30 hours later....

[bumpit]

I have defeated the Abus A55-50 and the Masterlock 140(my main battle). I have no idea why the master was so hard but I was able to pick it by Single pin and by raking. I would like to thank Bud-Weiser and Romstar for these accomplishments. Time to buy a Schlage. I am feeling good right now.

[mrdan]

right on.!

[Romstar]

Excellent. Glad to hear you got it.

Check around in your local shops, and you will find some decent and inexpensive deadbolts and other locks.

I really recomend staying away from key in knob locks until you know you have the technique down, because some of them are just so poorly made that even the best pickers go crazy with them.

Good luck,
Romstar

[mrdan]

Wouldn't it be nice if after you are done with a lock you could trade it for another and pass it on? I guess it could be lame. I figure that after you have moved on to bigger and better locks, you could turn the one you used to have in to kind of a "lock Library" so that way everyone could get a chance to try it and not have to carry old locks around. for example, I just got real good with my brinks shrouded and could trade for another one or another brand and someone else could try their hand at it. And I have a collection of various locks that I use to practice and they would make a good addition to someone who is starting out. I don't know. . . Is that a corny idea?? Is it allready done??

[bumpit]

Thanks Romstar I was looking to pick up a Schalge deadbolt and I went to my local locksmith and it was 50$. Do you have any other suggestions on where I could look because I am a student and only have 300 bucks to supply me for gas,alchohal and other small things until March.30th. I was thinking about applying for a job at my local lockie and just working weekends but the rules in B.C. are fairly tight and it might be hard to find weekend work. I just hate getting shut down on jobs. Makes me feel like an ant. Anyway thanks Frank im sure I will be asking for your wisdom once again

[Romstar]

I'm impressed, you remembered my name. Cool.

As for jobs, go talk to your lockie. You won't get to do picking I would imagine, but if you offer to do normal shop work, and whatever he has for the time you are available I am sure something could be worked out.

So long as you are not doing certain things, he shouldn't have to get a license for you. On the off chance that he DOES need a license for you, perhaps you could work something out where you deduct a certain amount from your pay to help offset that cost. It gets you in the door at any rate.

Given the cost of actual Schlage hardware, I would recomend checking out Walmart, Home Hardware, and Canadian Tire as well as some of the discount stores.

The cheaper cylinders will allow you to do repinning without spending too much money.

CT carries some decent YALE cylinders at reasonable prices. The Weiser stuff is over priced in my opinion.

Keep at it, and something will come up.
Romstar

[Krypos]

with what romstar said- it is true, for us hobbyist, many locks are WAY over priced, so the best thing to do IMO if you want schlage or wieser or any other lock that is a bit too pricey for you i the stores, look for (as rom said) discount stores, or even better, look into ebay or other places where you might be able to pick up expensive things at cheap prices. even our own b/s/t forum has some good deals (although you need to meet the reqs for it first).

but there are places to get good locks for cheap. and if you dont need the best right now, then go with cheap stuff, no name if need be and practice on that. no reason to destroy a fine lock to learn about it.

[Romstar]

Actually, see if your lockie carries LSDA.

The quality of these products is excellent, and in many cases surpass their usual counterparts. The LSDA deadbolts keyed for Schlage are actually much better construction in my opinion.

Especially when you consider the price for a regular grade 3 residential deadbolt. An LSDA grade 2 deadbolt is higher quality and costs less than the Grade 3 Schlage.

Your lockie may charge differently though.
Romstar

[raimundo]

take that lock that you had such trouble with but now believe that you know the trick to, and put a drop or two of three in one oil in it and you will change the characteristics again, it may be easier to pick, or it could be hard, depending on what you are doing, the light or the heavy. but just oiling it will show you a different lock. cheaper than buying a new one right away.

[bumpit]

Thats neat Raimundo. What type of oil? Motor oil?

[LockNewbie21]

I'd say silicon lube, you can buy an aerosal can with the straw thing attachment and shoot it right into the cylinder.

This cleans and also makes it great.

Ray i feel you, as soon as i took my medeco apart cleaned the sidebar pins and everything, it was actually quite hard, although in genereal were talking a medeco so..

[bumpit]

I have electrical lube I wonder if that would work.

[rlckustomkars]

if you want to try something spray a small amount of wd40 in the lock and let it sit for a bit then shoot some dry graphite in the lock. now thats lubed

[Romstar]

if you want to try something spray a small amount of wd40 in the lock and let it sit for a bit then shoot some dry graphite in the lock. now thats lubed

No thats gummed up.

Dry graphite works because its dry. You've gone and gummedit all up, and now ll the flakes will stick to each other, and greate a mess, or worse.

Never use graphite after any sort of lube, or cleaner that leaves a residue.

Romstar

[Squelchtone]

I have defeated the Abus A55-50 and the Masterlock 140(my main battle). I have no idea why the master was so hard but I was able to pick it by Single pin and by raking. I would like to thank Bud-Weiser and Romstar for these accomplishments. Time to buy a Schlage. I am feeling good right now.

Good job on the No55/50, it's full of spool pins. =) But before you spend money on a Schlage, take my bosses advice when it comes to your 55/50 and your 140: "that's good, now do it again."

and keep doing it until you can open either within 20 seconds or less consistantly. In the past I would open a 140 in 5 seconds, then after a week of working on other "harder" locks, I would pick up the 140 and it would take me 5 minutes.

good work and stay sharp!

Squelchtone