paperclip picks

[Mad Mick]

You also learn a light touch on the pins when your pick bends every time you get excited.

Good point kjj.

[Allmytimerblongtothis]

I was just asking. god.

I don't have any picks yet, but I still wanna try.

HAHA why did you ask, wanted to sound cute? dont act like you asked a normal innocent question and for no reason |people| got mad at you for it because "just asking god?" if you walked into a drivers ed office and said "yo how do you ride a segway?" you would get the same reaction as you have on this site with "yo how do you pick locks with paperclips."
search dont ask

[Serethipas]

the only time i was able to pick a lock with paperclips was AFTER i had picked a lock with proper tools before hand,because the hardest part is learning what to feel for and all that good stuff

and i wouldnt really call it picking,more or less adding tension and jamming the pick in and out as it got stuck on the wards (so i pretty much just got lucky)

-my suggestion for a "makeshift" pick is take a steakknife,and a file and brace the file in one hand,and the other end on the floor,and "cut" the file inhalf with the knife,this will most likely ruin the file by the end,but its an effective way to make 1 cheap pick in 1 night without a dremel

[Allmytimerblongtothis]

-my suggestion for a "makeshift" pick is take a steakknife,and a file and brace the file in one hand,and the other end on the floor,and "cut" the file inhalf with the knife,this will most likely ruin the file by the end,but its an effective way to make 1 cheap pick in 1 night without a dremel

ive made picks from unimold butterknifes but not a steak knife only one night to make, thats pretty quick with a file, what do you mean "cut' the file inhalf with the knife"? like scrape the edge lengthwise against it?

[pjc5757]

I would very strongly suggest practicing with paper clips. For that matter, go out of your way to try different things, even stupid things.

You also learn a light touch on the pins when your pick bends every time you get excited.

I agree with kjj. I learnt to pick (not very well, admittedly) with paperclips and technical screwdrivers. It was more down to luck and perseverance than skill but it worked, which is the whole point of picking. If you can pick with a paperclip, no matter how long it takes and how many paperclips you have to borrow from bemused colleagues (they do bend easily), you're doing alright. However, be prepared for picking to take a long, frustrating time.

Hadn't thought of using a paperclip as a tension wrench though, nice touch.

[Exodus5000]

Picking (decent) locks with paper clips is like trying to tie your shoes with boxing gloves on.

[Murph]

Why do some people ask the same question over and over? If I see one more post on how to pick locks with a paperclip I'm gonna scream.

[CaptHook]

, Murph. Didnt take long for ya at all........
Chuck

[Murph]

, Murph. Didnt take long for ya at all........
Chuck

I must be getting old. Been picking locks for only a month and a half and now I'm an old curmudgeon.

Tried to make a circular tension tool with some piano wire and a bottle cap from a Gatorade bottle with a hole cut through the center. It sort of kind of worked but no go. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

[seahawk]

i picked my first lock with paper clips at age 8 it was luck though. i would much rather use hacksaw blades/windshield wiper inserts

[^kimba^]

Although I tend to at the very least carry my lock knife style pick set and set or 5 jigglers around with me at all times, I have often been confronted with a very basic wafer lock on a filing cabinet or pedestool in an office, and found if I didn't have any tools with me, a paper clip, straigtended, then bend in half leavng a small lopp at the end, as effected a useable ball pick (wth a sort of double wire for the handle.). In conjection with a smal scredriver or flat hair clip this has often yelded the right results. In fact sometimes the paper clip is enough on it's own, just using it like an auto jiggler.

Not really picking as such, as it's totaly unskilled, but alas, such an inferiour lock I feel doesn't warrent a waste of picking skills.

[Frosty555]

Now, before I say anything I'll say that I've never picked a lock in my life, though it sounds interesting i've yet to even attempt it as of yet (soon though).

However, I do understand that paperclips easily bend in a lock if the pins are very rigid and i have a possible solution for that. In my experience, if you heat up the paperclip with a soldering iron and put just a little bit of solder on, it will absorb right into the paperclip and harden it. Makes it much more durable. Don't do it with your hands though you'll regret it. Alligator clips work good for holding the paperclip.

This doesn't help you if you're stuck in the copy max closet of course, but yea just though I'd throw my two cents in.

[hung82000]

With simple wafer locks in a pinch those cheap metal pen refills flattened out work well, and you can cut them fairly easily with a scissor. Most of the time you can use it as your torque and the pick. I wouldn't use it for anything more than a simple desk lock though.

[^kimba^]

He he very true I have used them before.

I think the most diverse set of tools I had to use was a bowie hunting knife (as a torque wrench) and a piece of donated bra wire as a pic. Obviously it wasn't the most precision engineered of locks, as I managed to open it, but at the time, it was disperate measures as we where locked in a lift!

[jason]

A couple of questions - why were you carrying a Bowie knife? and if you were stuck in a lift how would picking a lock open help?

The poor woman with the bra must've been terrified (stuck in a lift and a bloke takes out a Bowie!)

When I'm stuck in a lift I prefer to talk to the voices in my head - everybody else moves away from me.