Master warded lock writeup

[AceOfShades]

I took apart one of those tiny warded locks for diaries or suitcases with just one wire to see how they work. When I was done I glanced over at a few Master Lock No. 500's I had sitting around, went "... huh." and next thing I knew it was four hours later and I had a writeup.


(The lock)

Long story short, I did a teardown of a Master Lock warded lock and documented the process. I explain (and show) how the lock works and how it can be picked. I thought it might be useful to someone so I wanted to share it.

The teardown: http://ikalagaming.com/writeup/

Album of photos used in the writeup: https://imgur.com/a/c93fm

[femurat]

Nice writeup and nice site. I think a warded lock writeup will be useful for new members approaching those locks for the first time.

Cheers

[Silverado]

Good writeup AceOfShades! Pretty informative, not over-complicated. Excellent information for anyone curious of warded locks!

[billdeserthills]

Good uncovering of secrets,
This should help to make these warded locks obsolete even sooner
No point having any secrets in this digital age, is there?

[Gantry]

Nice job! Thank you for taking the time to do this.

[Jacob Morgan]

Good overview of how these things actually work on the inside.

If anyone wants a key blank for these locks this outfit has them: http://www.mrlock.com/lock-key-blanks-1/master-lock-key-blanks?page=2 Note that there are two different styles. In case you have one without keys and you want to make a key or two and give it to someone else, etc.

Super low security padlocks, but if the "locks only keep honest people out" crowd keeps buying them then Master will keep selling them.