Assembling a beginner's practice lock. Help a newbie!

[adamtwoz]

Hey guys. I'm fairly new to lock picking. I have my own set of picks and have been practising with a simple five pin 'kwickset' door lock I've borrowed from a friend. The lock no longer really presents a challenge so i did some googling and found the lock sold at http://www.learnlockpicking.com/. It looked great and appeared to be priced well but I'm located in the UK right now so it meant an extra $25 in postage fees.

So instead I would like to buy the useful pieces myself. I'd like a lock and set of pins which will give me a really good grounding.

Would you guys suggest simply emulating the lock at the website or is there anything else I should be looking for in a lock? Will I be able to match the price in the UK? Is a locksmith likely to be wary of selling to me if I simply explain that I am learning to pick?

Any advice on kit and good places to buy it, or anything else you think a semi-newcomer should hear, would be appreciated!

[Olson Burry]

I saw that kit a while ago, a member was saying it was pretty good to learn from. Extra pins and the like are sort of hard to come by unless you start a bit of a collection of locks that you can harvest bits out of or buy a pinning kit.

My own experience of dealing with locksmiths is somewhat varied, perhaps I approached it wrong once or twice but generally I don't find mentioning the fact I'm going to pick it useful.

If you go in to a hardware shop/cobblers/key cutting place they are going to have some locks there. If you ask for a Yale style cylinder you may end up with an ERA lock for around £8. the proper yales are £12-15+ and almost invariably contain security pins which might not be ideal for a beginner. As a new challenge I can recommend them.

You could always keep an eye on the "Buy Sell Trade" forums on the site and hang out a bit more. Often, job lots of locks come up which would be something to look out for.

I think there is something to be said for starting a collection of real locks and not training aids. It will take some time to build but will be worth it in the end.

[adamtwoz]

Thanks for the advice.

I'd still quite like to get a good, easily editable, training cylinder which will let me test myself with security pins before moving onto starting a collection of real locks.

Can anyone suggest a good UK based supplier (or just one that doesn't extort you with international shipping) from which i can buy a yale style cylinder and a set of security pins. Also, apart from spool pins, what else should i get?