What lock to get next to practice on?

[chrometsuba]

I have two padlocks at the moment, one is a 50mm Garison, the other a generic "made in china" 50mm laminated padlock, and a Garison 5 pin lock cylinder.

Problem is I have learned the pin order for both Garison locks, and although the cylinder is re-pinable, the tolerences are so poor on it, none of them are presenting much of a challenge.

Would you guys think that a Yale cylinder would be too difficult for a beginner? I would prefer a cylinder over a padlock since they can be repinned (and cheaper then padlocks that can be repinned)

Anyone know of any stores in the Toronto area that have a decent selection?


thanks

[illusion]

Yale now have two spools, or mushrooms pins.
If this isn't a problem then go for it, they are nice to pick.

A cheap deadbolt cylinder will do nicely

[chrometsuba]

Eventualy, I hope to say that spools and other security pins aren't a problem... but that is probably still a ways off. Do the Yale cylinders have sealed pin sets? When I picked up the Garison cylinder, all of the other cylinders on the rack had the pin chambers sealed with lead or aluminum plugs instead of the metal strip that is removable.

[illusion]

all of my Yales have sealed pin sets.

In fact the only cylinder I have which doesn't is my Era..

[chrometsuba]

Is it the norm to have sealed pin chambers? I have always assumed that better locks would have repinable chambers, but the sealed chambers make sense as well since you will know it hasn't been tampered with. Or are there tools to pop those plugs back in to reseal after playing with the pins?

[illusion]

yeah.. it seems te norm is to seal them. The unsealed ones are really easy to repin though.

May as well do it the normal way using a plug follower - takes some practice, but once you get used to it it's no real problem.

If you drilled out the plugs, then I suppose you could plug them up with something else.

[chrometsuba]

I haven't had any problems putting this cylinder back together yet without a plug follower, I guess I am just lucky so far =)

Is there an easy way to tell if a lock has security pins in it? or just buy and hope for the best?

[vector40]

I have never uncapped the gallery to repin a lock. Nothing wrong with doing it if you can AND if it won't cause harm, but make sure you have the skill (which is definitely something that takes some practice) to repin using a follower and tweezers! (Or whatever -- I drop 'em into the notch, line 'em up, and use a flat tension wrench to push 'em in... tweezers never did it for me.)

[chrometsuba]

Thats what ive basicly done as well. Once the pins are in, slide the cover over, and depress the spring with a lockpick to clear it. On the other hand, the springs in this lock aren't very strong, they dont even pop out when I pull the cover off.