Misleading comment in digital_blue's beginner exercises

[ooops]

At viewtopic.php?t=10677
digital_blue says, "To verify that the pin is set, allow the bottom pin to drop back down (of course while maintaining tension). If the bottom pin falls back down into the keyway freely, your pin is likely set. Gently lift the bottom pin and notice that this again has a completely different feel to it. Since the top pin is now trapped above the shear line, there will be no spring tension on this pin, so it will move freely with almost no resistance at all."

But with all due respect to digital_blue, his statement isn't true! If you lift the binding pin partway, or most of the way to the shear line, but don't set it, the the bottom pin still moves freely with no spring tension, because with the correct amount of torque applied, the binding force on the top pin will prevent the spring from pushing it back down. Feeling a free bottom pin doesn't tell you whether the top pin is set.
It isn't even a valid simplification for the sake of a beginner, who is likely to push a binding pin insufficiently far (I speak from experience as a beginner), who will then get confused because he feels the free bottom pin and on that basis incorrectly thinks he's successfully set the top pin.

He does say, "If it happens that you lift this pin to the shear line and the lock does not open, it means that you have not set the first pin (first to bind, not necessarily first position). It could be that you have lifted the first pin close to the shear line but have not quite hit it yet. In this case, go back to your first binding pin and lift a little more." But doesn't make clear that his test isn't valid.

[melvin2001]

that is pretty much the best test... and i think anyone that works through the exercise over and over will learn how to feel a lock rather then just depend on that sometimes inaccurate test. if you have a better way by all means please share it. the problem is that for a beginner this is by and far the best method of determining if a pin is set... its not 100% but it none the less is the best 2nd only to experience.

i guess the point is that you cant really show someone what something feels like over the internet... this is a simple test that is generally accurate. the only thing that will replace that test is having a lot of experience and getting your pick-fu in order.

[Raccoon]

I think the paper fails to mention that you should lift the pin gently, and use this test to determine if it is the binding pin. There are too many other situations that suggest a set pin, but a new picker is probably not going to pick up on them right away.

When you are new, you are looking for a hard fast solution, and it doesn't work that way with lock picking. So, in essence, the falty wording in this guide will only better you because you're not racing to set pins right away, but rather "feel" the pins. You'll go back to the same binding pin over and over until you discover for yourself what it feels like to set a pin.