Where to buy locks to practice on?

[rewiind]

Hi,

For Christmas I bought my boyfriend a lock pick set. He is interested in learning about lock picking - I bought him the Southord PXS-14 set. I hope that is a good set for him to start on, although I am now wondering if I should have gotten him a slimline set instead. But alas, nothing I can do about it.

I want to get him some locks to practice on as well. Any ideas what kind of locks I can get for him to start on? And whereabouts to purchase them from (online)? I saw www.lockpicks.com sell some practice locks by Brockhage ? Not sure if it is worth getting those or if I should look elsewhere.

Many thanks,
Christine

[l0ckcr4ck3r]

Best way to learn is grab all the old padlocks you can find from around the house and local garage sales. If you would like to buy one as a christmas present, this is one of the best ones out there. You can start with just one or 2 pins and work up from there. It also comes with security pins so it will be useful for learning for quite a while, up to a moderate level.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/221945232006

The dedicated cutaway locks or locks made from perspex are alright as well but some people find they focus on watching the pins rather than learning to feel for whats happening inside the lock. Its personal preference really but you can't go wrong with the one in the link, it will get quite a bit of use while learning. Good luck!

[GWiens2001]

Also, what picks are most useful can vary by location. If you are in North America, that pick set should do fine. In Italy, not so much. In Finland, good luck.

Gordon

[rewiind]

Location is NZ, haha.

l0ckcr4ck3r - Cool, I will check out the link you provided me with. Thank you

[GWiens2001]

Can very highly recommend the seller that L0ckcr4ck3r linked above. He is even a member here'. His username here is MrWizard.

Gordon

[MBI]

Yeah, Mr. Wizard's practice lock would be a FANTASTIC way to start. It'll let him EASILY repin the lock over and over in different configurations, with varying bittings, numbers of pins, and with or without security pins. Shipping might be steep to NZ but as for the lock itself it's one of the best values in a purpose-built kit for lockpicking practice.