Trouble with Standard door locks

[mmarz9]

Hello,

This is my first question im am posting on the site. I am EXTREAMLY new to lock picking so i am not familiar with all the terms and technical info, so please excuse me if my question lacks some necessary details.

I have been trying to pick some standard ( what i believe are 5 pin ) door locks around my apartment and am having some trouble but am not sure what it is im doing wrong. Im at the point where if i look inside the cylinder i see no pins hanging down and i can slide a rake to the back of the cylinder with out hitting any pins but the lock wont turn.

If i slowly release the tension wrench i can hear each pin drop and have have had this problem on one dead bold and one standard door knob.

This is my first attempt at a door lock i have only been successfull with a small pad lock used to lock up my shot gun ( 3 pin i believe )


Any advicee would be GREATLY APPRICIATED!!!

Thanks
~marz

[djslacker]

The first problem that you have is that it sounds like you are attempting to pick locks that you have installed and depend on. That's a no-no. Our #1 rule is to not pick locks that you depend on, because if you break the lock, then you might not be able to lock your front door and you'll be screwed.

Second, just because you have pushed all of the pins up doesn't mean that the lock is going to open. Browse the site for a while and you'll learn a lot. If it's a 5-pin lock, then there are 5 pins that are different lengths. Just look at your key, if your key didn't have any cuts on it and was just flat on top, then the lock would open if you pushed all of the pins to the top. But your key has cuts that are different depths, so the pins in the lock need to match those depths. Once you can make the pins match those depths, the lock will open. And therein lies the challenge.

Welcome to the site and I hope that helps.

[mmarz9]

Luther,

Rule #1 noted! Thanks what you said makes perfect sense. One of the locks is on a closet door...why i have no clue but i never have a need to lock it, the dead bolt was indeed my front door ( probably not the best idea ) but thanks again for reply i will take a look around the site and purchase some locks from Home Depot.

Should i be starting with some differnt locks....are these type locks considered "advanced"

Thanks
~marz

[djslacker]

Chances are, they're not too advanced, maybe a Weiser or a Kwikset brand? The locks to start out on are Master padlocks (http://www.masterlock.com/cgi-bin/style_search.pl?dir=/residential/homeyard/&style_id=A3&sub_style_id=C311)

Home Depot (in MN at least) only sells Master padlocks. Masters are nice because they're not too hard, they're common to find in stores so that you always have different ones to buy as you advance and they don't cost that much.

Happy picking.

[jgor]

The best lock you can get for starting out is a regular Kwikset deadbolt. It's a straightforward 5-pin lock with no advanced security pins. Plus, it's trivial to pop off the cover and pull out the pins so you can practice with fewer pins until you get the hang of it. Get yourself one of those from Home Depot, then take a look at db's beginner's guide:

viewtopic.php?t=10677

[mmarz9]

Thanks for all help....DB's guide looks like a great place to start. Im going to run to home depot and pick up a kwickset deadbold today, disassemble and start one pin at a time. I am definately using a "prod and Poke" method at the moment and would like to actually start developing more of a skill instead of "hey look at that it opened" haha

Thanks again ill let you know how i make out.

~marz

[Olson Burry]

It didnt make much sense to me at first but using the slightest amount of tension is usually the way forward.

It used to be that without using moderate tension I couldn't get any of the pins to bind, turns out I was false setting them and because of the force I couldn't feel it.

Be veeerrrry gentle with your picking hand and try to feel the end of every pin, these are bevelled and one should be able to feel, through the pick, even the slanted edges of these, running up to the flatter tip of the pin.

The key then is to be extremely careful how you move the pick in the lock, gently running it ever so slightly over the very bottom of the pins to find the one that is binding and work on that one next, without disturbing ones that you've set or have little to no resistance.

If you really concentrate, you can see in your minds eye when a pin makes the shear-line, it might have moved an almost imperceptible amount, but its arrived and now it's time for the next one. Now is also the time you try not to move suddenly, knock the set pin or counteract the tension in any way by moving the pick around.

Good luck (hope this post wasn't too ethereal for you )
happy daze