noob in distress

[xiemox]

i have less then a month trying this lock picking as a hobbie

i finally picked one of my locks

its a master #3

has 4 pins

ive been reading and reading

i read that on most locks you have to start picking at the first lock and move on back

but on alot of them you have to start from last to first or find wich one is the "binding" pick in the lock

im having trouble finding this out

from my own little "experience" and from what i read

it should be the pin that puts up the most resistence ?

i hope i can get some help
thanx

[barbarian]

Start by reading all the guides you find here at the start of each section.

Use the key on the lock and notice how much force is required to turn the key, this is the amount of force you need to use to pick the lock.

Apply a gentle force. Put your pick in the lock and gently lift each pin. There should be one that is harder to lift. If you are careful, when you lift the pin you will feel a Small click and maybe hear it too.

Now try the other pins. Try to find the one that requires the most force to move.

Don't worry about picking the lock, just try to learn about lifting the pin and feeling it "set".

It is much easier with good quality pick tools.

Welcome to a wonderful hobby.

[xiemox]

all right..thanx alot i will do that

appreciate the help

i got one more question

are the pins supposed to stay up?

or the bottom part of the pin anyways?

i noticed it stays up sometimes..but i dont know if it does that all the time..

and yea i try to listen to the picks and springs

i can hear em drop and go up too

thanx!

[laf]

yeah most of the time when you ''set'' a pin the key pin will stay up but sometimes they can stay down. when the top pin is set and the key pin didn't stay lifted, there will be absolutely no resistance on that pin.

[xiemox]

ok

hell

i picked my lock twice today

im lifting all 3...

the last one is the one im having trouble with..

im pissed off!!!!! ;|

and my fingers hurt

[5thcorps]

Welcome to the club. After strengthening your muscles with a lot of practice the pain you'll fell will get easier. But again, read everything on here. Especially digitalblue's exercises, they are the bible of locksport

[Emrys]

Some good advice that I can give you is to buy some kind of door lock (euro cylinders or plugs would be preferred for ease) and take all the pins out. Then, cut groves in the pin channels to watch how the lock operates. This will give you a very good idea of relating feeling to what is actually happening in the lock. Or suck it up and buy one of those trainer locks that are all over the internet that already have the groves in them.

The gist of what you are going for is relating what you feel in the lock to what you can see happening. This will help build an image in your mind later while picking a nontraining lock.

-Rob