Anyhow, i need some help. Can someone please explain me diference between picking and raking? I don't fully understand
Picking is setting the pins one at a time, in the correct order, with a pick like, for example, a hook, or a half-diamond, until you will be able to turn the plug with a tension wrench. Skill and feeling is needed for succesfull picking, and luck is not so important in the long run (but it is helpful in finding the correct order quickly).
In raking most people use snake-rakes (like the raimundos bogotas), double-balls, or other picks that slide smoothly from one pick to the other. As I see it - succesful raking depends on luck quite a lot. To rake a lock, you put the pick inside, constantly applying a little tension, and just slide the rake on the picks a few times back and forth, and hope for the best
. Don't apply too much tension in raking - the bottom pins may often get stuck on the sheer line. If you rake for a few moments, and every pick seems to be set, but the lock won't open - try lowering the tension a bit, and re-rake the pins that came out. If it still doesn't open - let go of the tension, and try it from the scratch, and hope that you have not came across safety pins
.
I just hope that i'm not giving away the wrong advice, as I am quite new to lockpicking myself
... but what I wrote works for me, and I'm just trying to be helpful.
P.S. The names 'bottom' and 'top' pins are kind of misleading sometimes.
The bottom pins are the ones that touch the key, when it's inserted, no matter if they are on the top, on the bottom, or on the side of the lock.
The top pins are the pins that have to be pushed on the other side of the sheerline. They are the one's that touch the springs inside the lock.
Cheers!
