(Moved) Which lockping set to buy?-Noob needs help!

[HeavyPants]

Hello there!

I am a lockpicking noob, having picked only 4 locks in my life. I intent to buy a picking set and maybe a few cut aways. I dont think I'll be needing any bump keys since i will probably work in a locksmith's this summer .

Since I am totally anawere of the market I was wondering if you could tell me which picking set to buy. I would be gratefull if you could also let me know why should i buy this set and not another. I would also like to know if buying any cut aways is a good idea and where could I find them.

My budget (for the lockpicks) is about 30euro~40bucks

I checked the forum for similar posts but couldn't find any, I am not very observant however.

Thanks!

[hydruh]

Hi, Pants.

It's pretty simple really - go to lockpickshop.com (link should be to the left of this message in the sidebar) and get the best set you can afford. Quality of the picks is more important than quantity - I rarely carry more than 5 picks when I am practicing - so a set like the PXS-14
http://www.lockpickshop.com/PXS-14.html would be great.

Remember to head over to the Announcement board and introduce yourself in the Introductions thread. viewtopic.php?t=2218 Happy picking, and good luck!

S

[JackNco]

pretty much any slimline set will do you fine.

[HeavyPants]

Thx! So i will get the highest price-per-pick ratio set i can find.
I allready got some locks to make my own cut-aways so i won't be buying any.

[JackNco]

well I would stick to Southord www.southord.com or southern spec www.lockpicktools.com for now.

[StabbyJoe]

my recommendation is to buy the smallest set you can that has:
Hooks (preferably a few rather than just 1)
at least 1 or 2 half diamonds
random crap of your choice (doesn't matter much for a beginner... but ALL sets have ALOT of random crap... best beginner set IMO would be a set with a couple of wrenches and like... 5 hooks and 2 h/diamonds and nothing else)

as far as cutaways... not necessarily a good move... I wanted one when I was starting, too... but I decided against it when I was told that not only do they not help, they can sometimes even hinder the learning process, and the only time they have much use, is demonstrating what happens inside a lock when you pick it to someone else. I'm sure it might make a nice practice lock, but it's a lot of money/effort for not a lot...

[JackNco]

agreed. cutaways are a bad move IMHO. i have more trouble picking a lock looking at the cutaway then picking the thing normally these days. pushes you in the wrong direction.

John

[HeavyPants]

Thanks for all your replies!
I'm really happy I bumped upon such a friendly and helpfull community!
I think I'm gonna get the southhord jacknife thingy, it seems extremly sleek and the producer says that it was an overnight succsess, so it should be of good quality.
Do you think i should rather get a "normal" set?
Conserning the cut-aways. I get it, i won't be using any of 'em, but I'm gonna make one! I think it will help me understand perfectly what happens inside the lock, allthough I'm really good in theory .

[Safety0ff]

Do you think i should rather get a "normal" set?

Yes, there's plenty of posts discussing why the jacknife set isn't so hot. I'd get a slimline/euro set.

[vitti]

Ya, the the jackknife is not a good idea to learn with. It's more novelty and convenience than utility.

Stick with a slimline set.

[HeavyPants]

Got ya, will probably get the 9 pcs slim from SouthOrd (i totally lova that site). However I will first attemp to make my own picks! Acctualy I will use SafetyOff's guide! I think that the shiny effect will make up for the sleekness of the jacknife

[samfishers]

wow, there is again another thread about wich pickset to buy... I really think we should make a sticky.. not with this one thought....

[dmux]

yea just post a sticky of different picksets and brands to buy with what skill level or just price range and starter sets with links to pictures, that pretty much would eliminate about 2000 threads per year that are created about what picksets to buy.

[paulvalente]

Hey Buddy, I suggest you just go with on of the small sets from Lockpickshop.com

For example:

http://www.lockpickshop.com/C500.html

or

http://www.lockpickshop.com/C1500.html

Both these are slimline sets to give more flexibility if and when you try to pick higher security locks with tighter keyways.

[Harpo_the_bad]

Hi there,

I bought a SouthOrd Slimline set a few months ago and it's great. Don't worry about anything you might have heard about slimlines being too flimsy. Mine are like new.

The C1500 set is the one I have. It has 4 wrenches and 11 picks.

Out of my set I only ever really use the small half diamond and two of the wrenches. That's really all you need for 95% of the things I've come across!

Ball picks are good for wafer locks.

Some people prefer a short hook to the half diamond as their all purposes pick.

The two smaller rakes are useful... but how much fun can you have raking? Picking is where the fun is

Modified picks are sometimes useful when the keyway restricts movement of normal picks.

All of the above is included in the C1500 and more that you'll probably never find a use for. Everything else is really kind of surplus to requirements.

So yeah; I'd second everyone else's advice. Get a small SouthOrd slimline set.