Mushroom Pins......

[Bitter Man]

I've been picking locks for quite a while now and I got a whole buncha my friends into the puzzle solving element of it. It was a great idea...then i found out i sucked at teaching. Hehe. So I bought the book by Eddie the Wire. There I found the technique that ive used the only time ive ever managed to pick a mushroom pin lock. Its like this: insert your pick and push all the pins up as far as they'll get, then apply heavy torque. This will cause all the pins to set high instead of false setting. The lock still wont turn, but you'll be removing the mushroom pins from contention because they are the uppermost pins. They will never get a chance to false set. Now to pick the lock, insert a pick you can rake with, (small diamond, snake, whatever), and start scrubbing, as you're scrubbing slowly and very gradually release tension. The lower pins in the stacks will fall down while the upper pins will remain in the housing (along with the mushroom mechanism which never gets a chance to screw up ure picking), and once the lower pins have all fallen down again, the lock will turn and open. =D.

[sludgedancer]

Thanx Bitter Man, will give it a go.

[Bitter Man]

Good luck. =0). If I explained that poorly go buy the book (its a worthwhile investment).

[sludgedancer]

Sorry, please excuse my ignorance, what's the full details of the book and any idea where i can get it from? I've got a copy of the MIT and a CD rom which are good for the basics but don't mention too much about how to crack better quality locks. I find it easy to beat brands like ERA but i don't think the UK has many of the brands mentioned elsewhere on this site such as schlange.so I'm quite eager to get past those bloody mushrooms in the Yales!!

[Bitter Man]

No problem. The book is entitled "The Complete Guide to Lock Picking" by Eddie the Wire. Amazon sells it for lik 8$.

[Pro lockpicker]

you need a Feather Touch tension wrench to pick mushroom pins or you could just be really light with a normal one but because yale locks normly are spring loaded so this might not work so it would be very difcult to pick
but with the right tools you could do it.

[Marhi]

mushroom pins are very easy to pick... when you know how to do it... I can pick a lock with 5 mushroom pins in it in about 20 sec... but at the beginning i spent 10-20 mins to figure it out.
Some tips:
1. You should use very light torque
2. Try to pick mushroom pins first... if they false set and if u push on them moderately hard you will feel the lock wanting to turn in the direction opposite to the picking one.

[Pro lockpicker]

but how do you pick a lock with mushroom pins if the lock cilinder is spring loaded eg in most pin tumbler padlocks.

[Pheniox]

The same way Marhi described, thats how you pick a spring loaded tumbler padlock. Unless you mean a different kinda lock..

[Varjeal]

In reference to the lock pictured at the beginning of the thread, I can understand why the locksmith may have chosen to drill that particular lock, though he could have drilled it differently.

Regardless, here would be my reasoning:

1. I would have spent some time trying to pick that lock. However, the signs of corrosion around the plug are disturbing. I would have first lubricated that lock thoroughly with a good teflon/silicon spray. It doesn't look like that happened.

2. That is not a very good quality lock, and who knows what kind of damage may have been inside that cylinder MAY have given problems to the picking process, corroded pins, springs, badly worn plug, improperly installed lock that put unnecessary pressure on the cylinder.

I'm not making excuses for the work he did, but I have run into similar difficulties from time to time and have been forced to drill the lock. I usually try to drill just the plug itself if the lock is going to be repaired. Looks like that one is toast.

If I couldn't get the pick gun to work, the rotary tool (drill) is the next step in the process.

btw, the chances of mushroom pins in that type of lock are relatively slim.

Hope that alleviates some of your stress over what occured.

[Mister Hobbs]

In reference to the lock pictured at the beginning of the thread, I can understand why the locksmith may have chosen to drill that particular lock, though he could have drilled it differently.

Regardless, here would be my reasoning:

1. I would have spent some time trying to pick that lock. However, the signs of corrosion around the plug are disturbing. I would have first lubricated that lock thoroughly with a good teflon/silicon spray. It doesn't look like that happened.

I agree.

2. That is not a very good quality lock, and who knows what kind of damage may have been inside that cylinder MAY have given problems to the picking process, corroded pins, springs, badly worn plug, improperly installed lock that put unnecessary pressure on the cylinder.

If you mean that a Yale is not a good quality lock, I would vehemently disagree with you. If you mean THAT Yale is not in good condition, I agree. I also agree with the rest of that quoted statement about the possible damage to the lock because of age and not being properly maintained, etc.

I'm not making excuses for the work he did, but I have run into similar difficulties from time to time and have been forced to drill the lock. I usually try to drill just the plug itself if the lock is going to be repaired. Looks like that one is toast.

In the mad rush to make every hour pay as much as possible, SOME Locksmiths have left the "craft" behind and they run to the drill instead of cultivating lockpicking skills. I don't think this can be denied, especially since it has been the norm in publications like The Locksmith Ledger for years, it has been an ongoing debate for a very long time.

Yet, only THAT Locksmith felt what he felt. By that I mean this, you stick a pick into an old lock and you feel the tumblers and you know if you have a problematic pin stack very quickly. He may have spent so little time on it because he was not very good, skilled, at Lockpicking. Entirely possible. But, he might have felt something and knew he had a spring that was hopelessly twisted around the driver and projecting into the plug, etc. The man with the pick in the keyway is going to know what he feels.

Over years of use, those pins and springs get quite the workout. The first pin stack will operate five times for every time the rear pin stack operates just once. Over years, this causes an incredible amount of wear and tear on the lock and a lot of really terrible things can happen as you and I have just outlined.

btw, the chances of mushroom pins in that type of lock are relatively slim.

I would disagree with that, older Yales routinely had mushroom drivers in them, given the appearance of that lock, I would bet it did unless a Locksmith deliberately removed them at some point in that lock's lifespan. I've seen that happen as well.

[Pro lockpicker]

i have not saw the lock you are talking abought but i know most yale locks have spool pins not mushroom pins.

[Krypos]

random post revival.

but really. what locks or lock companies actually use mushroom pins? ive never seen any myself.

[maxxed]

I rekeyed a house a few days ago, 4 Schlage locks each with 4 mushroom pins. I have come across several Yale cylinders that have seratted pins top and bottom and those can be nasty

[unbreakable]

Yale, Schlage, Corbin and Sargent are the locks I've come across with mushrooms in them.