by Jacob Morgan » 11 Jan 2017 22:32
Noticed the other day that I have spent way too much money on locksmith books. Some were money well spent, others not so much. Thought that I would write a brief review of them so others could weigh for themselves if it would be a worthy expenditure or not. If anyone else has some lock books, please review them too--that might save people money or point some of us in the direction.
The National Locksmith Guide to: Picking and Impressioning by Robert G. Sieveking, copyright 1991, 155 pages, 5.5" X 8.5". No ISBN number.
Contents:
1. Warded Locks
2. Wafer Locks. Includes double sided locks
3. Automotive Side Bar Locks (using rocker picks and ways of bypassing the sidebars)
4. Ford 10 Wafer Locks
5. Pin Tumbler Locks
6. Shim Picking(a work bench method)
7. Rapping (a work bench method)
8. Pick Gun
9. Paracentric Keyways and Pick Resistant Pins. Goes over comb picking, reverse picking, using a pick gun, and SPP'ing mushroom pins. He also goes over how to best use pick resistant pins when pinning a lock. Ends with a suggestion to just impression if all else fails.
10. Plug Spinners
11. Tubular Locks
12. Lever Tumbler Locks. Includes a sketch of a home-made tool for lever mortise locks.
13. Push Key Style Padlocks
14. Principles of Impressioning
15. Impressioning Tools
16. Impressioning Warded Locks
17. Impressioning Wafer Locks
18. Impressioning Pin Tumbler Locks
19. Bind and Pull Method
20. Bind and Tap Method
21. Impressioning Tubular Locks
22. Impressioning Lever Tumbler Locks
This book was written by Robert Sieveking, a prolific writer for the National Locksmith. He has a no-nonsense writing style and is very systematic in what he covers. Photos are black and white but are crisp and get the point across.
It is slightly dated in that the automotive sections may not be that useful anymore, he does not go over bumping, this was before the Bogota type rakes were in common use, and the Dires impressioning tool he spends a couple of pages on has not been available for years.
Overall this book was very interesting and useful. He is not trying to brag or impress anyone, he is just a tradesman recording the nuts and bolts of picking and impressioning. The book does a good job of going over the basics, some advanced methods, and includes some points and hints that I had not seen before (e.g., not in Phillip's book). Personally, I would give it a thumbs up.
