A couple of people know I enjoy lock picking as a hobby. Last night my boss called me to say that one of his tenants had broken his key in the lock and was standing outside in the cold. So I grabbed my giant Sparrows Sherman carry kit of picks (I like to collect from a variety of manufacturers. It's my kicks.) and we drove off. So I got there and sure enough, the key was jammed in broken off slightly inside with the plug half turned around. Nothing to grab with pliers. It's twenty below, cold, dark, wind blowing I fall to my knees while they hold flash lights and I start trying different paper thin Klom extractors. I'm trying 1.4 mm and little twisty things and hooks. Finally after 15 minutes the broken key just slips out like butter. Everyone cheers.
The next morning, Buddy sends me a text and asks, can I pick a Masterlock #140? He had this lock with one key he used on his tackle box...lost the key. I said I would try. He came over and I tried and tried. I thought I would be super cool and had watched a bunch of you tube videos specific to the lock. 16 seconds to two minutes. But I just couldn't do it. I've only had like four different locks to practice on since I got into it this year.
While we are sitting there talking about the security pins , some next door neighbours start pounding on my door because the infirm woman next door is yelling for help and no one can get in. More people show up. They try to break the door down but it's too hard. Now the huge dog on the inside is barking louder. While they call for the cops/ambulance the local social consensus was that I should try and pick the lock. I had actually answered the door with a Sparrows Bogota, a small lifter and a flat tension wrench in my hand. So I looked at the no name door knob lock slipped the Bogota in and flat in. I totally amazed myself. Honest, really, two seconds. Faster than a key. Everything got taken care of, emergency services cancelled and the infirm woman had her needs taken care of by a familiar neighbour. Saved my boss an $80 dollar lock smith call. Sorted out an emergency. Cool. That's Locksport boy scout cool. Anyway, I'm going to recommend this site for the extractors. But odd eh, nothing for 6 months and then three calls within twelve hours. Solved two out of three problems.
http://www.banggood.com/Klom-Broken-Key ... 13659.html
