Which pin to start from?

[99atlantic]

From everything i've read, people always state to start picking from the last pin forward, or possible the first pin backwards. My question relates to if you do it from the last pin and move forward - how do you know if you're on the last pin? E.g., if it's a 6pin lock, how do you know that the pick is tapping the 6th pin and not the, say, 5th pin?

Is this just something you develop over time with practice by running the pick over the pins to get a general mental layout of the inside of the lock?

[fugi]

before you put the torque wrench in, reach back and feel around with a hook or a half diamond or something, count and locate the pins. then when you apply torque put the pick all the way to the back, raise it, and move it out of the lock, the hook or diamond will snag on the pin and you'll feel it.

also, you may not want to work from the inside out, some locks don't like that, in which case you apply torque and find which pin give the most resistance, and set that one, and repeat.

the more hands on you get, the less questions you'll have to ask.

[99atlantic]

yea, i know practice makes all the difference - i spend an hour or two a day playing with my different locks. However they're not overly complex (simple 5/6pin deadbolts) so I can usually start on pin 1 (which I can see, hehe)

[fugi]

yea on my First Watch lock, which had all spool drivers and alternating regular/serrated key pins, I had to start from the front and depress pin 6 Really hard. the back just wasn't happening.