Is this a warded lock?

[ningrongsux]

Hey everyone I've always been fascinated with lock picking but never really knew where to start. Now that I have collected a few locks over the years, I now have somewhere to start. I've been doing a bit of reading about the different types of locks and how to pick them. I recently got a lock from my son. I don't really know what kind of lock it is because it seems different from the master lock that I've seen on the internet. For starters, it does not pop up when you turn the key to unlock it. I have a feeling it's a warded lock based on how the key looks. From what I know, one would require a skeleton key to open such a lock.





Does anyone know what type of lock this is? How does one pick a lock like this?

[Squelchtone]

Ahh, nice, a decent looking copy of an Abloy Disc-Detainer lock.

This has much more going on inside than a crappy Master warded lock.

Notice your key cuts are all at different angles? Imagine your old high school locker padlock where you had to dial a combination left-right-left, which would turn the 3 wheels inside to the correct spot where the locking mechanism could fall into a notch cut out in all the wheels. The Abloy (a company from Finland) mechanism is kind of like this but instead of just 3 wheels, inside there is 7 to 14 wheels and the angle of each cut on your key turns each wheel x degrees until the cut out in each wheel is all lined up and a metal rod drops into the groove in the wheels and allows the key to turn all the way.

Once the cylinder turns it allows the ball bearings holding the shackle in place to move out of the way, and then you pull the shackle up and open the lock. None of these have a spring typically, less parts to wear down.

The original Abloy mechanism from 1907 used D shaped keys (Classic), then C shaped keys (High-Profile)and now they use keys shaped like a rectangle (Disc-Lock and Exec), just like yours. Abloys are always made very well, but unfortunately some of these generic abloy clones are not built very well and you can go to places like DealExtreme.com in China and buy a disc detainer pick/decoder.

That lock you have is still hands down better than anything you'd find at Home Depot made by Master, but it's far from being impenetrable. We dont really discuss getting into them though, at least not in the low security areas of the forum. You'd need Advanced access, but dont worry about that right now.

Here's an animation to explain whats going on inside
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiPDXWHHL6U

here's a special tool do pick them:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAeYaEwq ... re=related

here's an Original Abloy mechanism animation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyB7DFtV ... re=related


Enjoy and thanks for your question,
Squelchtone

ps. Here's a set of articles by our friend Han Fey, his papers are required reading when talking about Abloy locks: http://toool.nl/Articles_by_Han_Fey