Inside an Abus warded padlock

[bembel]

I could not find any good pictures of these locks, so I bought one and cut it off by myself. I was surprised how cheap this thing works: The key moves the little notch (1) downwards when turned and presses the metal plate against a spring: The lock pops open. The little obstacle (2) hinders other objects from turning and keeps the key in position.



They can place a notch either to the left or to the right hand which makes 2 possible lock combinations. (2 notches would be redundant since they both would be connected to the same metal plate). The rest of the skeleton key has no funktion whatsoever, it even doesn't need to be warded on both sides, one would be enough.

My first thought of course was to make my own skeleton key with both combinations or a warded pickset like the ones you can buy, but then I thought: Why should I carry more picks than necessary? You can also open it with a hook:




P.S. Paid EUR 4.70 for this crap.

[skold]

that has to be the worst lock i have heard of from abus..useless

[bembel]

Yes. But they still sell it.
And I must admit: Without looking inside I would have had no idea how to unlock it (except for the well known warded picks, of course). So the EUR 4.70 paid well.

If you take a closer look at picture 2 you will discover that the pick's tip is partially under the notch. Abus was so friendly to let some space between notch an metal plate so you won't slide off with your tool.
I encourage everyone to try the hook thing by yourself.

[Pickey]

On the plus side...it's a fun way to impress people! You tell them that ABUS is one of the best/toughest brand of locks out there, and you proceed to pick this in about 5 seconds flat.

[Luke]

Not the best idea when your friend asks you to repeat the stunt of their front door.