Wilson 18 pin Mortise Cylinder

[Marco]

I found this lock on ebay the other week and it looked pretty interesting, and it was cheap aswell so i bought it. It's a Wilson 18 pin mortise cylinder. It uses a 'cross' type key.

There is a photo of the lock here.
Photos of the key:
From the top
From the right-hand side
From the left-hand side

So has anybody come across one of these locks before? Can it be picked easily? I havn't picket it yet but I've only been messing around with it for about 10 minutes. The biggest problem ive discovered so far with picking it, is that the end of my tension wrench (the end inside the lock) has a tendency to slip upwards. This makes it difficult to maneuver my pick inside the lock.

I'm assuming that it won't contain any security pins, but I could be wrong. I'll be taking it apart soon, only problem is that it's going to be really annoying to re-pin.

I was contemplating whether this would be an advanced topic or not, but i spoke to Zeke and he gave me the okay for the open forums.

[kg4boj]

Yes I have seen them, and some of them are extremely easy with the right tools. There is a special tension wrench out there specificly for these kinds of locks, but it is very hard to find. I sometimes use an HPC "crosspick" http://www.hpcworld.com/Picks/p_crpk1.htm

to pick these when I come across them instead of bolt levers on consumer safes.

[raimundo]

google papaiz cruciform lock or something like that. the previous poster is right, they can be easy if you have the tools, look at your key and see if you can get a concept of how many depths are actually possible for the key bitting. I don't think there are more than 4 or 5

[bluestar]

Depending on the particular lock* most of these locks can be raked oben with a snake or a half-diamond. Just change between the rows every now and then. The real challenge is to find (make) a tensioner that doesn't slide out of the keyway.

* The only ones I couldn't pick with this method so far are some made by Ikon. Really nasty, even hard to SPP.

[Marco]

I just picked it then in about 40 seconds using my snake rake. Raimundo, i looked at my key and could only distunguish 3 different depths.

Bit of a dissapointment, i was expecting somthing a bit harder.

[Marco]

Ive just realised something, depending on how far you need to turn the plug to retract the deadbolt, this lock may have to be picked many times. You can only turn the plug 25 degrees before a new line of pins aligns with new drivers.

But it gets easier aswell though, because once you've turned the plug 25 degrees, one of the rows of pins is at the bottom of the keyway, and therefore do not need to be picked. So after the initial 18 pin pick, you only need to pick 12 pins the subsequent times until you get it back to the original position.

[kg4boj]

a few words HEAVY DUTY PLUG SPINNER

[razlex]

would this wrench not work quite nicely?

http://www.lockpicktools.com/images/ddtension02.jpg

[gunny]

I know this thread has been put down years ago, but I happen to have come across this same lock in my fathers locks pile. Initially I was impressed, but now that Marco has defeated it, not so much. It looks more intimidating and with the,18 pins stamped on it, more of mental factor that a physical one. Just got into the sport and have enjoyed learning from you all.

Semper Fidelis

- Gunny