This is my first attempt at picking.

by **n00bking** » 2 Jun 2007 9:08

JackNco wrote:
n00bking wrote:That looks like a 3 pin lock not a 4. And that rake looks freaking amazing!

4 valleys. 4 pins. look at the spacing, there is a small valley by the largest one.

my bad.

by **n00bking** » 2 Jun 2007 9:08

JackNco wrote:
n00bking wrote:That looks like a 3 pin lock not a 4. And that rake looks freaking amazing!

4 valleys. 4 pins. look at the spacing, there is a small valley by the largest one.

my bad.

by **JackNco** » 2 Jun 2007 9:11

no problem, i had to look twice

by **bawlls** » 2 Jun 2007 14:33

ok guys so time for a little update.

i have made 2 more picks, wich i will post pictures for later, but bear in mind the pictures aren't all that great cause there from my phone. After hours and hours of trying, im yet to open that lock, and i got discouraged, and went and dug up some lock from my storage, and i picked one lock, really simple to open, but i cant explain why it opens. i do no pin work, i stick in a smaller tension tool, and if i get it on the right place, it opens, and im not too sure why. can anyone explain this to me?

also i was fooling around at school, and i was in the boys changeroom before gym, and i decided with my teachers consent (hes a pretty cool guy) that i would try and pick his door lock. i used my red and blue rake, along with my normal sized tension tool, picked around at the pins, back to front, and the key turned, to my amazment, all though i could not get it to turn just under half. could this be because i did use enough tension? or could there be another safty pin in there? i do not have pictures yet for it, but i will definatly get some.

also could anyone please tell me how to edit posts? if you can..

here are the pictures:
[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e355/thebrownhole/IMG053.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e355/thebrownhole/IMG052.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e355/thebrownhole/IMG049.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e355/thebrownhole/IMG050.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i43.photobucket.com/albums/e355/thebrownhole/IMG051.jpg[/IMG]
thanks guys for all your help too, i am taking everyone of your comments in and learning lots!

by **Afisch** » 2 Jun 2007 15:55

1. You can't edit posts, only the Mods edit posts if there is reason enough to.
2. The lock you are talking about is, id guess, a warded lock. (save explaining see the guide by illusion viewtopic.php?t=13443 )
3. Untill you understand exactly what is going on in that lock i'd advise against trying to pick his lock again. There is just too much to go wrong, and even with permission, it would be bad to get you both locked behind a door if the lock broke (which can easily happen). Could be 1 remaining spool or a number of other possibilities.

by **bawlls** » 2 Jun 2007 16:24

no its not a warden lock,
and i have read and read and read about everything there is!
i understand fully how the his lock worked, and i wasnt about to break it

by **gremner** » 3 Jun 2007 14:27

Beware the rivets! Too many times have I not been able to pop a lock that I had set all the pins because my wrench was stopped on a rivet.

by **jhl** » 4 Jun 2007 9:16

gremner wrote:Beware the rivets! Too many times have I not been able to pop a lock that I had set all the pins because my wrench was stopped on a rivet.

Whereas I find the wrench head, if it touches the cylinder wall at all (bottom of the keyway), often completely stops the thing turning.

And I never notice either...

by **cav_king** » 4 Jun 2007 10:58

Afisch wrote:Maybe a steeper hook?

This is what i would suggest.. Try to get a feel of the locations of the pins and take it nice and easy.

~CK

by **blake1803** » 4 Jun 2007 16:30

bawlls: even though you were given permission to pick the lock, I'm guessing that your gym teacher did not have the authority to give you permission. That lock belongs to the school, not the teacher who happens to use it. I know that you're new at this and anxious to pick anything and everything, but I think you'd do well to only pick locks that belong to you :wink:

As for why the plug turned but didn't open, the two things that come to my mind first are the possibility of security pins, or maybe the door is just sticky.

by **mercurial** » 5 Jun 2007 3:59

bawlls - welcome to the site! Your homemade picks look very good, I'd be proud if the first picks I made, too long ago, had turned out that well!!

A couple of things - I know the gym teacher gave you permission to pick the lock you attempted, but there are a couple of reasons that this is not a good idea.

As Afisch said, you can cause damage to the lock, which in the worst case scenario could lead to people being stuck on the wrong side of the door in an emergency. This is one of the reasons for our reccommendation against picking locks that are in use - even if they belong to you, or you have permission.

Also, whilst it can be very satisfying, showing your new skills to others, especially at school, can have unfortunate consequences. Imagine that lockers or rooms start being broken into, without clear signs of forced entry, and then imagine who is going to be the first person suspected?

Worse still, out of school, there are people poisonous enough to take advantage of you demonstrating your ability to open locks. Say you show co-workers, on practice locks that are your own, what you can do... Now somebody may be 'inspired' to commit a robbery, knowing that you are going to be the prime suspect & intending to take advantage of this fact.

