Historical lockpicks

[shatar]

Would love to see a recreatation of the wattergate set without the rust...

[glens_1999]

I got into locks and lockpicking as a kid in the late 60's early 70's. You supposedly couldn't buy picks through the mail, so I got a set of templates, instructions, and spring steel pieces to make my own. I only have one left now, with a nice wood handle.

[ARF-GEF]

Am I the only one who thinks the Watergate set looks pretty much like a standard HPC?
The case is different and I see a stage looking TW but otherwise most of the picks look just like HPC to me.

[MrWizard]

Am I the only one who thinks the Watergate set looks pretty much like a standard HPC?
The case is different and I see a stage looking TW but otherwise most of the picks look just like HPC to me.

Yes they are HPC I would say. The rivets are the same and located same place. Even the wishbone wrench looks the same. That case is from some glasses for sure it isn't a pick case. Why are they rusted is the question. Is it from the Watergate breaking?

The first picks I bought were HPC and still use only HPC today. Although I do have several other sets including the Falle set. I have one pick in my everday case in my pocket it is an HPC hook and have piles of different tension tools in there made by me.

[bjornnrojb]

One of those picks looks like the "broken key extractor" picks that are sold with some commercial sets. Has anyone ever found a use for these? If they're included in eddiethewire's set he must have thought they were useful.

They work pretty well for extracting broken keys! There is a restaurant near me that calls me at 5 AM a lot because a disgruntled former employee keeps shoving beauty bark in their keyways. I like to use the key extractor to break it up and dig it out (it's wedged in there after employees attempt to force key to turn) because I don't want to mess up one of my picks. I am surprised every time that they don't buy some small skinny object to attempt this themselves and save some money. I have also talked to them about commercial keyless entry but I guess the owner doesn't mind shelling out $150 every few months.

[DonR]

I heard that Keith Melton was going to be on the G. Gordon Liddy Show one day and actually got a call in to him. I guess not that many Liddy fans knew who he was. I asked him if the CIA actually used HPC pick sets at any time that he knew of and he replied in the affirmative. They liked them because even though they have Schiller Park, Illinois or U.S. on them, they are use worldwide by Locksmiths and a lot of other people so even though they are marked that way, they don't scream "United States." Interesting take on it.

[C locked]

they are useful. For removing broken keys. Among other things. I'd wager a guess he (eddie the wire) used them to remove pick tips that broke in the lock as sometimes happens.

[phrygianradar]

Hey guys, I found these picks at a friends house. He is a car mechanic and says he got them a long time back. Although I'm not sure if you could consider them "Historic", they may be interesting to some of you guys. Perhaps you may have had the same set way back when, or now? Anyway, here they are:





In these last two pictures you can see a wish-bone shaped tension wrench in the center of the kit if you look closely.

[jeffmoss26]

I believe the Hoffman family was both H. Hoffman (distributor) and HPC (manufacturer)
H. Hoffman is now part of IDN, and HPC remains its own company.

[dll932]

I doubt they issue some particular set,
likly if the gov trains people they would only be using a hook and halfdiamond.

LEOs who have picks most likely are self supplied with the possibility of reimbursment. and the people who buy them are self selected,

Gov tends to prefer destructive methods, they are into "search and destroy" methods.

At the Spy Museum in DC, they have various entry tools on display. It amused me at the time that MY stuff was more sophisticated, but then I realized they were showing stuff they USED to use. That was true of the photo and surveillance gear as well.

[C locked]

historic picks i want to see.
... I want to mr alfred hobbs famous picks.the ones used at the great exhibition.
...I want to see picks the tomb raiders used on the ancient egyptian locks.
...i want to see the picks thieves in ancient rome used.

[madalena_martins]

[spyderco monkey]

This is the coolest Historical set I've seen so far. It's an OSS Escape Knife, issued in WWII.



This is an original OSS/CIA lock-picking escape knife. Unfortunately it did not come to me with the torsion bar and the carry pouch. It was made by Schrade for use during and after WWII. These were a MUST return item given to an agent before they were sent" behind the lines". Somehow about 20-35, of the about 500 made, are known to exist on the collector market. Very few of them are in this condition and have suffered the use of the agent trying to use the knife for exactly what it was designed for, ESCAPE! These are pretty commonly found with the tips missing from the bent picks.

http://coppercutlery.com/pages/member_002.htm

[GrzyWhop33]

I want that just for the historical value. Who am I kidding, I would end up using it.

[cuttinedge1]

Maybe in 50 years they will be looking a some lock picks we have today and talking about Bogotas and Ratyokes picks.Probably some of us will be talking (or whatever we will do in 50 years) about the good old days.