Question.

[Spondzile]

So im bretty newbi in lockpicking ,but i had atm picked tool tech 5pin pad lock and one 3 pin bike lock,and my question is what lock u recommend to buy next? I have plan to go tomorrow in shop (sorry for my neglish ,its npt good )Thanks!

[Major Boothroyd]

Master locks are popular in the states for practice, it'd help if we knew where you're from. Cylinders(?) are also recommended over padlocks as they can be repined for more difficulty and variety.

[Spondzile]

Master locks are popular in the states for practice, it'd help if we knew where you're from. Cylinders(?) are also recommended over padlocks as they can be repined for more difficulty and variety.

Im from Estonia witch means im from europe ,and i have one euro cylinder tesa but this is to difficult to me :S

[SsBloodY]

Well I have heard Medeco are really high security locks and very tough to pick. I was going to buy Medeco long ago but I don't know why i didn't. And continued picking all the same easy locks repining them and so on. But I will go and buy one these days because I want something though hope i will manage to pick it.

[barbarian]

Try to get some cheaper locks. Look at the key and the keyway and don't get any high security locks yet.

Can you find a place that has used locks ? Sometimes at a market or old furniture store.

Maybe a store that sells all sorts of cheaper items.

[Engineer]

Yes, Tesa locks are quite hard for a beginner.

I know shops own make are often good locks to start with. Rarther than starting with a well-known make like "Yale", go to one of your really big stores and but some locks they sell under the stores own name. I found some good locks that way when I was starting out, they were not too hard to pick and helped give me confidence.

Another possible source is to go along to a building site where old buildings are being pulled down, or other building work is being done on them. Tell the builders you collect locks are are there any from the old doors that are being thrown out? I was quite lucky when I was starting out and they would often say I could have them free, if I took them off the old doors myself.

You could get a lot of old locks that way and they would not cost you anything. You might find some are broken, but you can take the ones you cannot pick apart and see how they work, why you were not able to pick them and possibly even repair some of them using parts from the locks that can not be repaired. You can learn a lot from doing that.

Good luck!

[raimundo]

I have no idea what locks are sold in Estonia, euro and probably russian, scandinavian, I suppose, along with the local baltic states manufactures,
perhaps there are some used locks at the flea markets, or you could ask someone in metal recycling if they see locks that come from people getting rid of them after losing keys. This would be a cheaper way to get locks.
If you get some local locks, I am sure that we would all be interested in seeing photos, and you may be able to sell some interesting ones to members here.
I think china makes a lot of locks that are appearing all over the world. They come in many brands including the unmarked, no brand locks. One of these should be cheap and interesting to pick