In these cases, as rai has pointed out previously, the culprit is often the one who makes the most noise about it. The person who is insisting that it MUST be you that did it, because you can pick locks.

Be careful about who you disclose your abilities to - it's really satisfying to show a bunch of people you can open locks in seconds. It really sucks to be the prime suspect for a burglary.

As to why the gym teacher's door didn't open when you got the cylinder to turn 'almost halfway' - What do you mean by halfway? That it turned almost 180degrees? Or almost 90degrees?

My first guess would be that you turned the plug the wrong way (ie picked the lock in the wrong direction, turning it as if to lock it rather than unlock it) - this is a very common error, and is one reason that professional lockies carry plug spinners.

If you turned the plug in the correct direction, you may have turned it only just far enough to engage the boltwork, but your tension wrench wasn't strong enough to continue to rotate the plug further, to throw the bolt back.

Pushing/pulling/lifting the door to relieve pressure against the bolt can help here.

If you are turning the right way & the bolt isn't jammed against the doorframe/strikeplate, you might simply need something stronger than the tension wrench, (eg screwdriver) to supply extra turning force once the cylinder is picked, to throw the bolt. This is the case with certain padlocks, also.

If the plug turned anywhere near 90degrees, or even close to that, then you are not dealing with security pins.

The false-set associated with security pins occurs after only a few degrees of plug rotation - not close to what I could see anybody describing as 'almost halfway'.

I would say it is safe to assume that security pins were not responsible. Something referred to as 'trap pins' that lock-up the plug after a greater amount of rotation do exist, but this is advanced material, and certainly not what you were up against.

There is an extremely common case of people describing a plug turning 'halfway' (180degrees) and it gets stuck. The driver-pins have dropped into the bottom of the keyway. You do not mention the plug becoming stuck, so it is highly unlikely that this is the case here.

Hope you stick around to enjoy and learn about this fascinating hobby.

...mercurial

by **bawlls** » 5 Jun 2007 21:34

once again mercurial, thanks for a great post.
i now realize how i should definatly keep this to myself, and something i do alone.

the other day i broke the blue and red pick, in a padlock of mine at home, and its stuck. i think that really got me to realize that that coulda been anylock, and its not a good idea to pick active locks.

the cylinder turned id say 70 degrees, and stopped but i could still turn it back. I am really starting to think i turned the cylender the wrong way.

if the lock starts turning, am i able to pull out my tensioner and stick a screwdriver in there? or would i have to start picking with a srewdriver to start with.

I will not try to pick this lock again, but im still very curious about how i went wrong. im just gonna asume i was turning the cylinder the wrong way.

by **bawlls** » 5 Jun 2007 21:34

once again mercurial, thanks for a great post.
i now realize how i should definatly keep this to myself, and something i do alone.

the other day i broke the blue and red pick, in a padlock of mine at home, and its stuck. i think that really got me to realize that that coulda been anylock, and its not a good idea to pick active locks.

the cylinder turned id say 70 degrees, and stopped but i could still turn it back. I am really starting to think i turned the cylender the wrong way.

if the lock starts turning, am i able to pull out my tensioner and stick a screwdriver in there? or would i have to start picking with a srewdriver to start with.

I will not try to pick this lock again, but im still very curious about how i went wrong. im just gonna asume i was turning the cylinder the wrong way.

by **bawlls** » 5 Jun 2007 22:03

once again mercurial, thanks for a great post.
i now realize how i should definatly keep this to myself, and something i do alone.

the other day i broke the blue and red pick, in a padlock of mine at home, and its stuck. i think that really got me to realize that that coulda been anylock, and its not a good idea to pick active locks.

the cylinder turned id say 70 degrees, and stopped but i could still turn it back. I am really starting to think i turned the cylender the wrong way.

if the lock starts turning, am i able to pull out my tensioner and stick a screwdriver in there? or would i have to start picking with a srewdriver to start with.

I will not try to pick this lock again, but im still very curious about how i went wrong. im just gonna asume i was turning the cylinder the wrong way.

by **bawlls** » 5 Jun 2007 22:03

once again mercurial, thanks for a great post.
i now realize how i should definatly keep this to myself, and something i do alone.

the other day i broke the blue and red pick, in a padlock of mine at home, and its stuck. i think that really got me to realize that that coulda been anylock, and its not a good idea to pick active locks.

the cylinder turned id say 70 degrees, and stopped but i could still turn it back. I am really starting to think i turned the cylender the wrong way.

if the lock starts turning, am i able to pull out my tensioner and stick a screwdriver in there? or would i have to start picking with a srewdriver to start with.

I will not try to pick this lock again, but im still very curious about how i went wrong. im just gonna asume i was turning the cylinder the wrong way.

This is my first attempt at picking.

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