Moments of frustration/relief

[Isepic]

I had recently gotten a hold of a bunch of old locks from a locksmith in town, and my main purpose was to get pins to re-key the deadbolts in my lock stand. They were all old ones anyway, so I wasn't too concerned with what happened to them, as long as the pins were still good. I got the pins out of all of them fairly easily, except for one. It was an older key-in-knob style lock, and it was the only one that had resisted my many attempts at prying it apart. No brand visible or anything like that.
I was watching a video on the internet, (not picking related), a rather long one, and I grabbed that one, as it's the only one that's near, grabbed my hook and tension wrench, and picked it. I got it open in a couple of minutes. I had never tried picking this one before, so I was quite surprised, as I'm not terribly good at picking, I just like to do so to give my hands something to do.
I must have had the keyway turned at exactly the right angle, because when I went to set it down again, the entire locking mechanism fell out onto my floor.
I've spent countless hours trying to pry this knob open to get at the pins in the lock, never once thinking to try to pick it, and after a couple minutes, it pretty much fell apart in my hands. I don't know whether to be happy that I finally got it apart, or to choke myself for not thinking to try and pick it beforehand.
Grrr...

[Eyes_Only]

Yeah a lot of knob locks, especially commercial types will only open or close up after the lock is open. I was fiddling with an Arrow KIK lock trying to put it back together after retrofitting it with a M3 cylinder and it took me 10 mins of frustrations before I figured out I had to have the cylinder in the unlock position to get the thing back together.

[Isepic]

That's actually what got me. I know some lock manufacturers have easily replaceable lock mechanisms, (as in put key in, turn to 180 deg, pull mechanism out), but given the apparent age of this lock, I was surprised. It literally looks like something your grandma would have in her house, saying "It's kept the ruffians out for nigh on 75 years, so why replace it?" It has a thin brass outer skin, with what appeared to be a pot metal style reinforcement. The pins I pulled out of it had quite a bit of the green brass-type buildup on them, leading me to believe that the cylinder hadn't been replaced.

By the way, in case anyone's curious, the best way I've found to store the springs is on a piece of un-twisted twisted-pair ethernet cable. Get the individually insulated strands out of there, tie a knot at one end, thread your springs through it. Twist the end over your finger, it should retain it's shape and keep the springs from falling off, (this works better with the solid core, as opposed to the stranded core wire, but both work in a pinch.)

[TheSovereign]

it has been my experience that the longer i attempt to pick a lock the more i damage it, the easier it is to pick. so usually if i cant pick a lock within 10 mins or so ill move on to another. its a shame picking actually damages the way the lock works.

[freakparade3]

it has been my experience that the longer i attempt to pick a lock the more i damage it, the easier it is to pick. so usually if i cant pick a lock within 10 mins or so ill move on to another. its a shame picking actually damages the way the lock works.

If done properly it does not have to damage the lock. If you are damaging every lock you try to pick you are not using a light enough touch.

[Eyes_Only]

Unless you're taking a pick gun to it on a regular basis.