New lock suggestions

[JohnnyWalker]

No. You're fine. Those are the picks I use the most. Most of the picks in my collection are just gathering dust. The ones that you highlighted in your imagery are the small collection most of us in the lock-picking community use as our go to tools.

Personally. I use the diamond as my lifter pick. Lifter pick you say? I use that term in the sense of lifting the key pins up one by one without tilting it against the key hole. SPP basically

The hooks, like the ones you are displaying, (short and medium hook) I use for small keyholes and large ones alike applying pressure as I tilt it against the keyhole.

Thanks for your feedback, KPick. You've pretty much confirmed what I thought and that was that I already have all the tools I need to pick this lock. I'd still like to acquire one of those deforest picks in the future, but at least I know what I have so far will work on this lock. However, I must admit that I am getting a bit frustrated with this lock. Although I chose this lock because I wanted more of a challenge, I thought I would have made more progress with it by now. As of now, I'm still struggling to determine the first binding pin and setting it. All I'm able to do now is feel my hook or half diamond pushing the pins up, but none are setting for me. I think my biggest barrier in dealing with this lock are my skills, or lack thereof. Oh well, I'm just going to have to keep working on this practicing my technique and have a lot of patience.

Thanks again for your help here, KPick. I really appreciate it.

[KPick]

No. You're fine. Those are the picks I use the most. Most of the picks in my collection are just gathering dust. The ones that you highlighted in your imagery are the small collection most of us in the lock-picking community use as our go to tools.

Personally. I use the diamond as my lifter pick. Lifter pick you say? I use that term in the sense of lifting the key pins up one by one without tilting it against the key hole. SPP basically

The hooks, like the ones you are displaying, (short and medium hook) I use for small keyholes and large ones alike applying pressure as I tilt it against the keyhole.

Thanks for your feedback, KPick. You've pretty much confirmed what I thought and that was that I already have all the tools I need to pick this lock. I'd still like to acquire one of those deforest picks in the future, but at least I know what I have so far will work on this lock. However, I must admit that I am getting a bit frustrated with this lock. Although I chose this lock because I wanted more of a challenge, I thought I would have made more progress with it by now. As of now, I'm still struggling to determine the first binding pin and setting it. All I'm able to do now is feel my hook or half diamond pushing the pins up, but none are setting for me. I think my biggest barrier in dealing with this lock are my skills, or lack thereof. Oh well, I'm just going to have to keep working on this practicing my technique and have a lot of patience.

Thanks again for your help here, KPick. I really appreciate it.

No problem. If you're not getting a binding pin. It's possible that your tension wrench might be sticking to the lock body outside of the locks plug (the cylindrical piece that holds the key pins and traps the drivers) Its happened to me in the past so a probable solution to your problem might be to lift your tension wrench maybe just a 10th of an inch or as long as not as long as its not scraping against the lock body.

Tension wrenches have those 90 degree sharp angles on them so it's possible that it might be scraping the bottom of the keyhole.

Deforest? I use to use those alot. If you're going to get some, get a couple, like 2-3 of them because they are known to break. (Tip: if they break, just round off the tip and you have a good hook to reuse)

[JohnnyWalker]

No problem. If you're not getting a binding pin. It's possible that your tension wrench might be sticking to the lock body outside of the locks plug (the cylindrical piece that holds the key pins and traps the drivers) Its happened to me in the past so a probable solution to your problem might be to lift your tension wrench maybe just a 10th of an inch or as long as not as long as its not scraping against the lock body.

I thought that might have been part of the problem, too, but I've been making sure not to push my tension wrench too far into the keyway so it's not sticking to the body and that hasn't helped. I've been trying both TOK and BOK tension and neither method has worked for me up to this point. One thing I have noticed, though, is that when I use BOK tension the tensor seems to slip a little where it feels like I've rotated the cylinder but I can clearly see that it hasn't rotated, nor have any of the pins been set. That was one of the reasons I started trying to use TOK tension. I'm really hoping this is just a matter of needing more practice with this lock and refining my technique.

Deforest? I use to use those alot. If you're going to get some, get a couple, like 2-3 of them because they are known to break. (Tip: if they break, just round off the tip and you have a good hook to reuse)

Thanks for the tips. That's really good to know both of those things.

Once again, thanks for your tips and advice here, KPick. It's much appreciated.

[JohnnyWalker]

Deleted because this was an accidental double post.