A few newbie questions, I did try to find the answers.

[gaudard]

Ok, I read the guide by db about taking apart a lock and picking it one pin at a time. Sounds like a good place to start, but what kind of lock do I buy to take apart? I bought a lock that would be on a door, not a dead bolt but it doesn't seem to be one that can be taken apart.. is there any type of guide on what type of locks to buy and/or how to take them apart. I looked for screws, none. There was some kind of clip... I broke that, but it would still not come apart.

Also, are there any good video tutorials... I'm assuming there are but you don't point them out because it's easier to learn, thus increasing the chance malicious people can learn quicker?

Practice locks? I seen several practice locks on lockpickshop.com are any better than the others? I would think it would be easier to practice with the real thing?

And how do I know what kind of lock one is? Are all Dead Bolts the same? If I see pins are they most likely a pin and tumber?

If this is covered somewhere, just referance the thread. I'm still in the process of reading the MIT guide.


Thanks,

[Octillion]

I'd say, take apart any cheap locks you have, even if that means destroying them. You will learn way more by doing this than reading anything.

I wouldn’t bother with practice locks. If you are patient and persistent in practicing picking on some Kwiksets or other easy locks, you will learn just as much as any practice lock will teach you. And practice locks probably encourage you to take in more visual feedback than you should, making it hard for you to move onto real locks in which you can’t see anything inside as you pick.

But I’d say:
Read the MIT guide until you understand how picking works
Get some practice locks from your neighbor’s basement or the hardware store
Rip a few locks apart to see how they work
Practice over and over and over, starting with one pin, then two, then three…
Practice over and over
Practice some more

Seriously, practicing is the best and only way to learn how to pick.

[gaudard]

Ok, my brother did manage to take it apart... Brute Force can work wonders. Though it does make me wonder how a lock is rekeyed...Since it was so difficult.

[gaudard]

Sorry for the double post...

Also, when practicing with just a lock, do you have some type of stand built? Or lock them in a vice or what?

[Octillion]

Some locks can be repinned by removing a clip or some screws at the top of the lock, so the springs, driver pins, and bottom pins are all directly accessible.

Otherwise, take off whatever is securing the plug in place on the back of the lock, put in the key, and push out the plug with a plug follower behind it so the driver pins and springs don't shoot out. The bottom pins will be in the plug you just pulled out.

[Octillion]

I usually pick locks just holding them in my hand, but some people like to use a hobby vise, or mount them to a wooden board as they would be in an installation.

[p1ckf1sh]

Practice locks? I seen several practice locks on lockpickshop.com are any better than the others? I would think it would be easier to practice with the real thing?

Easier, no, not necessarily. I don't know what kind of practice locks you refer to. Some offer regular locks that are only configured with 3 pins, that certainly makes it easier for a start. Some are offering locks that have been modified to allow taking a look inside the lock while picking, either cutaway slots are machined into the locks are parts of the lock are removev and replaced by some plexiglass. These locks do you good because you get a visual representation of what you do to the lock while moving the pick and they allow to see if a pin is really at shearline. But the risk is that you will start to depend on the visual side and not concentrate on the mechanical feedback the lock gives. With cutaways that show the shearline it is especially bad, because the entire feedback might be totally different sa that you get from a non-cutaway lock of the same type. So, I think these things have a use, but once you have taken a look at them to find out what's going on inside, you should put them away and use real locks to train the relevant skills. Go back to them for reference if you want to know how this or that pick or rake acts inside and then take that knowedge and transfer it to the real locks.

If this is covered somewhere, just referance the thread. I'm still in the process of reading the MIT guide.

I'd suggest you read the guide not in one piece but only the relevant parts about basic picking, then put it away to get some hands-on-experience, then go back to refer to it with specia problems. I think the term guide is misleading, don't get me wrong, it is a great document, but it is too... much. Too condensed. If you read through the guide start to end there is so much information gathered that most people can probably not comprehend and apply it afterwards. Some of the chapters require you to actually have ripped a lock apart before you can really understand them. I think that is my opinion solely, you can share it, but you can't take it away from me.

I can't give advice regarding which locks to disassemble and which not. I do not know the US lock market too well, I am bound to euro-cylinders. But there are certainly lots of threads on how to disassemble various tyoes of locks. That has nothing to do with educating the malicious, by the way. If some burglar is already as far as holding the lock in his hands, he won't bother to repin it. He will just take your TV and leave.

[devildog]

There's a really good step by step guide on how to take a lock apart for repinning and then put it back together around here somewhere; check the 'guides,faq' section of the forum and just start sifting and reading.

Besides a lock to rip apart--buy a masterlock, buy two or three (different models that don't come together in one package that way they're pinned differently); they're really easy to pick once you get the basic hang of it, you can learn how to shim a lock with them, and they're EVERYWHERE--they're by FAR the most popular padlock in the U.S. so it's very practical to know how to work with them.

[devildog]

Oh, and if you're going to walmart looking for locks (as you probably are) then you won't find any 'kwiksets' and will subsequently become confused. Walmart doesn't sell that brand, they sell knock-offs (they're walmart) that, for all practical purposes, are totally identical to kwikset; if you go there what you want is either a 'Brinks' or 'Moutain Security' deadbolt to play with. They're both about $10, use exactly the same keyway as a kwikset, and are otherwise identical. If you go to an Ace hardware, they do actually carry kwikset, so you can just get that.

[gaudard]

Thanks!

[stealthlocks]

go to a double glazing installer they have all the old doors they have removed, They will gladly let you take the old locks, and doors if you ask them nicely

[algygale]

Some locks can be repinned by removing a clip or some screws at the top of the lock, so the springs, driver pins, and bottom pins are all directly accessible.

Otherwise, take off whatever is securing the plug in place on the back of the lock, put in the key, and push out the plug with a plug follower behind it so the driver pins and springs don't shoot out. The bottom pins will be in the plug you just pulled out.

I have been taking my locks apart & not putting the clip on the back on.
So the plug moved out a slight bit when i picked it & the pin & spring jumped in the next hole jamming up the lock.
I broke one of the springs in the process...do these springs come in a re-pinning set? or are there any springs from anything else that will fit?