New to the forum (SPP)

[A9B4U]

Hi fellow lock pickers,

Im new to the forum and im looking for some advice.
Ive bought quite a few (cheaper branded) padlocks to practice on and have managed to open most them by raking , non shielded or pure luck.

I'm looking for help on how to SPP and what the best lock to buy for practice?
I'm a recovery tech by trade and have had more experience in opening car locks , (keys locked in car situation) I havent managed to open them all tho. I stumbled apon a video by Bosnianbill on YouTube and learned of locksport so thought Id like to have a go / I actually thought i would have got on a bit better but its like starting from scratch = Every day is a school day , I think its the fact that on autolock picks ive used they tell the user where the wafer positions are. I think that's what is letting me down because you're effectively doing it blind on all other types of locks. (I think)

The Lock i can't open is Chinese made , A Tri-Circle 265 bought from my local tool station at around £5 (makes me feel worse)

Anyway thanks for taking the time to read this
Any advice would be much appreciated,

Cheers Kevin

[kwoswalt99-]

Hi,
Maybe you could make a practice lock like this. http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10665

[philphot]

The PDF Gordon refers to is probably a must read for new pickers. Password is evva3ks.

Best advice I can give on picking itself, is to read Solomon's guide, found here:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jacqueline.goff/sollybook/Lockpicking%20Detail%20Overkill.pdf

He is a member here! His guide is very well written, very informative, and perhaps a little colorful on the language. However, as he says in the guide, if you don't use that language a little now, you will if you take up this hobby!

Gordon

This post from DB is very useful too.
viewtopic.php?t=10677#p117211

[GWiens2001]

If you download Solomon's gude (and you really should), the password is:

evva3ks

Read it, learn it, live it.

Gordon

[kwoswalt99-]

Hi,
I'm glad you posted that. I tried to find it before but I couldn't find it anywhere for free.

[philphot]

Hi,
I'm glad you posted that. I tried to find it before but I couldn't find it anywhere for free.

It's funny sometimes how we can't succeed for trying. When I learned of Solomon's guide from a bosnianbill video, it took me a couple days to find it. When I downloaded it I could not get it open - I just thought the file was corrupted because the error message I was getting from the Linux pdf reader was not helpful. So I kept hunting for a "good" copy, and eventually found one that worked (it was not passworded). Some time later I found this forum and learned that there was a passord for the guide and that the password was evva3ks.

I realized then that the first copy I had downloaded probably needed the password, so I went searching for it on my computer to find out. When I located the first copy I noticed that the password was embedded in the file name of the guide -- it had been staring me in the face the whole time!

[A9B4U]

Thanks the feedback
And that link to Solomon's guide (guy sounds a legend)
That's given me a whole different view on what I've been doing ,

Anyways I'm off for a practice , thumb up and cheers

Kev

[capt.dunc]

and don't feel bad, tri circles are a pain at the best of times. get something new to learn on, and before you ask what, fill out your location so people can advise.

[A9B4U]

Cheers Capt.dunc ,
I've filled in my profile now ,Still trying to find my way around the forum ,
I see you're down the road from me, TBH Its not just the Tri-Circle I'm struggling with / its all my locks when trying to SPP
I've got full + half euro cylinders , Rim cylinders and various padlocks.
Think I've been cheating myself with raking and bypass methods and thinking I can actually pick locks , I'm starting at the bottom again with SPPing

I've read Solomons write up which has helped a lot understanding about the binding order ect , I think I've just been really lucky on the car locks so far and it helps that on autolock picks it tells u the walfer positions , Noticed a few things I need to work on , heat shrink pick handles + set myself a vise up as my hands are fooking aching ,
+ lots of practice , you been at this long?