Repetition

[cop77]

I am still new so am experimenting with different ways of opening locks. I have a Kwikset deadbolt and a Master No. 3 because I have heard that these are very easy to open...and they are. So I've been practicing with these two locks and have run into the situation where I can open one of the locks in the same manner 4 or 5 times in a row, and then all of a sudden I can't. It seems like I'm doing the same things, but the lock won't open. Then all of a sudden when I think I've bungled it beyond all hope..."CLICK" it opens.

Anyone else experience this as a newbie?

[Oaklandishh]

There was one lock which I could open in 3 seconds every time, but then one day after a night of heavy drinking I couldn't do it anymore. I kept at picking and I finally could get it open in 3 seconds again every time. I am not sure that is the same situation, but its somewhat related...

[pin_pusher]

even today i was opening a lock within a ten second margin, not by chance either...then, for the life of me, i couldn't open it any longer. i think a lot of it has to do with frustration and the amount of conscious concentration versus visualized focus...if yah know what i mean? like thinking too hard about a math problem, when it is as simple as feeling around for the answer in the question. maybe too much awareness, not enough zen?

[cop77]

There was one lock which I could open in 3 seconds every time, but then one day after a night of heavy drinking I couldn't do it anymore. I kept at picking and I finally could get it open in 3 seconds again every time. I am not sure that is the same situation, but its somewhat related...

Maybe just perhaps the alcohol had something to do with it.

[raimundo]

I have often wondered about this phenomena, I think that after using a pick on the same cylinder many times, the pins become very scratched by sharp edges on picks, and the drillings that they are housed in also become roughened. this could be exacerbated by a build up of brass filings from these same scratches, some of the top pins my not even be resetting, remaining picked, lube with this stuff in it may be failing to lube or thickening. You also may have eroded the cylinder wall with the sharp edge of the tensor, if your tensor cannot fall out of the keyway after use, it is binding the cylinder and plug. if your tensor is bound, you cannot move the plug regardless of what condition the pins are in.

This is all speculation, not tested fact

[thelockpickkid]

This happens all the time and is in no way because of your ability or inability to pick the lock. Often times it is all due to your fingers getting tired or losing small amounts of sensitivity, put the lock down and go do something else for awhile and then come back and it usually works. As rai said, often if you pick a lock over and over you lose spring pressure along with tearing the lock up inside this builds the lock into something way different than it was out of the package. I have several locks among my couple hundred or so that have been picked so many times that now they don't work with the keys and are really hard to pick.