I'm not THAT bad, am I?

by **Dread Pirate Roberts** » 20 Dec 2006 3:06

Greetings everyone. I haven't been on the forum for an ungodly amount of time, but that's the way life goes. Anyway, I seem to have a problem.

I can open the following:

-My practice doorknob
-Almost ANY masterlock with those lttle triangular wards (less than 5 seconds usually)
-One random lock some jerk put on my friend's bike a while ago.

Sadly, that seems to be it. I can't do regular doorknobs or deadbolts or anything. Admittedly, I moslty rake, since nothing else seems to work.

So do I just suck? Or am I doing something wrong? I took up lockpicking because I like to be useful, but now my friends make jokes about me and locks, and I'm really not any good.

What's the big difference between the masterlock warded locks and the rest of the world?

by **timal** » 20 Dec 2006 3:11

Follow the advice I got from this forum. Stop raking and start SPP - single pin picking. After doing that, I have gotten back into picking and am popping all sorts of locks open.

by **Dread Pirate Roberts** » 20 Dec 2006 3:38

I've tried Single pinning things, but there just doesn't seem to be room. Even if i use the short hook pick I have there's not as muhc room as there is in all the books anf lash videos... And I can't seem to find the pin that binds the most. I've gotten more use out of my picks as improvied tools than anything else.

by **TypicalNuser** » 20 Dec 2006 3:44

Yes I agree, do the single pin picking as timal suggests.

And one biggest tips I followed from LP101 is to start picking with only one pin in the lock (this requires you to remove the other pins) then add another pin as you become more proficient until you can do the whole lock. After a while you can actually feel/ picture what's happening inside.

by **mjwhit** » 20 Dec 2006 3:46

Just dont give up dude. Practice makes perfect... haha

by **JackNco** » 20 Dec 2006 7:48

i got back in to it not to long ago. had to virtually start all over again

follow DBs guide http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=10677

But start from 2/3 pins if uve done picking before. u should wiz through that.

Spend couple of evenings picking at the computer or watching TV and ull do back on track in no time. and remember. its a hobby not a race.... well till u start getting better again then ull find ur self racing videos on youtube (or maybe thats just me)

John

by **UWSDWF** » 20 Dec 2006 8:05

call me apathetic but stop being a sniviling little twerp.

You know what I have to say about your friends? F*CK 'EM, if you like picking locks then they can piss off.

Do you suck? no, but your attitude does, we all start somewhere and don't have g0d given abilities right off the bat.
practise practise practise, you will get better. but sitting around saying this is hard and i want my mommy and my friends are mean ect... will not make you better it will make leather necks like me chew on you.

Nothing angers me more then self-loathing. Self-loathing makes people weak and the weak don't win, they die. Be strong, practise until your fingers bleed and then practise more.

So cry me a river and I'll piss you a lake.

by **JackNco** » 20 Dec 2006 8:23

well that should scare him in to not coming back. although i can see ur point. no ones good at first, and this is one game where most of the skill if from practice. i bet most of the best picks on here spend at least a few hours EVERY day picking.

Basically dude if ur not doing something with ur hands, why arnt u picking!

by **nezumi** » 20 Dec 2006 9:55

If he's REALLY a pirate, he'll just throw the same right back. But then again, if he's really a pirate, he'd kick door open and laugh loudly rather than just pick them (even if it's his own door and he just forgot his keys in the ship).

Firstly, I have to ask if your picks are professionally made picks or something you made yourself. It is possible that if you made them yourself, they weren't made especially well. That said, I recollect when I started, I was always hitting two or even three pins at a time with my hook because it was 'too big'. As I got better, I could hit a single pin at the back of my smallest locks (with the exception of when the pin right in front of it was just too low). It's not that the keyway has gotten bigger, it's just I've gotten better. So keep practicing.

Definitely do single pin picking. Raking works 70% of the time with me, and works best in tandem with SPP. The only lock I've managed to pick raking and not SPP is the one I lost patience with

by **Romstar** » 20 Dec 2006 11:58

There isn't a thing wrong with you at all.

Its possible if you made the picks yourself that they are simply too big. If that isn't the case, its all just a matter of practice.

Digital_Blue's exercise is one of the easier ways to learn what you are feeling for and what to expect inside of a lock.

There is plently of room inside the lock, but obviously not as much as a video or animation may lead you to expect. This again is normal.

So, start by learning what happens when you use light, medium and heavy tension while you are lifting pins. Also, using a small hook or daimond, just ease it inside the plug, and gently push the pin up and let it fall back down.

Just keep experimenting until you think you know what you are feeling.

Then you can move on to finding the binding pin stack. After that, it will start to become easier.

Good luck,
Romstar

by **Dread Pirate Roberts** » 20 Dec 2006 17:10

Mmm. Perhaps I wasn't too clear on my position.

My Friends and Family: They assume I'm better than I am. My band tends to joke about how locks don't matter because I'm there. I have to tell them that's not the case.

MYself: I'm not wallowing in self pity, I'm just frustrated because I've been doing this on and off for over a year now, and I don't seem to be improving.

My tools: A SouthOrd 14-piece Pickset my parents bought me for Christmas last year. THe full round is generally used for adjusting my friend's flute. I get the most use out of the snake.

I'll try to explain myself better next time, sorry for the confusion. I'll have to look around for a lock to take apart and work on, because when I singe pin the doorknob I have, I only have to seem to have to set one pin.

by **Iceberg_Slim** » 20 Dec 2006 20:18

try to vary your tension, it could be that particualr lock needs more tesnion on the barrel to keep the pins on the shear line.

you could also be false setting the pins by overlifting them, basically start from the back of the keyway and work towards the entrance of the keyway and find the pin that feels the least springy of all the pins, that is the pin that is binding at the shear line. then work your way to the next pin that binds and so on.

by **Firearm** » 20 Dec 2006 20:39

I think you could learn a lot by doing the pin by pin lesson. It worked well for me and I learned a lot, even though I can only open cheap locks so far. My 14yr old daughter was having a blast picking them with 1, 2 and 3 pins and got a bit stumped at 4. It was a fun time together solving puzzles. Have fun!

by **Gordon Airporte** » 20 Dec 2006 23:23

You have decent picks, so ask for a decent lock this Christmas - a Schlage deadbolt from the hardware store. Once you have it take a look at Shrub's 'Pyramid' training method where you start with one or two pins and work your way up to all five, then start shuffling the pins (you can always shim the cylinder open if you can't pick a particular configuration.)
If you get comfortable with a Schlage you should be set for most common locks like Kwiksets.

by **Dread Pirate Roberts** » 27 Dec 2006 23:36

Well, Christmas has come and gone, leaving me with a copy of The Complete Handbook of Locks & Locksmithing by G.A. Roper. It's a farly interesting read so far, even though I'm only at Chapter 2.

Looking at some diagrams, perhaps I'm pushing the pins too far up.

In truth, my most burning question is this "How much pressure should be applied to deadbolts?" I have difficulty with the pressure levels, and as a result I never know if I'm making any progress. I have a few locks I can practice on around, but none of them are at home. Thanks for your encouragement and advice. I'll let you know when I improve.

I'm not THAT bad, am I?

I'm not THAT bad, am I?

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