New to this forum and to lockpicking with plenty of question

[Lynxxmania]

Hi there. I have been interested in lock picking for some time and have finally decided to look into it a bit deeper.

My plan is to make my picks myself as I think that will be more than half the fun. Probably start out with making a tension wrench, a hook and a half-diamond pick and try it out on any lock I can find at home or in the closest shop.

Before I start picking there are a few things I would like to ask.

1. Since I want to try making my own picks I of course need some tools to make them. A bench grinder is out of the question. Take ups space and I will most likely never use it for anything else anyway. A hand held rotary grinder might be ok as I would be using it for other stuff too, but could I get away with just a metal saw and some sandpaper or will I end up spending weeks on one pick this way?

2. When starting, what kind of material should I use for the picks? Viper blades or hacksaw blades? And for the tension wrench? Can I even use hacksaw blades for that one and bend it without a hot flame?

3. I live in europe and the locks are different here it seems. Will hacksaw/viper blades still be good7thin enough?

4. What types of locks is actually good for training? I got a few padlocks at home I can try on, but are they suitable? Where does one buy locks to train on? Ebay? ANd how do I know which ones to pick for my beginner level?

5. Have I missed something important you think I should know?

Thanks for any answer I might get.

Locking forward to picking my first lock with the picks I made myself

/Lynxxmania

[Olson Burry]

Hello and welcome!

I'll try to answer your points as well as I can. Indeed I find making picks is half the fun if not more. Whilst buying commercial picks will get you a certain distance, sometimes you come across a lock you think could be picked more effectively with some modifications to the tool, or a freshly fabricated one just for the job. This happens more often than not for me with small padlocks, sometimes the tools are just too big or the hook is too deep.

1) I couldn't imagine making picks out of hacksaw blades without a bench grinder. I bought one specifically for this hobby, just to try it out with no intention of using it for anything else. If I recall it cost around £35. A rotary tool is a good option however it could end up being much more expensive in the medium to long term because of all the little wheels one has to buy. I would seriously consider a bench grinder. A good one should last almost forever if you take care of it and I've ground hundreds of picks and the wheel has hardly been worn at all. That said, rotary tool can be used for polishing and all sorts so if you'll only be making a few sporadically it could be a fine choice.

2) Hacksaw blades are great, in my opinion, feeler gauge stock is another good choice if you can find it, as is spring or stainless steel in the proper gauge.. Wiper blade inserts can be hard to track down unless you're near a good scrappy who will let you poke around. With the blades you need to experiment a bit and find ones that are the right consistency, some are brittle and a bit thin or bend and dont spring back, cheap is good though, the high carbon ones haven't worked well for me in the past.

Junior hacksaw blades can be made in to tension wrenches in the classic fashion (heating and bending) however you might want to look at a peterson style "flat 5" wrench which you could make from hacksaw without the need for bending. These are particularly useful for top tension.

3) Yes.

4) Padlocks can be tricky because of the smaller keyways a lot of them have, I think your best bet is a cheap standard 5 pin like one of these, doesn't have to be the same brand, just cheap will do usually.


They are pretty easy to take apart and the cheap ones wont have any security pins in. Yales do and they'll be more expensive.

Or ask family or friends if they've got any.. sometimes when people move and change the locks the old ones get kept in a draw or people lose the keys to padlocks, all good things to have.

Hope that helps a bit, there are some guides in the "lockpicks - Manual" section that are well worth a read.

Take it easy
OB

[Lynxxmania]

Thanks a lot for the answers!

Will consider the bench grinder again. Might ask a technician at work if I can try out his grinder there. Hope he wont mind me doing some lock picks...

About the locks. Do you recommend ebay or a normal retailer. The country specific ebay where I live do not really have so many locks as in your picture, instead we got this style:
http://www.ricardo.ch/form/ViewImage.as ... t=2&rank=1
I guess I need different kind of picks for those locks right?

I found a rather nice collection of padlocks though...:
http://www.ricardo.ch/form/ViewImage.as ... t=3&rank=1

Once again. Thanks for the help.

(If anyone else wants to add something go ahead)

/Lynxxmania

[Lynxxmania]

Ok, so I got a tip from the technician on what a good and cheap dremel tool would be so I will get that one pretty soon (the bench grinder is just tool large for my small apartment).

I will also get the hacksaw blades form my local shop and get some "pick-blueprints" from the net.

One thing remaining. The locks!!! I am currently living in Switzerland (moved here because of work) and here everyone is crazy about security so all locks are of the dimple lock type.

How much harder are those to pick than normal pin tumbler locks? Do I need to make smaller picks to be able to pick them? Or should I order some easy master #3 from USA?

Any suggestions for where I could get nice locks to practice on in and around Switzerland (in Germany?...)?

[Wizer]

You can get padlocks for practice from most hardware stores. Bauhaus has been my primary source, here they sell some noname brass locks, that are sometimes too easy, and they sell Abus. Those are bit more expencive, but can be a good challenge.