Shims!!!!!! having a little trouble

[Nicky the Greek]

I made some shims out of coke or "pop" cans. the first one worked once it never worked again. Since then i've made several and none of them work. i start from the side and move it to the inside. the combo lock is a kryptonite, i think. Any advice would be very nice

Nick

[scott4957]

Don't use soda cans........

No but for real, thats all you get at best is one open out of a shim made with a pop can. They should be made out of spring steel and even then they do not last long. There are other ways to open combo locks that involve a bit more brain power and most people would find more impressive or interesting then jamming a piece of metal inside of it.

RS

[Nicky the Greek]

like what? I gotta hear this one. Because i want a little bit more of a challenge. So Please if you have any links or anything like that send em my way.

Nick

[Nicky the Greek]

Not being smart ellic genuinly interusted. And where do i get spring steel.

[UWSDWF]

FYI

"smart alec"

A person regarded as obnoxiously self-assertive. An impudent person.

According to G.L. Cohen, author of Studies in Slang Part 1 (1985), the phrase smart alec(k) arose from the exploits of Alec Hoag. A celebrated pimp, thief, and confidence man operating out of New York City in the 1840's, Mr. Hoag, along with his wife Melinda and an accomplice known as "French Jack," operated a con called the "panel game," a method by which prostitutes and their pimps robbed foolish customers.

The key to his activities was that they did so in close association with two police officers, who shared the loot and provided protection. Most was done by what was in effect pickpocketing, with Melinda taking the victim’s pocketbook while they were otherwise engaged and surreptitiously handing it to Hoag or French Jack as they walked by. So far, so commonplace. However, his downfall came because he got into financial difficulties and tried to cheat his police protectors out of their share of the loot. One way was that Hoag lay behind a wall in a churchyard and had Melinda drop the goods over the wall to him so that the constables couldn’t see the exchange

The aforementioned "panel game" was a trick also used by the original Smart Alec, although not used exclusively by him. George Wilkes, the assistant editor of the Subterranean, met Hoag while Wilkes was falsely imprisoned in the infamous New York prison called The Tombs. Wilkes described the trick in a diary of 1844, The Mysteries of the Tombs: “Melinda would make her victim lay his clothes, as he took them off, upon a chair at the head of the bed near the secret panel, and then take him to her arms and closely draw the curtains of the bed. As soon as everything was right and the dupe not likely to heed outside noises, the traitress would give a cough, and the faithful Aleck would slily enter, rifle the pockets of every farthing or valuable thing, and finally disappear as mysteriously as he entered.” The victim was then persuaded to leave in a hurry through a window by Alec banging on the door, pretending to be an aggrieved husband who has suddenly returned from a trip away.

Hoag used this trick to avoid paying off his police protectors, so that when he was caught, the police were in no mood to aid him. He was sentenced to jail, but escaped through the help of his brother, only to be recaptured following extensive police searches (by one of those odd coincidences, having been recognised by Wilkes).

Professor Cohen suggests that Alex Hoag was given the sobriquet of smart Alec by the police for being a resourceful thief who outsmarted himself by trying to avoid paying graft. It’s impossible to be certain this is the true story, since the expression doesn’t appear in print until 1865, but it does seem extremely plausible.

[Nicky the Greek]

ok sorry not trying to be mean or ungrateful (because i love it when people leave a coment) but what does that have to do with anything???

[p4rk3r]

dont shim. i hate shims. they break so easily.

[p4rk3r]

is there an edit button on this forum? sorry for the double post, i was going to edit that one, but oh well. um... poke the spring with a saftey pin, pull shackle, pull shackle and hit side with hammer, take the lock apart, theres lots more ways than just shimming, and most are easier, and dont require cutting up several soda cans to last a while

[Nicky the Greek]

ok where is the spring?????

[UWSDWF]

Not being smart ellic genuinly interusted. And where do i get spring steel.

[Nicky the Greek]

OK OK OK FINE I MADE A MISTAKE IT'S SMART ALEC I GET IT I GET IT. jeesh a guy can't make a mistake around here.

[p4rk3r]

ok where is the spring?????

unlock the lock, any lock, and on the bottom of the shackle, there is a little groove in it that lets the shackle be pushed in and locked in, like a train car thingie. the spring is attached to a piece of metal (i'm calling the piece of metal the spring). take a saftey pin and push the spring in before you pull the shackle up. then, pull the shackle up, while you are still pushing the spring in

[Nicky the Greek]

where can i buy spring steel

[Nicky the Greek]

ummmm we've got a problem. My cousin took the lock apart. he took the back off of it and riped the guts out. it looks fairly simple.

[Nicky the Greek]

alright i got the combo lock apart and i see how it works but im a little stupid when it comes to this stuff. so what other way is there to get in it besides to shim it.