Need guides or books on how to pick locks

[scissor83]

SO I picked my car and my house door lock but i want to get better at lock picking. I wanted to know where i can get like books or guides on lockpicking or links to guides and books on the internet.

[White Graphite]

Most of that information is here on this site and even
info thats not in the books

But heres something to help
http://locksport.com/LSIGuide/lsiguide.pdf

Hope this helps.

[Jaakko]

You could do a SEARCH on this forum. And do NOT pick locks you or others rely on!

For search terms: "LSI Guide to lock picking" is a good start. You could also find digital_blue's article on repinning exercise.

[Eyes_Only]

Don't bother buying any "how to pick locks" books that are out there. Most of them, like pretty much everything paladin press carries are all information that has been repeated hundreds of times on this forum. Trust me, I've bought a few of these books before this site existed so I speak from experience. They are garbage.

The only books I recommend is "Locks, Safes and Security" by Mark Weber Tobias. It is an excellent text that turns the art of lockpicking into a science. The only other book worth having, if you want a book with more pictures is "The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing" by Bill Phillips. Other than that, don't waste your money on anymore. Save the money for decent quality pick sets instead. And once you gain access to the advanced forums, you will never again feel tempted to buy another lockpicking book. Unless Mark Tobias releases a 3rd edition of LSS.

[SmokieD]

Thread starter,

You shouldnt pick locks you currently use, as you are likely to wear them out to soon and eventually break them.

Especially car wafer locks. . In order to replace them you have to get inside the door panel and some cars have power doors which makes it even more difficult. Much more complex system then whats on your front door.

[SmokieD]

Don't bother buying any "how to pick locks" books that are out there. Most of them, like pretty much everything paladin press carries are all information that has been repeated hundreds of times on this forum. Trust me, I've bought a few of these books before this site existed so I speak from experience. They are garbage.

The only books I recommend is "Locks, Safes and Security" by Mark Weber Tobias. It is an excellent text that turns the art of lockpicking into a science. The only other book worth having, if you want a book with more pictures is "The Complete Book of Locks and Locksmithing" by Bill Phillips. Other than that, don't waste your money on anymore. Save the money for decent quality pick sets instead. And once you gain access to the advanced forums, you will never again feel tempted to buy another lockpicking book. Unless Mark Tobias releases a 3rd edition of LSS.

Not too much of a stephan hampton fan, huh. Im currently reading "Modern high security locks", its fairly good so far. "Advanced lock picking secrets" was close to worthless. I need to get "LSS". It the lockpicking bible from what ive heard.

[Shrub]

Be careful on the hampton books i have most of them as i fell into the trap when i first started and bought all the books i could to try and learn,

They are an interesting read BUT they are out dated in both info and technique,

Steven seems to make things up as he goes along most of the time, he thinks he knows how to do somthing and has thought up an idea of how to make a tool to do it and then prints it as if hes actually done it when in reality hes probly not even seen the lock he describes,

A read but thats all they are, dont take heed and dont look to much into them, the real techniques are on here and if in the advanced section you will see how much they differ from real world picking,


Dont get me started on the lss, i dont think its a begineers bok by a long shot, its over priced and even the goverment version leaves a lot of stuff to the imagination but i guess what can you do when your working on a copied work from the 1800's (i think) that has just had bits added to it without the author actually fully understanding what hes actually writing about half the time,
The folio database system on the cd's tops it off to make it almost unuseable,

The only way im going to eventually read mine is by printing it all out andf making a book from it (funnily enough this is precisely what im doing)
Personally i do not recconmend lss for anyone other than an accumplished picker, a begineer's book it most definatley isnt,

[Eyes_Only]

Very true. LSS has tons of information on picking but is lacking in illustrations as to how to pick. Most of the visuals are just photos of locks taken apart and scans of certain pick designs. If I had bought this book when I first started I would have been extremely frustrated and confused. The best places to start is with the MIT guide and watching the animations by Deviant.

[raimundo]

then if you still have questions, read the stickies, maybe one of the titles will fit your problem.