Excitement abounds!!!

[LocksportSouth]

I found an old one of these in the back of my lock bag the other day, made by some company called something like "Go" or whatever, it was a small brass travel lock with the body about the size of your thumb nail. Old, dirty and abandoned at the bottom of a messy lock bag. I was struggling to figure out how I'd pick it when the keyway is literally the length of a tension wrench and no longer. So I stuck my tension wrench in, tensioned a bit, and... It opened. Took it out, locked the lock, put it back in, twisted... Open. Tried a few more times. Either the pins has seized up of the key bitting is -literally- for show and all it takes is a lil metal stick to rotate the plug, to unlock the lock. Kinda cute and hilarious .

That's suprising, usually those luggage locks don't even have pins or a plug.

Ohh, nono, sorry, I know what locks you're referring to. This one is actually a proper padlock, it was sold at an airport as a luggage lock so that's why I mentioned it was a luggage lock, but not that one-piece style that you get in crackers and such. Here's some pics:





Anything will open it



Sorry for hijacking your thread, Woodrow. How's the picking going?

[Foulke62]

Save those Masters! As you progress to other locks, you will get stuck on one. I find it calms me down to take a break from the hard ones and pop open a few Masters. Helps my reset my confidence

[Woodrow]

LocksportSouth,

No worries. I didn't take it as a hi-jack. My little lock is so simple that after a couple of unlockings I didn't bother again.

Foulke62,

Thanks! I'll keep all the locks. I'll have to run over to Home Depot this evening to get some more locks on the list that bosnianbill recommends.

[GWiens2001]

That little one is even more secure than a TSA lock! Keep it!

Gordon

[Woodrow]

I bought a new Master No. 3 last week and gave it a try twice for a short time. No luck. Really rough lock like it was all chewed up inside.

Last night I lubed it with some powdered graphite and SPP'ed on it again. I kept giving up and would let off the tension slowly and hear 3 pins click. So I had 3 out of 4 but couldn't get the 4th to set.

I tried it again and when I thought I had 3 pins set I pushed quite hard on the last pin. It snapped open! I opened it again fairly fast several more times for a total of about 10 +/- openings.

Is it common for a pin to be a real booger like that? The other locks I have picked have been around a while so maybe they had loosened up some. Maybe the 'newness' was the problem.

Anyway, according to bosnianbill's lock progression recommendations I now need to try a 5 pin lock.

Any suggestions on which 5 pin lock to buy at one of the big box stores?

Also, should I start shopping ebay for used locks to pick or would I be jumping the gun?

[LocksportSouth]

I have a few Master No.3s and I know what you're mean, they're all gritty and grimy inside. Makes picking tougher for a newbie - I guess that's their security highlight

BosnianBill has a video with some recommended picking progression locks - Here's the link.

eBay and charity shops / car boot sales (or goodwill / yard sales if you're in the US) are a good place to pick up cheapie locks, with or without keys, but remember that some may be dirty inside or have other problems that you don't know about. Still, it's a cheap way to pick up a lot of locks. You can also check lock-n-store type places to see if they keep a bin of locks that have had to be cut off of storage units due to non-payment, or get friendly with a local locksmith and see if they can keep by and unused / no-keys locks that they come across.

[Woodrow]

Yep, I'm using that bosnianbill video for recommendations. The problem is that after the Master No. 3 he says to get a Wilson Bohannon or Master 5 pin lock with no security pins but he doesn't say which models would fit that requirement. I'm wondering which models of lock at a big box store would meet that recommendation. I'd like to stick with the progression bosnianbill recommends.

[LocksportSouth]

Ahh, fair play. I'm afraid I can't help you here but maybe someone else can pitch in and then you can search eBay for the lock you need. Alternatively, you could always make a "Lock wanted" post in the Buy-Sell-Trade subforum of this board and point to the video and see if anyone has the WB lock that you need and would be willing to trade.

I do sympathise - I tried to follow BB's suggestions but you really can't get WB locks here in the UK, in fact a few of his recommended ones are hard to find.

[GrzyWhop33]

Woodrow: Maybe it's time you move up to something a little more challenging. Maybe Master 140. One spool to make it interesting. They're more fun anyway.

That's the lock I started on. It's a good one to get the feel of a security pin.