I finaly figured out why applying little tension against security pins never worked for me, when I made an Iseo cuttaway last night... it turns out what I considered "normal" tension is in fact "light" tension... what I considered "light" tension wasn't eveb enough to hold the pins up..... I guess I'll stick to what I previously thought as "normal tension".
back on topic:
The pin which binds won't be much harder to lift than the others, but it will feel different... try to feel for this difference.... find it, lift, it, keep going until the resistance felt whilst lifting it dissappears.... if you were to have a cuttaway lock you would now see the top pin stuck in the lock housing and the bottom pin by it's self... the spring pushes down on the top pin which then pushes the bottom pin... if the top pin is trapped in the lock housing it can no longer push down so the bottom pin can be effortlessly lifted with the pick - this will help you to tell which pins are set in the lock... the ones which can be lifeted with no effort are set - the ones which feel springy when you lift them are not set.
If it becomes REALLY hard to lift the pins you are either:
1: applying too much tension, try using a little less
2: you have false-set a security pin, the plug will turn a few degrees when this happen and the pins will be hard to lift up.
Try to practice using different amounts of tension and find the one which works best for you
I did read the MIT guide but I think I need to practice the exercises a little more. That certainly would not hurt anything.
