Begginers trick when picking pin tumblers

[Lessavit]

Thought id share one of my few techniques as ive learnt so much more already just browsing these threads.

I dislike using pick guns (electric or manual) maybe due to a previous experience where i totaly knakered my front door lock with one.... anyway... i prefer to use just three picks. My snake, half diamond and my hook.

I never took any course before i picked my first lock and im all the better for it now. I understand more and feel more when im picking than most could tell me. Bare in mind it took me about 3 months to pick my first 5 pin tumbler but i got there in the end, and the principles i learned have stuck with me and i apply them all the time.

Now for my quick trick. Some of you might already know this however it is quite handy as no one told me when i was learning to do this.

Get a tumbler lock, if you dont already know about the sheer line then go read about it to understand that one or two pins get stuck when u progressively turn the tumbler.
What i do is simply slide my half diamond in and out of the lock just above the pins resting point. When sliding in il almost always hit a pin that is stuck and will not rise. When this happens simply release a bit of tension and wedge the little git into the sheer line and repeat. When you get to the point that there are no more pins that you can locate, i tend to start from the back and push the pins up slightly one by one working my way to the front.

The first time i applied this method i opened a lock manually picking in 20 seconds
And just so you dont think im some kinda know it all, cause i am not. I know some of you may be thinking this is noob stuff.... well i was a noob i am now an amateur i consider this information of interest to all training locksmiths... remember we were all noobs once... i even spent 3 days wondering how to pick a certain lock before realising it had mushroom pins, needless to say, i felt stupid lol

[Shrub]

What are you actually describing here?

Is it rakeing or single pin picking?

No theres not a lot that hasnt been discussed on here but its nice to hear noobs telling how they defeated their first locks.

[Lessavit]

Well i do sometimes rake the pins first to pop a few pins in but i have yet to perfect the raking technique so i intermingle (for want of a better word) the 2 to achieve my goal.

But yeah to answer your question i was initially talking about popping it pin by pin. I felt i learnt more by notching each pin than using a mechanical tool or rake as i never got in a mind set that helped me understand the lock.

[Shrub]

I must admit on a job the first thing i go for is useing a rake tool with a single pin method, i find it sets most if not all pins within a few rocks.
On better locks i will try then to rake then resort to single pin picking.

I do not use a EPG but sometimes use a manual one to loosen pins ready for hand tools.

[Lessavit]

im itching to get into the trade but theres no openings. If any one in the hertfordhire, essex or north london area knows of any im all ears lol

[Shrub]

The best thing you can do is to take a course you will get nowhere without doing one.

Look at the training threads to find out what to look for.

There is so much more to being a lockie than picking a lock.

[KottonKang]

I picked a pad lock and all my doors the first day i got my pickset.... Some people either get it or they dont. I only used the hook for the first week then i tryed out some of the rakes.

[illusion]

Oh everybody can get it if they practice - dinding the motivation to spend time picking a lock at first is hard because you will be in the dark litteraly and psycologicaly. Once you understand fully the mechansim and have full confidence in yourself it rerally starts to get fun.

[raimundo]

Note that illusion say 'psychologically' this is half of the power of any lock, medeco still has me on this one. Once you get the idea that you can do it, thats half the battle. When you pick your first lock, immediatly snap it shut again and do it again. there are several reasons to do this, one is that much of what you are learning is indescribable, but when you just did it, you did something right, and that knowlege is still in your fingers, use it again before you lose it. and do it again and again and again. its how you learn.

[pinsetter]

I use the method Lessavit described quite often. In his original post he was describing what I call "feeling" the pins to find the ones that bind, then after locating the sticky pin, you single pin pick it, then go to the next one that is sticking more than the others and single pin pick it, and so on until you have no pins left. It really isn't raking as you're not actually lifting the pins as much as feeling for the binding one. Basically, you're just sliding the pick across the tips of the pins and measuring the resistance of each one to determine the picking order. It takes a lot of practice to get it right. 9 cuts will still fool me at times and I'll press them when they don't need to be. Most times a quick trick of the tension wrench will solve this problem though, and that too takes a lot of practice to prevent losing your correctly set pins. This is good for locks without security pins, but I have little luck with it when multiple security pins are encountered.
The technique does require you to have a full understanding of the workings of the lock, so if you're not 100 percent sure you know exactly what it is that you're trying to accomplish, go read some guides. The one I read before I ever grabbed that first lock was "Illustrated Secrets of Lockpicking" by Steven Hampton. It is an older book, but you'll come away from it understanding the shear line, how to know when a pin has "set", and what has to happen for the lock to open. It is available in PDF for those willing to look for it.

[Lessavit]

Alternativley (did i spell that right?) search for "MIT lock" without the quotes in google and you will get the MIT guide to lock picking. This is how i learnt in great detail. It explained the sheer line and pin binding. Also it explains multiple techniques used with the various tools. This is probably why i refuse to use anything other than my snake hook and half diamond.

[ablazia]

I use just a snake, hook and diamond as well. Much of that is just that I don't want to carry a lot of things with me. I know I will use other tools if and when needed but, for the most part, I like the single pin picking. Part of me "restricting" my self to those three for pin tumblers is that I like the diverse variety of locks that I can open with just those few tools (plus the torque wrench). I have been able to open those little luggage locks with them (though I had to learn how to angle the tool into the pins to do this) on up.

I can't get everything with them, but I can open a lot of locks with just those tools. I'm not advanced with this by any means and since finding this web site, I have learned a lot more in a short time. Learning to develope the needed feel seems to be the most difficult thing to describe to someone else though.

I recently figured out on one lock that the best way for me to get the back pin is to put tome torque on the plug, use my snake and set the 4th pin in the dip of the snake, thereby using pin 4 as a pivot point so the tip of the snake can set pin 5. After that, I use the half diamond or hook to pin-at-a-time pick the rest of the lock. I have only had to do this on this one lock, but having learned the method, it's now in my repitoire.

I still consider my self a noob even though I can pretty consistently open all the locks I have right now (about 20 of them; 7 deadbolts - 2 of which are schlage with spools and ther rest are padlocks). I still get hung up on spools but I'm getting better... thanks to you all.

[LockNewbie21]

This is basically the same principal i use to pick zecurity pin locks, i always rake till false set.. but its a gentle rakeing mothin with a snake or sawtooth ( i finished my picks so the slide better) and way once false set is a acheived back off tension and feel for neg. plug rotation and it opens.. no not all not it works on that easy but its done agood job with a schlage 5 pin 4 spoon pin repined to a nasty highlow as well as the brinks shrouded all the masters with security pins.. besides the pne i posted a thread of here for, its very very consistant, my favorite for getting false sets are ray bogatas that i made.. granted sometimes i jsut pop the lock becuase his design is that freakin good. I use a hook with normal pin cylinders and jsut puch each one down with medium tension.. i hate using light tension in less i have to medium works best hard tension is brutal the medium tension give the binding pins a strong bind so there easy to find. And if your careful don't do any damage to the lock.. its a great excersize though( tips hat )



Andy

[illusion]

Bounce the tension, and you will find that you can beat spool pins without needing to use negative plug rotation.

[LockNewbie21]

i was going to say that.. that shlage lock with the four spools i was talking about rays bogata idea killed that lock roulght 3 mins single pin 20 sec.s with rays bogata's they really are something