I can only rake Schlages to the left. Why?

[puzzlesolver]

Hi everyone, I'm a noob to lockpicking and I can only rake right now. I'm trying to learn how to SPP and so I read digital_blue's tutorial "Beginner's Lockpicking Exercise". Unfortunately when I went to take apart my first lock I realized I didn't have the tools necessary to remove/add pins so I can't do the exercises yet.

Anyway, my question is that when I rake Schlage locks, I seem to only be able to do it counterclockwise to the locked position. When I try to rake it counterclockwise it seems much harder. Is this just the way Schlage locks are made or am I doing something wrong with my tension wrench?

[thededer]

locks are usually harder to pick one way and easier the other way this has nothing to do with it being a schlage

[Oaklandishh]

locks are usually harder to pick one way and easier the other way this has nothing to do with it being a schlage

Have you found that they tend to pick easier in one direction, or do you think that it is completely random that he only rakes them in one direction?

[thededer]

tbh I've never raked a lock open so I can't say... but yes for me they tend to pick easier to the locked position.

[Schuyler]

It's completely random.

Think about why we can pick a lock. It's not because we're magicians, it's because there are very real machining tolerances that we're exploiting. When we pick a lock, we're picking the weirdest pin first, then the next then the next. It changes depending on the direction you tension, but there is no universal rule for which was will be easiest. That's impossible.

Don't let anecdotal evidence change your picking behavior.

[thededer]

but do you not agree that some locks are easier to pick in one position

[Schuyler]

but do you not agree that some locks are easier to pick in one position

One position or the other, yes. That's exactly what I'm saying, but I'm warning pickers not to believe that locks always pick easier to a specific direction.

[mhole]

I'll bow to Schuylers greater experience, but I find that most keyways are easier to pick in one direction, and this direction is consistent. In most keyways, the pick has to be steered around the keyway, and often the way you shift the pick in the keyway and push the pins can provide a counter rotation to the tension you're exherting.

As such, it's nearly always easier to pick a lock where you pick naturally creates 'counter rotation'. IE: When you press up on a pin, it tends to push the plug one way, so you can easily feather tension by pushing with the pick whilst easing up on the wrench.

[Oaklandishh]

Yes, I realize that it seems unscientific that locks only open easier one way, but personally for me, I guess it has to do with how I feel most comfortable holding a pick and a tension wrench, and that I have been opening locks with similar key-ways. That or It's mental/ a coincidence. Thanks for your inputs.

[Schuyler]

Yes - I'm not saying that other things don't come into it. In particular tension+keyway issues can be huge until you have a reliable & usable range of tension wrenches.

[Ortin468]

[quote="puzzlesolver"] Unfortunately when I went to take apart my first lock I realized I didn't have the tools necessary to remove/add pins so I can't do the exercises yet.



Start making a "tool set". That way you can do the exercises. Pinning doesn't need much more than a pair of tweezers and something to simulate the plug, like a wooden dowel. There are good tools all over the house. Even if you mess up, you should be able to learn from it.

[raimundo]

plug followers,

half inch diameter wooden dowl, available at hardware store, in three foot lengths, you can easily cut a custom end on this stuff to fit different plugs. you can make different ones out of the three foot length, our you could make a production follower, the kind that can have a number of cylinders on it at the same time. wood does not have the weight of solid steel and will not fall out of the cylinder like a steel follower will

almuninum tubes, tubes will tend to cause pins to jump into the tube and escape through the other end, any tube type follower should have some paper stuffed in it to stop pins escapeing

Some fat barrel ballpoint pens have half inch plasctic tubes.

a stiff piece of flat plastic can be rolled up to make an improvised follower, fits all sizes.

[Schuyler]

Snap the clip off the cap of a sharpie and the cap will make a perfect follower

[Raymond]

It is very common for a lock to pick more easily in one direction or the other. The reasons are varied. The location of the lock makes it easier for us to bend over in one direction more easily than the other. Being right or left handed makes a difference. A wall or door frame that is too close makes a difference. The wards at the bottom of the keyway often force the turning tool either toward the bottom of the keyway where it might bind the plug against the housing or toward the center of the keyway where it just gets in the way. EXPERIENCE makes the difference. A good picker must see what you are doing in your mind's eye and make those adjustments. There is no complete answer to your question but you might try to find a clockwise pick to try for a while.

[urbanwriter]

On followers: thin-wall brass tubing (K+S?) also allows you to leave the retaining pin/spring in place in dirty old locks, and quite often will allow you to get the plug out of mortise cylinders without modification. Not every time, but often enough that they make up 3/4 of my plug selection