like to save money.
Get a wire hanger & cut a piece off it, maybe 4 inches long. Now bend an "L" shape about a 1/2 inch long on each end, this way you can make two dif tension wrenches. Find a place to pound the short ends flat enough to use as a tension wrench. You may need to dress them up with a file or a grinder. This-type tool is my preferred shape for top of keyway tension as you can get it entirely out of the way of the rest of the lock you are working on & that increases the amount of work area you will have. Everything you can do to make it easier on yourself is a big plus, especially in the beginning. Also don't forget to use some light spray lubricant before you pick a lock.

[billdeserthills]

My fav tension tool is the hpc TR-4. I have lots of tension wrenches shaped like yours & I hate them. They work ok for me when I'm opening a lock like a kwikset if I am putting the wrench in the lower part of the keyway, but I dislike using them for anything else. Even with the TR-4 tension wrench I find I only ever use one side of the wrench, and that is the side with the twist. I like it best for top of lock tensioning, especially on a schlage lockset. It is also good for a master padlock but I grind half of it down so I can get more room underneath the tension wrench for my picking tools. It really is a world of difference and I'm gonna tell again for like the 5th time how to make your own tension wrench because the ergonomics feel soo right, not because I like to save money, but that works too.
Get a wire hanger & cut a piece off it, maybe 4 inches long. Now bend an "L" shape about a 1/2 inch long on each end, this way you can make two dif tension wrenches. Find a place to pound the short ends flat enough to use as a tension wrench. You may need to dress them up with a file or a grinder. This-type tool is my preferred shape for top of keyway tension as you can get it entirely out of the way of the rest of the lock you are working on & that increases the amount of work area you will have. Everything you can do to make it easier on yourself is a big plus, especially in the beginning. Also don't forget to use some light spray lubricant before you pick a lock.

[billdeserthills]

Oopsie, double posty
And to think I can get a third post for this crummy note.
If only I could spend the excess postings

[spandexwarrior]

+1 for the HPC TR-4. I mainly use the Peterson Pry Bars but the TR-4 is my #3 and then assorted other wrenches for special situations where neither of the above fit or I have to do BOK tension and the others aren't good fits.

-Brian

[Erlstn]

If you are just starting out I would tell you that you can learn a lot from one lockset. Buy one or use one of your own but take it off the door and plan to keep it off for awhile. Take it apart, get all the parts out of it and put it together a few times so you can see how they work. This alone will take some time. Then, get some picking tools and learn how to pick it open. There are all kinds of ways to learn and using this website is huge...but like I said at the start, you can learn a lot from one lockset.