C&K wafer: is it supposed to be hard to pick?

[inverseentropy]

So, most wafer locks are extremely easy to open, some can be quite difficult. I've never gotten the one pictured below, although admittedly I have limited experience with wafer locks. Does anybody know the expected difficulty level here? I want to know whether it is worth a continuing effort or whether I should go to something simpler.





The black area on the bottom of the lock says "C&K (2) USA F SERIES". A quick search on google gives me the impression that C&K is a switch company that also makes keyswitches, so it is possible that they licensed the mechanism from someone else. There is a notch on the key which may point to a side bitting like the Duo, and it kind of looks like there is a wafer near the front that is lifted by this. The lock came from an old mainframe computer, I think it was an IBM (system/36 maybe?) which was old enough that they went two for $5 when I bought them in '97.

[sfodd]

Looks like its a double sided wafer lock. Try seeing if both sides offer springy resistance. The ones I've seen have every other wafer on the opposite side. You could try to use a full ball or those "snowman" rakes to try to rake both sides at once.
It might also be something more exotic like the one Zeke posted in this thread viewtopic.php?t=10541

Best of luck

[inverseentropy]

Yes, it is indeed a double sided wafer. The key has constant distance between the top and bottom bittings, like a contoured key, but the top and bottom wafers move independently of each other and have springs. Behind the first wafer there is a wafer that appears to be controlled by the side bitting, and this also has a spring and seems to be independent of its neighbors but it is hard to tell what is going on in there. If these really are a part of the mechanism then this probably is a tough lock as the warding severely limits access to them. Unfortunately it looks like it is not possible to take apart without destroying something as the outer metal shell is crimped onto the plastic portion on the bottom. I used to have another one of these with no key but I think I threw it out a few years ago. I've tried a full ball pick, with tension on the outer part of the rim (I don't have a tool for symmetrical tension) with no luck. Although, I should repeat again that I don't have much experience with wafers and I have an Eagle double sided wafer padlock that looks much less exotic that I haven't opened either.

[FarmerFreak]

It's a pretty good evaluation to think of these like a Duo. I'm positive that the side-milled wafers will need to be picked. As far as wafer locks go this likely counts as one of the harder ones to pick.

I would attack it with a hook pick (I use a hook on almost everything ). And maybe a custom pick for the side cuts, ...if I couldn't get them with the hook.