by Afisch » 30 Jul 2008 3:50
Firstly lose whatever you were reading, there are some great posts on this site which explain all the technique in depth but I'll have a go.
You will struggle with a bobby pin and paper clip, they give little feedback as to the inside of a lock but you may be able to get some idea with them.
The trick is not to keep all of the pins up in the top of the lock, but to lift them each to their indervidual shearlines. That is the point, at varying heights, when the pins will set. The aim is to lift them to this height and no heigher.
This is done by a constant turning force on the tension wrench, even before you start lifting pins, to allow you to feel them set. They will set in an order specific to your lock and only that order.
You find this order by determining when each pin binds against the walls of the lock, they should feel slightly harder to push up and grind against the lock housing. This is a feeling that needs to be learnt.
The tension should be light, but light tension is likely all you can achive with a paperclip anyway.
A pin is set when it feels lighter to lift than all of the others, there will be no spring pressing down on it. You should be able to feel the pin is there but it should be "weightless".
Pins being unable to push down at all means too much tension most likely, or you have already pushed them as far as they will go.
Good luck, if you want to take it up as a consistant hobby, a pickset would be a good idea.
