Huge Sucess so far.

[Matt-the-rat]

So far i have had great sucess with my lock picking. Having picked 3 or 4 abus padlocks (failing on one), a silver line padlock, 4 very cheap padlocks, a sterling wafer tumbler lock, a wafer tubler lock on my (own) freezer and again a wafer lock on my (own) filing cabinet. Now I am stuck on a padlock though. It cost me a pound (at a pound store/american equvalent $1 store) and have spent more than an hour trying to pick it. After failing picking it, I have tryed raking it, then picking the remandier pins but have had no luck. The make of the Padlock is well known in britain as cheap and cheerfull, Blackspur. It has no identification number of markings on it, and I have tried using all of my picks, which are SouthOrd (9piece) set. Has anyone got any idea why I annot pick this one cheap padlock and not the others?

[blake1803]

I can't offer anything in the way of knowledge about the company, but here are some things to consider and check for:

- What is the key bitting like? Is it much more variable than the other locks you've picked?

- Is it possible that there are security pins, even on this very cheap lock?

- I've encountered cheap padlocks that have required a great deal more tension than I would normally think to apply -- have you varied your tension, etc?

Those may be fairly obvious things to consider, but you never know! The key bitting especially, I think is something that people tend to overlook in terms of how much difficulty it can add to a lock.

[BobbO45]

I had the same type of problem. I could pick many different things, but couldn't pick a simple master lock padlock.
When I looked at the key, the first pin must have been a #9, because it was very deep, and it would constantly over-set due to the binding order during picking.

All the best

[Deathadder]

you probably have a high-low combo, where one pin is a really low set, and the one directly behind it is very high, this causes you to overset the first pin when you are trying to set the pin behind it.

[raimundo]

besides changing your tension, try changing your tension wrench, you will be surprised how much this makes a difference. also, new pickers often wear a groove in the cylinder shell at the bottom of the keyway, this actually becomes a security feature, I don't know why the lock companies dont install them.
if your tensor does not fall loosly out of the keyway after attempted picking, you have a tensor binding problem, and the pressure is not being applied to rotate the plug, its actually jamming it.
if your tensors have sharp corners and rough cut edges, they need to be filed on the blade that goes into the lock

[raimundo]

master padlock could make a saw tooth edge on the last lamination just to catch tensors, that would make life more interesting for pickers
MUahhahaahaa

[Shrub]

Dont Blackspur have spools in them?

I still havent come across one so cant comment further,