New hobby!

[thorns]

Hi all,

I read the MIT guide several times a few years ago, and tried my hand at picking with little success. Forgetting my keys inside my apartment yesterday remotivated me to try again -- surprisingly, it came much easier this time around. I managed to pick all the locks in my house with a wrench and unshaped (flat) pick I made from a street sweeper bristle.

I'd say the two things that surprised me the second time around, to my favor:

Much lighter touch on the torsion, and paying more attention to the minute slips as pins set.

Listening for the pins setting, and being able to feel by resistance on the pick which pins have been set.

When starting over after a misset, remembering which pins set first the last time around.

I guess that's three things, but I'm quite hooked now. The sound of the final "snick", and the tumbler turning, and waiting a few seconds before pulling the bolt back, very nice feeling.

Thanks for the posts here, it's been fun reading, I'll be hanging around more now.

[RangerF150]

Yup , a fun hobby and kinda handy too !

That said if i locked myself out , first up , id go get a big coffee , cos it's gonna take awhile

[thorns]

Yeah, it's probably not realistically going to be very useful for that, since if I locked my keys in, I'm not going to be able to get at the picks. That said, I'm having fun picking with such minimal tools, and I'm hoping that the set I ordered will make it even easier.

I'm also thinking about upgrading the locks in my place.

[S3rratedSp00L]

Don't forget pickmaking as a valuable skill. I locked my picks and my keys in my toolbox one time (only once! hehe) and had to go straight into the garage and make some tools on the fly! Really came in handy because I didn't have to resort to bolt cutters, rotary pick (drill), angle grinder or anything else destructive! Some of my friends think I am nuts, but as they each eventually have a lockout situation, they find themselves more interested in picking. (...and less interested in my sanity, hehe)



Grab a cup of coffee, a lock, some tools, and welcome to the hobby!

Don't forget to read a lot... and search a lot.... There is a lot of info here, and things often get repeated when they shouldn't need to be.. Check out the general information, there is a lot of good stuff in there!

[Hak]

I too would like to welcome you to the hobby. It's the funnest hobby i can think of, and its also a very beneficial hobby. The best advice i can give is to have lots and lots of patience, and practice often.

On another note.. if i locked myself outta my house, i would be in my own little heaven I live two blocks away from a big scrapyard, so i can go there and get practically anything to make me own picks. Sometimes i purposely lock myself outta my house for that reason.

[thorns]

Well, I locked myself out today. I had some street cleaner bristles I found on the street, but for some reason, the door handle lock on my front door is extremely difficult to pick. To start, it is upside down, and the pins are very sticky with grime. In addition the inside pins are all very deep. I spent a half hour trying it, then snuck into my backyard and did the back door in 20 seconds or so.

Ironically, the reason I left my keys behind is they were left in the inside of my back door from practicing earlier in the day.

[thorns]

I bought a cheapo deadbolt to practice with, but it's pretty easy, no matter how I repin it, I seem to get it in a couple of minutes.

I also picked up an Abus 85/50, that is much more fun. I've only gotten it four times all afternoon. Anyone know what to look for if I want to buy a repinnable lock with mushroom drivers, so I can start from square one with the novelty pins?

Thanks.

[snowcat]

have a look here

http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=2338

no mushroom pins but serrated ones (if you realy want mushroom you can make them yourself w a dremel)

[secondfix]

I'm thinking about going into business as a locksmith but would like some feed back on who and where to advertise. i already run a property securing service which i'm registared with the old bill,who call me on a regular basis.

But do the police hold a list of locksmiths to call on!!

[sevenply]

I've read about making picks out of street sweeper bristles before but never lived any where that street sweepers came around more than 2 or 3 times a year. Now I've been living in nyc for a few years where the street sweepers come down most streets 4 times a week (twice on each side). I have still yet to see a bristle left behind. They do make mix a little water with the trash they pick up and dump out a sludge making it a little challenging to find anything there. Two people in this thread talk about getting locked out and getting a bristle from the street to pick their locks. Are these bristles really that common?

[Chucklz]

Yes they are. Look on corners, especially where the sweeper itself turned. There is where you will most comonly find bristles.

[thertel]

I find them in walmart parking lots. The Wal-Marts near me have their own mini street sweepers to clean their parking lots. Then when I go shopping at 3 am in the morning I'll park way away from the store and look as I walk to the store for a few.

Thomas

[nugunslinger]

My buddy peter introduced this to me at our local bar and instantly i was entranced by the idea. I love solving puzzles, playing word games and things like that, so man, this sounds really interesting to me.


peter put together a lock picking kit for me to get started and oh man, am i excited to learn this. since abalone season is drawing to an end, i will need something to occupy my time and mind.

[Murph]

Thorns,
Welcome to the forum, you posted a nice introduction. Enjoy your hobby.

[Gaian]

Hi everyone, finally decided to get into the hobby.

Been interested for years, reading books and online, and just decided to see what I could do.

A few years ago I managed to pick up a few things really cheap; 2 SouthOrd tubular picks (7 & 8 pin) a pick gun, and a sesame decoder, all of them new for a total of about $60

Never did get anywhere with the gun, but managed a few tubular's on some washing machine's where I live.

Now I finally went and ordered me a mini set found here:

http://www.lockpicktools.com/lockpicks.htm

It was fairly cheap, fit's in your wallet, and it works great! Here's what it looks like:

http://www.lockpicktools.com/images/kgb-7.jpg
http://www.lockpicktools.com/images/kgb-7-a1-600.jpg

First time ever with picks, so I tried a laminated No.5 Masterlock....... That was a bit of a joke, took about 45 seconds the first time, now it seems like I put the pick in and it opens in about 5-10 seconds. "Tough Under Fire" they say on the lock, sure, you can shoot it with a high power rifle and it won't open, but go at it with picks..... Figured that was too easy so I moved on to my apt. door, that took me about 2 minutes the first time, now I can do it in less than a minute

Oh yeah, this is after getting that mini set yesterday

Ok, enough rambling for now, gotta go soak up some info on the rest of the site.

Later