Raking versus SPP

[razlex]

when i use a rake, i don't use the insert and pull out quickly technique. i instead found it much more reliable to first insert the rake all the way in, then apply my tension, then gently rock the the rake up and down while pulling out slowly. in my personal eperiece i've found this a pretty reliable technique for most of my standard lock (weiser, schlagge, yale....)

but, as everyone else is saying, SPP does the job when the rake fails ya ;)

[ObiWonShinobi]

Yup, depends on the lock.

Master #3 are faster (for me) to SPP, but can still rake sometimes.
as are master #1

I've only really messed around with 3 dif taskforce,
but all of them are pretty quick to rake.

One of my Brinks rakes fast.
But the disk type brinks 70 has counter-tension, AND spool pins.
so ya gotta SPP it, and then again to proper set the spools.

Quickset deadbolts.... depends on how they are pinned,
some rake quickly, the ones that dont, SPP quickly.
Hard to find one that does both quickly though, maybe its just me.

Helping hand locks, pop quickly the first time, but they get harder,
because you are laughing at how fast they popped the first time,
and you cant concentrate enough to make it happen again!

--

There are even differences in what seem like the same picking style.
Some locks SPP quickly with slightly lighter/heavier tension.

Or if you apply torsion off center,
as anyone with a mountain padlock can tell you.
they are cheap... but small and tight..... hard to find the shear.....
but if you aply torsion a few degrees off....
then a few pins will bind first, because they touch when the others dont...
and can quickly be snapped up with a sawtooth rake.
sometimes with a single stroke!

And again, brinks R70 disk locks require A LOT of tension anyway.

Some require 1/3 less than others you thought you were not
touching enough to matter anyway.

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Some locks respond to quick raking to jiggle and bounce.
Some open almost like they are being bumped with the rake.

some require the rake to jiggle at a certain angle, to miss long pins
that might otherwise be overset.

Some locks respond to a SLOOOOOOW scrape backwards gently
setting each one as you smoothly pass over them.

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To say SPP or raking works "BETTER" with any lock is silly and/or foolish.
Some locks respond better to one type of one technique,
but not as well as another type of the SAME technique.

and some people are naturaly...not "better" but "more likely"
to use a certain technique because it's more comfortable to them.

Someone else using the exact same type of raking as you might be faster
at a diferent type of SPP that you used unseccesfully on the same lock.

[RockInBlack]

Get to know both, but SPP'ing is usually the way to go from my experience...unless you're intentionally trying to make it false set.

[gotta]

I always start by lubing the lock and trying a few quick rakes. Many open within seconds. I release a little tension and let a pin or two reset, then another quick rake. I'll then go in with a hook pick and clean up what's left. I had a house last week with 8 doors, all older Schlage F51's. They were all varied in time to pick in order to rekey using a combination of raking, single pin. I seem to do more single pin when I'm working on the bench in the shop. I have no idea why. Old Weiser locks usually get single pin treatment so I don't knock out the tension wrench out while holding up the knob to turn it ccw in order to remove for rekeying.

As I've gotten older, I find myself reminding my customers to bring in their old keys when I rekey their locks in the shop, if they have them.

[FFVison]

I have gotten a little better at raking now, but I still prefer to SPP. I have gotten to like the position where the tension wrench is inserted into the top of the keyway and this seems to be rather troublesome with raking as the rake seems to like to pop the wrench out when it hits it after the number 1 pin.

I did get a second deadbolt a little while ago and I got it to turn more reliably with raking than with SPPing while most of my padlocks seem to work a lot better with my SPP technique. So I would have to say that I agree with most people here in that it really depends on the lock, but I find that I'm most likely to reach for my short hook and try to SPP a lock before I reach for my snake rake.

I have yet to try a wafer lock, but from what I read, they seem to be more vulnerable to raking than an SPP approach. So, if I were to try one of those, I might reach for my snake rake first. I have a ball pick, but it is a full ball and I sometimes wonder how I might pick something with it since the wafer locks I have actually seen seem to have smaller keyways. I keep thinking that I will probably hit the wrench with the bottom half of the ball if I try to pick and get stuck, forcing me to pull the wrench out a bit and that just seems like a bad idea as it would mess with the tension.

I'm not too concerned though since I also read that other tools (picks and rakes) work just fine on them. I guess when I finally do get around to working on a wafer lock, I will probably start with a rake, especially since I have gotten a little better at using it now.

[heelflip_kid]

Personally, I prefer the SPP method because it's more like a puzzle that I have to figure out - rather than raking and hoping for the best. (Not to say that raking doesn't work - I use it too )

[yoyoboy]

lately I have been using a double half snowman to rake/false set security pins, and then sort of single pin it using the individual balls, while releasing tension. This doesn't work that well combinations set to macs, but then again 90% of the locks that I have encountered and had to pick where fairly flat combinations.