Can an old Victorian style lock be picked with bobbypins?

[hydruh]

My knowledge of warded locks is weak. I know that usually for warded locks - say a door lock from the Victorian era - would usually be picked with skeleton keys. Could you, in theory, use two bobby pins? Buddy of mine is working on set for a horror movie, and is trying to get the lock picking right.

S

[skylerorlando]

If I'm not mistaken, the "switch" so to speak is generally in front of and above the keyhole; the key is inserted, then rotated about 180 degrees so that the blade(pardon me if my terminology is off--the part which is cut to pass the wards) faces straight up. At this point it hits the lever, and if it is rotated further, pushes the lever aside, locking or unlocking to lock. So for a bobby pin, it may be possible, but would probably require it to be bent at a 90 degree angle and then be twisted. It might be possible to get at it from a low enough angle that it wouldn't need to be bent, but still, those locks in my experience tend to stick sometimes and a bobby pin would probably not be sturdy enough to move it. If someone here has tried, feel free to correct me, as I haven't.

[drop dead fred]

check this out i found on u-tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDJNG2p7 ... annel_page

[creggerj]

Just last night I successfully picked an old victorian lock on 2 not 1 but 2 locks successfully. the lock looks like this



thanks to skylerorlando, I took the 90 degree rule from his post into account and used the arm from one of these paper clips (medium in size).



by bending the center pin just enough to slide in the bend steel end of the paper clip arm. I simply fiddled from right to left and withing 2 minutes I had both the doors to my old liquor cabinet open

Thanks guys!!

[Rickthepick]

its probably only a 1 lever lock, lift lever, throw bolt.
try getting your hands on some 3 and 4 lever ones. some of them can be quite tricky depending on the warding.