Are Practice Cutaway locks worth the price

[Hollywoodpick]

Hi

Are Practice Cutaway locks and non cutaway locks worth the price?

Or would it be just as good to use my own doors for Practice?

Thanks

[deception]

Well, first of all, you shouldn't pick a lock in use, esp. your doors.

Practice cutaways, they're expensive, and good for learning how the lock works, and all. I think your better off buying some locks, masterlocks, kwikset, etc. Learn that way.

You can start by following this lesson. HERE

[GeneT]

I don't think cutaways are worth much for learning. They're great for demonstrating though.

For learning you want run-of-the-mill house locks and padlocks - you can find them in home stores and construction salvage for very little money. Having a cutaway isn't a shortcut to learning to pick, but it can be a quick way to pick up a bad habit (relying on your sight).

GsT

[Shyfted]

The only time I've felt a cutaway to be useful is with security pins. Being able to see how the pin sets falsely and match that to how it feels was helpful.

[SnowyBoy]

Depends what you want? I find a lot of my cutaways go to collectors rather than beginners/smithies. As was said though, they are good for demos like impressioning, bumping, and for seeing every moving part on more complicated locks to show security features.

Same principal as learning to solve a Rubiks cube.... parrot method, or mathematical method.

[Rickthepick]

Cutaways are just nice to look at and see a nice piece of engineering in action.

[theTastyCat]

I bought a "Schlage"-type one when I started, and it was a huge disappointment. First, it was by far the easiest lock I've tried - far easier than any crap Master. Despite its advertising, it bears zero resemblance to any Schlage I've come in contact with.

So - if it had been an actual Schlage lock that had been cut away, it may have been tremendously helpful in understanding security pins. I can usually open my 4-spool Schlage deadbolt either way in 15-30 seconds, but sometimes I still really don't know what's going on in there.

Bottom line - I would definitely recommend against buying it. You'll learn best by doing, and though this seems like a good idea, it just doesn't get off the ground. However, if one were to be teaching a class, a cutaway would be very helpful to illustrate exactly how a key/lock/picking works.

[pickem]

First post. But just ordered the slim set of picks from the intro guide in the newbie section.

What I'm wondering is if a different type of practice lock would be more useful. I'm thinking something along the lines of http://learnlockpicking.com/index.html.

I'd probably pay the extra $5 or so to get the Challenge lock since it includes an extra pin stack (total of 6 stacks) plus the spool pins. Along with all the assortment of pins it seems this could be useful.

If not something like this, is there a guide somewhere that shows you generally what type of locks to acquire? Do most people pick with your typical master lock, or do you purchase door locks as well? I'm generally curious at this point.

Ebay or anything useful for gathering up a stock of locks for cheap? Do people sell locks without keys on there (sorry haven't looked) for cheap?

[MrScruff]

You might be able to find cheap locks at your local thrift store. Mine sells the most ridiculous assortment of wondrous things you've ever seen.

I'm by no means an expert, calling myself a beginner might even be a stretch, but this is based on my research and experience. I used to worry about what to buy but now I just grab something and try it out. Worst case, it's above your level and you have a goal, best case, you surprise yourself by picking something you didn't know you could. Under real world circumstances you're never going to know what you're up against, so just pick up whatever catches your fancy and get to work. The price generally determines what kind of quality and features you're going to encounter so cheaper locks are good when you're a beginner, though it's not a hard and fast rule.

I like to practice on door locks, you can install them on a block of wood so they don't move around while you're trying to pick them, though padlocks (usually) cost less to acquire and take up less space so you can build a collection without filling your house.

[pickem]

You might be able to find cheap locks at your local thrift store. Mine sells the most ridiculous assortment of wondrous things you've ever seen.

I'm by no means an expert, calling myself a beginner might even be a stretch, but this is based on my research and experience. I used to worry about what to buy but now I just grab something and try it out. Worst case, it's above your level and you have a goal, best case, you surprise yourself by picking something you didn't know you could. Under real world circumstances you're never going to know what you're up against, so just pick up whatever catches your fancy and get to work. The price generally determines what kind of quality and features you're going to encounter so cheaper locks are good when you're a beginner, though it's not a hard and fast rule.

I like to practice on door locks, you can install them on a block of wood so they don't move around while you're trying to pick them, though padlocks (usually) cost less to acquire and take up less space so you can build a collection without filling your house.

Thanks a ton for the suggestions. I'm not sure how crazy into this I'm going to get. But I'll have to check out some local stores and see what they have.

Thanks again

[Shyfted]

Jump on ebay and do a search for lock and sort by price then pick up anything cheap you can. Thats how I started and I have a nunch of padlocks, screen door locks, filing cabinet locks, even tubular locks.

[pickem]

Jump on ebay and do a search for lock and sort by price then pick up anything cheap you can. Thats how I started and I have a nunch of padlocks, screen door locks, filing cabinet locks, even tubular locks.

Yea I did a bit ago and found a bunch. I'll have to fill up the paypal account and see if I can find anyone with a box of locks with no keys or something cheap sometime.