Breaking locks?

[Grudge]

I didn't break anything but when I was first starting out, I was picking my back door Kwikset and the entire core popped out in my hand . Pushed it right back in and everything was OK, but that was almost an underwear changing moment for this newbie.

So my rule of thumb is simple, don't practice on any lock you actually depend on.

[vector40]

You see? You see? This is what happens, you d*mned doomsayers. People get all freaked out.

There's nothing wrong with raking, Badmonkey. In fact, I'd be surprised if you could find many locksmiths who didn't use it first and foremost -- it's generally quick and effective.

It causes damage in the same way that cars damage the highway. Namely, slowly -.- It's undoubtedly more damaging than single-pin picking, but that's really not saying very much.

*sigh*

[Chrispy]

No one said it happens every day, and no one said it didn't happen. It's like terrorist attacks. Just because terrorists blow up trains and buses, and hijack airplanes, doesn't mean we should freak out every time we have to use public transport. Sh*t still happens though.....

[Badmonkey005]

Alright, raking = good, quick, try first.

digital... ok, now I have to know what went wrong in your lil story, too much curiosity

[wtf|pickproof?]

digital... ok, now I have to know what went wrong in your lil story, too much curiosity

The driver pins went right inside the keyways. If you were the unlucky type of lockpicker it was a masterkeyed lock and some of the small discs from the pin stack got stuck in the keyway. You might be lucky and fumble it back, but you most likely aren't, see above , or you are unlucky again and have to take the lock apart figure out which pinstack the small disks might belong to, put the lock together, and pray that your key _and_ your landlord's will still operate the lock. I'd bet you _really_ don't want to get in this situation.

I wrecked a small padlock this way. Thanks god, it was mine and useless anyways. (It wasn't masterkeyed of course, one pin just fell out)

[Badmonkey005]

lol that's no good... and knowing my luck... ohes noes

[E-Mind]

What would happen if you had _really_ tiny pliers that you could insert into the keyway, and yank out 1 bottom pin at a time - would that work?

[TOWCH]

You would be more likely to break the pliers. The bottom pins are held in place by brass in every direction but up. Maybe a steel "prank key" attached to a slide hammer would have the desired effect. It would be interesting to try but the practical uses for such a device seem limited.

[cracksman]

How about some sort of a hook that you could place at the back of the keyway and snap it forward (mechanically) to rip through all the pins at once? Would that much force damage the lock so much as to prevent the top pins from dropping down? You would still have to use a screwdriver to break through the springs. Not exactly NDE though (poor lock)

[TOWCH]

Does anyone know a source for steel blanks? I wouldn't mind giving this a shot.

[cracksman]

I'm trying to think of an alternative to a steel blank (good idea, don't think I could get one though). I had an Acura that had a screw jack. Do you think some kind of screw assembly could work as well, to draw out the hook forcefully? Would something like a beefed up key extractor work? In theory you would want to "grab" or "hook" the lower part of the pin for more leverage. I could see a lot of uses in law, or any emergency services needing quick access. I can't imagine that this has not been tried before though. I would like to try it but don't have the heart to harm any of my locks, I don't even rake them I would like to hear some more ideas though.

As of now I envision a hook on a cable that is inserted into the lock, a rubber covering goes over the keyway (probably the whole lock or knob) then a spring loaded button is pressed and *pop* -still need a relatively violent turn to cut through the springs.