hello i need help

[bobo1172]

i recently got extremely interested in lock picking. i have succeeded in picking one (a chance (i was raking the hell out of it)). my tools were a hairpin for a pic and a clip thing fromthe side of a pen for a tension wrench (tension wrench = seems to work great; pic = so so) it was a great feeling. it also took me about a day and a half. anywho, i havent had any success with a second time. i was looking at some of the suggestions for getting better and it involved taking apart a lock. i really dont want to. any suggestions please?

[robotmaxtron]

There are several stickies and posts that will answer your exact questions. Here are a few things i would do.

1) Try and get your hands on a starter pick set, SouthOrd has a great set that's perfect for starting out with.

2) Read read read. Here's a few stickies that are note worthy.

viewtopic.php?t=10677
viewtopic.php?t=19741
viewtopic.php?t=19288

Don't forget, that this is for most people for fun. Have fun with it, but it gets frustrating at times too.

[freakparade3]

Why are you against taking apart a lock? The only reasons I can think of are it's a lock that is on your front door, if this is the case you should not be picking it to begin with, or 2, you are not iwlling to put in the hours and hours of reading and practice it takes to become a proficient lockpicker. Which is it?

If you want to be good at lockpicking you need to get some proper tools, we have many threads on making lockpicks here that will help you. There is much to read, if you do not know what is going on inside a lock you will not be able to pick it. Finally you must get some locks to practice on, leave the ones on your home alone.

[pradselost]

Well, if I understand his post, one of the suggestions he found was to take apart a lock to study how it works. It's a good idea once you're looking for a way to visualize the interior of the lock...though a lot of cutaways and guides that are freely available on the internet will show you the interior of a lock without the hassle.
My suggestion is not to bother just yet. You should definitely work on getting a decent set of tools, and start by learning how to feel your way around the inside of the lock...do pin feeling exercises, and most importantly, learn to recognize the different pin states. While taking a lock apart to learn more about it is valuable, the basic function of the pin tumbler mechanism is pretty simple to grasp just by looking at pictures...higher level locks, once you gain the experience to attempt them, are when the dividends of disassembling to study the locking mechanism show up.

[Seachmall]

http://home.howstuffworks.com/lock-picking.htm

^^The best tut I've seen on how locks and lockpicking works, especially the flash pieces.

When buying a beginners set is their any advice ye'd give when choosing one? I'm looking at http://www.lockpickshop.com/C1500.html, Only €25 incl. shipping

Sorry if it seems I'm hijacking the thread but I'm sure it could be if some use to the OP.

[vitti]

When buying a beginners set is their any advice ye'd give when choosing one? I'm looking at http://www.lockpickshop.com/C1500.html, Only €25 incl. shipping

That should give you all the tools you'll need and a handful you probably don't. To start out all you really need is a couple of picks, a hook and a half diamond. And of course a tension tool. The rakes and ball picks are fine too but you'll find you rarely ever use them other than to play with them from time to time.

If you're on a tight budget just buy individual picks and tension wrenches. If the price is fair to you, get the set.

[Seachmall]

I can't find anywhere that sells slim-lines (European) picks individually, for a set similiar to this to buy from the UK I'm looking at about €30+ (with the exchange rate, shipping etc.). So I think I'll go with it, I just wasn't sure what to look for in a pick set but as you say; this seems to have the picks I need and more I don't.

Thanks

[paulvalente]

Try here for individual picks and reasonable shipping costs. I used them when I first started.

http://www.lockpickshop.com/BTK-Euro-Picks.html

Cheers

Paul

[serpih]

Usually I tell to my friends who like beginning lockpicking to make some picks like "half diamond" and hook and a tension wrench.

I think is very important to beginners to open a first lock.

Try open many locks with hand made picks, you will open one for sure .

don't forget try a home made pick gun like this one



on this video i have open a lock with this tool and was impossible to me to open the same lock with picks.

[url=http://www.lockpickingfrance.org/mediamaker/pickgunfaitmaison.wmv]Video with home made pick gun
[/url]

If you open one you will start asking your self why does it work and next step is start reading.

[Dragunov-21]

Snapper picks (as above) can be, apparently (I haven't tried one myself), quite effective, but as far as learning how to pick they're useless, as it's not actually picking as much as bumping. If you want to learn how to pick effectively, I'd suggest either buying a basic (14 piece or less) SouthOrd set, or making your own. my MPXS-14 set was about 20USD plus another twenty for shipping, and was well worth the money, although now I almost exclusively use home-made picks. If you want to buy, I'd recommend lockpickshop.com, if you want to make your own, there are plenty of thread in the Lockpicks - Manual section, in particular, Shrub's guide to making picks, and later on, Kaotik's tension wrench guide. If money's an issue, I'd make your own, as you can get a lot made with a chainsaw file, a small triangle file and some fine sandpaper.

Hope this helps.

[FFVison]

Yeah, I have the 14 piece southord set, though mine is not a slimline set. I agree that it will be much more than you need and more than you will use regularly, though I recommend a 14/15 piece set anyway since it gives you a better idea of what picks you like to use and for which situations. I know a lot of people like the half diamond picks though I found that a short hook is my favorite generally. Also, it's good to have the additional pick types as while their application may not be immediately evident, your technique may evolve to adopt them. When I first started off, I could pick locks just fine with my short hook, but as soon as I tried raking a lock open, I was pretty much worthless. Well, eventually, I got better at raking with my snake rake. So, now I have that to work with as well. I'm sure that eventually, I will be able to incorporate a diamond pick into my technique as well. Have fun. That's what we are all here for anyway, right?

[Archive555]

I personally bought the 5-piece starter set with the training book from SouthOrd, but found the book was useless (the LP101 forums are much better ), and I quickly bought more picks. You'll soon get a taste of what picks you prefer, so I'd get the one with the most picks so I can see what I prefer, but that's my opinion Get what you feel you would like to use, but yes, the 14 piece looks good for that price