Basic Tools for Lever Locks

[tuscarora]

I've been picking pin and tumbler locks for a while now and enjoying it - but I wanna have a shot at a lever lock. I've read up on their principle of operation, but everything I've made so far is for pin and tumbler.

I just wanted to ask your advice on what type of tools you'd recommend for getting started on lever picking. I'm thinking simple stuff like 3-5 levers, no curtains, like a back door lock.

I've seen 2-in-1 picks, and those look pretty good, but I also noticed they come in a lot of different tang (well, the tension part and pick part) sizes and it looks like a lot of work in making one. I don't want it turn out like my first hook pick - perfect for the £1 lock that I made it for and too big for everything else! I'd be keen to make one of these, but would like some advice on what the most versatile size is, or any other general tips before I start fabricating.

I've got a good wee store of stock now, some coathanger wire and some steel bars that could maybe be fashioned into something approximating a few picks.

Planning on getting started on the levers over the weekend, it seems like a fun picking process.

[femurat]

I played with a lever lock and it was a very interesting experience. For that lock a coat hanger was enough. Now I'm looking for a (cheap) curtained one, when I'll find one I'll think about making better tools.

Cheers

[raimundo]

keep building the pix for the specific lock you have to practice on, this way you will learn how to make them to work, after that, you can make variations for applications different from the specific lock you practice on. Build quite a few as you learn to build them and use them and modify them when you learn new things to do with them.
Don't be completly new and expect to build a universal pick without experience in building them and modifying them for specific purposes, you need the experience to know what you want to build.
To build really good ones, build a lot of them and refine them as you get better.

[tuscarora]

Cheers femurat, that's good to know that some coathanger will get me started.

Yeah rai that's a good point. My first hook pick was eyeballed from a template. The next one was a combination of template and thought, and my last two have been made to what I considered would be useful proportions. I don't think I would have learned as much if I had just printed and transferred the templates onto metal and chopped away without thinking about them myself. I guess it's the same process with every type of pick and lock until you've built up a lot of experience.

I think I'll start with coathanger and use that to find what sort of tang sizes are most useful. Once I get a better idea of things I'll invest the time in making a 2-in-1.

[ToolyMcgee]

Coat hanger can work for lifting levers, but it's often not tough enough to throw the bolt. Bike spokes, piano wire, and even lamp shades can use wire strong enough to fit the bill. Really slim hooks won't work well as lifters, but thicker knife steel has made me a couple nice ones. Just gotta polish them up smooth.

Illusion has a great guide.... here http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10743

-Tooly

[sparkster]

I use bike spokes to make a lot of my picks, also the skeleton of an umbrella comes in handy as well, both these items are strong enough to do the task.

[raimundo]

A guy I know in the scrap metal business, once had a pile of old computers, keyboards, and various printers. this was all being broken down into scrap.

I found that under the space bar on the keyboards, there were wires with L shaped bends in them and the wire was hardened in that position. Now every time I find an old discarded keyboard, I tear off that space bar and look for the wire. Im not saying that its there in every keyboard, but a lot of old ones have it.

Printers have long rods, some of them with interesting parts machined onto the rods, and these can be cut to other purposes.

The thing is that all of this is hardened wire, and the tips that are on them are often machined out of the same barstock, rather than soldered from another piece of metal. Its always better if you can make it from one piece, rather than using something that has two pieces hitched together by whatever means.

Learn to look at scrap metal items with a projected use in mind and then take the metal and modify it.

[tuscarora]

Cheers for the tips. Picked myself up a 3 Lever ERA yesterday and spent a productive wee while making a transparent cover from a CD case (worked better than I expected! Good 'ol Dremel..). Found my wee brother's old bike in the shed in the yard and nicked a couple of spokes off that.

Gonna make my bolt thrower and a wire pick now and have a go. Mechanism's a bit stiff with the key, with the benefit of the cover I can see that this is because the key isn't cut high enough to properly lift the first lever. Typical ERA quality control, eh?

Haha, I know what you're saying about looking at scrap metal for parts rai.. I got myself a 3 lever overlifter today on the way to work - there it was just sitting in the alley, wee key shaped thing just needs a 90º bend put in it and it's ready to rock. I walk about with my eyes open all the time these days, got quite a collection of metal building up although most of it's pin and tumbler tool oriented. Also I run a couple of Xerox presses at work that are constantly breaking down and needing parts changed, have raided several chunky bits of stock and some springs from them!

[TOWCH]

Cheers for the tips. Picked myself up a 3 Lever ERA yesterday and spent a productive wee while making a transparent cover from a CD case (worked better than I expected! Good 'ol Dremel..). Found my wee brother's old bike in the shed in the yard and nicked a couple of spokes off that.

Gonna make my bolt thrower and a wire pick now and have a go. Mechanism's a bit stiff with the key, with the benefit of the cover I can see that this is because the key isn't cut high enough to properly lift the first lever. Typical ERA quality control, eh?

Haha, I know what you're saying about looking at scrap metal for parts rai.. I got myself a 3 lever overlifter today on the way to work - there it was just sitting in the alley, wee key shaped thing just needs a 90º bend put in it and it's ready to rock. I walk about with my eyes open all the time these days, got quite a collection of metal building up although most of it's pin and tumbler tool oriented. Also I run a couple of Xerox presses at work that are constantly breaking down and needing parts changed, have raided several chunky bits of stock and some springs from them!

If the lock has a curtain: I think the problem you've run in to is misalignment of the keyhole in the clear cover. My Chubb 110 has the same problem if you turn the key wrong.

[tuscarora]

Well I made a tensioner and a pick and I've been having a go with them. Here's a couple of pics of the lock and my tools. Quite satisfying picking a lever lock, throwing that bolt is considerably better than turning a wee cylinder in the pin and tumblers.







A couple of things though - when I'm picking the lock open the two levers at the back (closest to the bolt) have to be lifted together. No matter what I do I can't get them to bind one at a time. Is that something that you often come across in lever locks? Or have ERA managed to outdo themselves with this one?

Also when I'm picking the lock I tend to engage the tension and use the tensioner's shaft to apply torque to the levers with the pick - ie. I'm turning against that rather than the keyhole. Bad? Good? Indifferent? Any tips on picking techniques would be much appreciated.

Got a Chubb 5 lever sash lock on the way next and plans in my head for how to build a couple of curtain style picks or other two in one stylee thangs.