xp2 wrote: I got my first pick set, a couple of months ago along with a few practice locks. I can get them open pretty good now, although I feel that for a 5 pin tumber lock its not very secure at all....or hard for that matter. Anybody recommend some resources to fine tune my skills and/or videos i should watch ? Namely I need to work on my single picking....as I'm a raker.
Have you already read the MIT Guide, the guide by Matt Blaze and db's Beginners guide?
There are three ways you could start the transition from raking to SPP.
1. Use a rake with a short business end (one that only deals with 2-3 pins at a time) and use it in the usual raking motion, but SLOWLY. Feel how the rake leaves one pin and depresses the next when going in and out. Try to feel how the individual pins set. Then concentrate on other areas with the slow raking, all the while paying attention to the lock feedback. Each lock has a story to tell about the bitting and the state of the pins (dirt etc.) and your pick insertion is just a way to make the lock talk to you.
2. Use a half diamond and start out with the raking motion you are familiar with (prolly a rather quick and swift motion). Move back and forth and pay attention to the feedback in the way mentioned above.
3. Use your hald diamond and start with two or three "ripping" motions. That is put the pick in all the way, behind the last Pin:
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This looks like <peep>, but you should get the idea - the diamond pick behind the last pin and the tahng of the pick straight in the keyway, basically resting on the tips of the pins with no downward pressue. Now RIP the pick out straight and swift so the diamond hits all the pins on the way out, while applying the tension usually used for raking. Be careful when doing so, jamming the pick migh result in damaging it. Use a motion of your wrist, not one of your elbow to do it, when something jams the wrist will stop and damage is less likely. This action will set a few pins, maybe 2 or 3. Every time after you did this, apply slightly stronger tension and when inserting the pick try to feel out the individual pins with the diamond tip. Are they lower than the rest? Are they sticky? Are they loose?
Once you have the majority of pins set, try to individually set the remaining ones. An important skill is the identification of pin states. The guides tel you how to do it.
Once you have a few hours of training down the line, post again and tell us how it worked and what you are doing now.
Also, it might be a good idea to sacrifice a lock and rip it apart. If you do it correctly you can repin it and continue using it. Your first disassembled lock will usually be dead after it
everyone has to pay to learn. But having seen the insides FIRST-HAND gives you a good idea about the minute dimensions and amounts of force that are involved in SPP.
Due to financial limitations the light at the end of tunnel has been turned off until further notice.
