Starter lock

[TL9791]

I want to start lock picking as a sport, but I can't afford to buy a starter kit for the practice lock. Can you recommend me a good lock to start practicing on?

[Solomon]

The Master Lock no. 3 is highly recommended as a beginners lock, but the feedback isn't the best and they're not very good quality. Pick one up anyway though, and get yourself some other cheap padlocks from the market or on ebay to try your luck with while you're at it. You can always let us know what you're looking at before buying so we can give you an idea of what you'll be up against.

It's not all about padlocks though! Sometimes the spring resistance of the key return (which most padlocks have) can make it more difficult to get the right amount of tension... it's not a big deal, but some guys seem to have an issue with it so you may want to try and get your hands on some old cylinders instead. What country do you live in? If you're in the US, try a basic Kwikset or Weiser. If you're in the UK, ERA cylinders are pretty easy. Older cylinders made by Union and Yale are also really good for beginners, although the newer ones are far better made and also contain security pins - so if you're looking at those brands, keep this in mind. If you live somewhere else in europe (or otherwise) and this doesn't help, it's all good. There are guys from all over the place here.

Any "no name" brand is good for starting out aswell, as long as they have some degree of build quality anyway. You want something that's decently made and gives you good feedback, so you can tell what's going on in the lock and learn from it. Providing you have good technique, if you're having a hard time feeling what's happening in there, it's either a very good lock or a really terrible one. As many will tell you, sometimes the cheapest locks can be extremely difficult to pick because they're just so badly made! So yeah, don't buy the cheapest thing you can get your hands on... you can get "proper" second hand locks for the same amount, you just need to look a little harder.

[TL9791]

Hm thanks for the reply. I didn't manage to find any of the deadbolt brands that you listed, but I managed to pick up different brand deadbolt that would work. Though I did manage to somehow kill one spring and lose another.

[Kaotik]

A good tip that was mentioned here before was to pull the cylinder inside of a large ziplock style bag so that if part go flying, they won't fly out in the open.

I think I seen this one here too. It was a small rack with grooves that you can use to lay out pins and springs in the same order as they would appear in the lock. I made mine from a wood paint mixing stick and filed grooves in it with a rat tail/round file, sprayed some clear coat on it to finish it off nicely, then applied a strip of bicycle inner tube on the bottom with a spray adhesive so it doesn't slide around on the table.

[Solomon]

Hm thanks for the reply. I didn't manage to find any of the deadbolt brands that you listed, but I managed to pick up different brand deadbolt that would work. Though I did manage to somehow kill one spring and lose another.

It isn't really necessary to take them apart and repin them one at a time. It might speed up your learning curve a little, but it's not something you really have to do unless you're having loads of trouble... in which case I'd say it's better to take out a pin at a time, rather than starting with one and working upwards. If you're losing springs, do what Kaotik said and use a ziplock bag to catch them. If you remove your plug follower nice and slow they shouldn't really go flying all over the place though... I've only taken a couple of locks apart before, but a couple of the springs actually managed to stay in their chambers somehow so I can't see the chances of them flying off somewhere being too high.

Also, out of curiosity which brand of lock did you buy? The reason I ask is that you could live somewhere where a particular brand of high security lock is commonplace... ASSA are the most common locks in sweden, for example, and even their standard pin tumblers are very difficult to pick.

[ElbowMacaroni]

One suggestion about padlocks to practice with would be to avoid the "fortress" brand. You could probably shake them alot and open it... ok while that's an exaggeration, it's not by much, you can easily open the ones I've bought with two tension wrenches; one as the tension wrench, the other as just something to stick in the keyway, don't even have to jiggle or anything, by the time it's to the back of the keyway the lock opens... some fortress...

-EM

[ElbowMacaroni]

Oh DUH! As far as a good initial practice lock, a cheap kwikset deadbolt is good. They are easy to repin, so it's very easy to do the add a pin learning method suggested in DB's fine tutorial.

-EM

[TL9791]

I think I picked up a mountain brand deadbolt. I also managed to pick up a master lock no. 3, which gave me no trouble at all. I'll probably go back to the deadbolt, for I bought a double keyed deadbolt so both sides needs keys. Thanks for the advice.

[Solomon]

I think I picked up a mountain brand deadbolt. I also managed to pick up a master lock no. 3, which gave me no trouble at all. I'll probably go back to the deadbolt, for I bought a double keyed deadbolt so both sides needs keys. Thanks for the advice.

Hmm, I did a little search on those... walmarts very own brand! I'd say that's a good starter lock, as there are probably no security pins in there and the tolerances will be pretty forgiving. It's probably more difficult than the master (at least I'd like to think so), and you should be able to repin it aswell so you made a good choice. Once you can pick it consistently, see if you can get some security pins and repin it with those for some added fun.

[MacGnG1]

get a double kwikset deadbolt. one to stay pinned to the key and another to repin. ~12 bucks

[ElAbogado]

I want to start lock picking as a sport, but I can't afford to buy a starter kit for the practice lock. Can you recommend me a good lock to start practicing on?

I would suggest a five pin Kwikset cylinder. Start with only one pin in the first chamber, pick it, then add another to make a 2 pin lock, progressing all the way to five cylinders. Then rearrange the bottom pins a few times to make it a bit different. After that, a master No. 3 (older one) is a good second lock. Avoid Schlage brand pin tumblers when you start, and American pin tumbler locks. Soon you will be knocking them down one after the other.

As for picks, I recommend the "Bill DeForrest Sr." hook/diamond combination for single pin picking.