Finally picked my first lock!

[asian_kid56]

After 2 weeks of reading and watching videos, i finally got my hands on a lock and succesfully picked it in around five minutes. After pcking it about 10 times more i thought to myself that it seemed too easy. It seemed as though if i just held the pick straight against all the pins at once, while applying a little bit of pressure it would unlock. is this normal or do i have a very cheeply made lock (a golden door lock made in china, idk how old it is though)? btw, im using a tension wrench made of a uni-ball pen clip and a bobby pin cut in half.

[asian_kid56]

idk how to edit here as well, but whats another good beginners lock thats cheap (bout 5 bux) that i can find at an ACE hardware store?

[jgor]

It sounds like your lock just doesn't have a difficult bitting. A quick way to verify that would be to just look at the key itself and see if the cuts all seem to be at the same or similar depth. Other good locks to practice on are the cheap laminated Master locks no.1, no.2, no.3 (you can see the numbers on the bottom of the lock). A useful lock for any beginner to have is a basic Kwikset cylinder (NOT the new SmartKey) that can be taken apart and repinned, but it may be hard to find one without all the deadbolt hardware...aka not cheap. Maybe check with local locksmiths or look for a construction supply store for those.

[5thcorps]

Stop by a Big Lots store and you'll find all kinds of cheap deadbolts. Generic Kwiksets grow on trees there.

[asian_kid56]

i would lock at the key, but my brother has it in his car thats at a maintenence shop a few towns down.

i dont have a lot of money at the moment (5 or 6 bux in my wallet at the moment) and ive got another week until ihave a chance to make any money. I'm really anxious at starting this and was just wondering whats a definite lock to get thats within the $5-$6 region at an ACE hardware or someother common shop?

thanks for the help!

[asian_kid56]

for get about the budget thing. I realize that locks are guna be more than that so to rephrase the question. Whats the best/cheapest lock to practice on, padlock or deadbolt or any other kind (preferably padlock tho)?

[MacGnG1]

padlocks: walmart has some cheap padlocks (brinks), target has some cheap padlocks (master).
deadbolts: kwikset (or knock off) double deadbolt ~12$ (single is about 9 so u spend a few more dollars and u get a second deadbolt).

u might want to save up to buy some real tools. could cost u any where for 10 to 30 bucks.

search the forum, have fun

also check out home depot and lowes.

[5thcorps]

Post an ad on craigslist for locks wanted.

[Engineer]

If you are in America, see if you can get to a Homes For Habitats as they have been mentioned on here several time already as really good sources.

If you are not in America, you might want to do searches for anywhere you can get to that recycles building materials and contact them to see if they have any.

Your next best chance might be to ask your relatives if they can find any where they work, explain that you are collecting them (some people still think picking locks means you are a criminal), so it does not matter if the locks have no keys. Most places have the odd one or two locks lying around unusued as the keys have been lost it seems.

Do you live in apartments so could make friends with the maintenance men? If not, perhaps the maintenence men at your school/college/work might have some that cannot be used anymore?

If you are careful, then sometimes you can get them from a building site, where some buildings are being pulled down, or refitted. Ask to speak to the site manager and ask them if it would be OK for you to recover them yourself? If you get lucky, you will need a set of screwdrivers and possibly a pair of pliars to take them off the old doors yourself. Technically the site manager is breaking the law letting anyone onsite who has not got valid business there (you will not be insured if you get hurt, etc.) so some site managers might refuse and perhaps be a bit rude. Thank them anyway and leave, it's part of the "game" of trying to collect them, they are doing you a big favour after all if they do agree.

Good luck and I hope you can find a few. I know it's not much fun wanting to practise so much, when you do not have many locks to practise on. I've been there too.

[New-York-Locksmith]

Deadbolt would be a nice choice for practicing lockpicking. try different deadbolt. 'Engineer' is also right instead of buying a new one try to collect locks from different locations. Good Luck

[awol70]

another good supply of good locks for practice is your local bike shop.
i have the mechanic save all the locks he has to remove from bikes where the owner has lost the key.
(they are usually cut,but still fine for picking.)