Noob question

[spectre1989]

Hey all,

I'm extremely new to all this, and am attempting to pick my first padlock. I have a southord jackknife pick in order to do this. What I'm wondering is, does the tension wrench actually need to be touching the bottom of the lock? Or is it just used to provide a force TURNING the lock, or is it to provide a force DOWNWARDS on the lock?

Just because the tension wrench on this is a bit too wide to fit in the very bottom of the lock, but I can insert it near the bottom of the lock, and I can apply a good clockwise force with it.

Anywho, I seem to be having a weird problem that I can lift the first couple of pins, then apply some pressure with tension wrench, at this point these two pins kind of lock in the up position. Am I right in thinking they shouldn't be doing this, and rather should fall back down but with no springyness anymore?

Thanks in advance, and sorry you must get these kind of posts all the time!

Cheers
-Jay

[Azazel]

I'm new to locksport too, but I can tell you that as long as you can exert some rotational force on the lock, you're good to go. Make sure you have enough room to insert and manipulate the pick, also.

In regards to your second question, I would recommend that you try changing the amount of tension on you wrench. By adjusting the tension from more, to less, to more, to less, etc. (aka bouncing), it should allow the key pins to fall while the driver pin remains above the shear line.

Good questions!

[Marco]

No you do not have to have the tension wrench touching the bottom of the keyway. The postion of the tension wrench is irrelivant, as long as it is able to provide a turning force and there is room to maneuver your pick. There is no need for a downwards force onto the lock.

If I am reading that correctly, it sounds like you are lifting the pins and THEN applying the tension. This is not the correct method. The idea is to have a constant tension the whole time. So you should apply the tension first, and then begin to lift the binding pin. Are you actually lifting the binding pin or are you trying to lift all the pins at once? You should only be lifting one pin at a time, and that will be the pin that is hardest to push up. When you are lifting that pin, there is no need to increase the tension.

[FFVison]

The tension wrench is used to apply the binding force to the pins and to turn the plug. Aside from that, you can use it in whatever way works. I have even used the tension wrench at the top of the keyway, in front of the first pin. This allows me to apply tension to the plug with a little more control. If the bottom of the keyway is such that the wrench turns almost sideways without turning the plug, you can either do this, or place a smaller wrench along the bottom of the keyway. The other way that this technique could be handy is when you have a restrictive keyway. If the wrench is interfering with the use of the pick, sometimes it's easier to do this.

[Servalite6354]

You are trying to open the lock without a key. I think of it this way: you're trying to "fool" the lock into thinking that the key is inserted and turned. The key does two things, positions the pins, and turns the cylinder. You need to accomplish both of those to open the lock. When picking a lock, you use the picks to position the pins, and the tension wrench to turn the cylinder. When turning the cylinder, the pins bind and are "set", one at a time, until they are all in the correct position to open the lock. At that point, the tension wrench turns the cylinder, and the lock opens.

So the short answer is, no, tension wrench location isn't as important. What's important is that you provide the "turning" force on the cylinder with the tension/torsion wrench.

I hope this helps. I may have over-simplified things a bit, but I think it's a good start.

[Raymond]

All of the previous answers are great. One thing not mentioned was the binding of the pins while picking. If the pin goes up too far, it will bind and no longer be free sliding. If that happens, release the turning pressure and remember which pin and how far it was pushed up and dont push it quite so far up next time. If the top pin is set exactly on the shear line, the bottom pin will be completely free.

[ObiWonShinobi]

depth USUALLY will not mater.
Sometimes TOO deep will bind though.



Now... sometime turning at a slightly diferent ANGLE might make a diference.
It IS POSSIBLE to rotate either th front or back more or less than the other,
relatively speaking that is....

some locks are drilled unevenly....
sometimes some pins are bigger or smaller that others.

The plugs fit loosely sometimes and will tilt slightly.
so by turning slightly and then rocking, the front or back pins may be
more lose or tight than the others.

This helps to tighten a SMALL back pin once st to prevent it popping out
while you work on a front pin that is slightly larger.
OTHERWISE, turning tight enough to bind the rear would not allow enough
free movement to set the front,
and losening will just pop the back out again.

some people say "ohh, then you just gotta set the front one first..."
but if the front one is a LONG pin then it sets shallow and takes up
the whole keyway, not giving you wiggle room in the back.

and if the back has to be pushed quite a bit.... well, you see the point.

sometimes "creative angles" help set them faster.