what would you say is the most common mistake for beginners?

[statuskuo]

what would you say is the most common mistake for beginners?

[kilroy]

if they are underage? the the biggest mistake is letting your parents find out that you broke into there room with lock picks that you bought from their check card! lol

[mrdan]

I would say too much tension and being too rough with the pick.


My biggest mistake personally was that I started out with raking and not Single Pin Picking. I was too impatient and it worked. I finally learned spp when I started doing security pins.

[freakparade3]

To much tension, and trying locks that are to advanced for their skills and getting discouraged at the beginning.

[Benvox2]

I would have to agree, I still havent been able to pick a single lock and I feel as tho it may be too much tension and I still have trouble!
I also think it may be to do with THE binding pin.

[Shrub]

what would you say is the most common mistake for beginners?

And im being very serious when i say this,

They refuse to search for info on the problem or subject at hand when visiting this site when they could be learing so much more,

Trying to rush the learning curve or show off to mates is the second biggest issue,


Too much tension, pushing pins up to much, not pushing pins up enough, not enough tension, wrong pick selection, wrong tensioning point, magiver tooling etc etc are all good points but they arent actually the root of the problem, these issues are merely by-products of the main underlaying issues begineers have and thats as i say above, impatience and laziness,

[raimundo]

over intelectualizing the probems comes after too much tension/frustration/sore fingers.
forget all the preconcieved notions about pushing the pins as far as you possibly can and holding them there with torque.

Read dbs guide on pinning and picking a practice cylinder, this must be the answer, though I have to admit I haven't read that, I got the jist of what he was talking about, and in fact its an old training technique that will put you ahead quickly.

most newbie questions are based on wrong preconcieved notions that are not relevant to the actual problem, so forget your questions and read, there you will find answers to the real questions that you havent thought of yet.

[Fah_Cue]

apart from all above i think the people who come storming in thinking that they are gonna pick it up and be able to unlock locks in 10 mins with a hairpins, then after trying are fed up with it. They need to remember that lock picking is truely an art which dose need alot of practice, pacience and time to master.

So just remember, thermite opens locks quicker then picks

[blake1803]

Well, the obvious answers have already been stated, but another common mistake that I see here often from beginners (in fact, this was long ago a mistake I made myself ) is to begin with padlocks. You can learn many of the bad habits mentioned above this way.

[Deathadder]

letting the top pins fall into the bottom of the keyway when you pick it... not pointing any fingers...*cough cough Schuyler*

[samfishers]

from my experience, to much tension, and to much rough on the pins and picks

pretty much like mrdan

[ForFun]

what would you say is the most common mistake for beginners?

Not using a condom.

[statuskuo]

crap i'm starting with pad locks

anyways i read somewhere taht theres a discount at a sponsoring site, i did a quick search but theres to many results

which site is it that you type in lp101 for a discount? I'm going to purchase a new set

[Gordon Airporte]

How about using unfit tools like paper clips? You're just going to frustrate yourself using stuff like that, and if you do manage to pick a lock it'll be hard to have any real idea what you did. It makes it hard to relate your actions to the theory you've read.
Buying a small kit or grinding out a hook and bending some wiper inserts is necessary if you're going to progress at all beyond wafer locks and Master #3's.

[statuskuo]

How about using unfit tools like paper clips? You're just going to frustrate yourself using stuff like that, and if you do manage to pick a lock it'll be hard to have any real idea what you did. It makes it hard to relate your actions to the theory you've read.
Buying a small kit or grinding out a hook and bending some wiper inserts is necessary if you're going to progress at all beyond wafer locks and Master #3's.

new set of picks, besides ive already picked padlocks with paperclips and bobby pins

right now i'm trying to be consistent i can only pick locks under favorable conditions:
bymyself w/ no one watching
at a good angle where my arm doesn't fall asleep etc
good lighting ( i don't know why)
when i'm in a relaxed mood

this makes me totally useless in the field, where i'm under pressure and theres people counting on me and so on