Picking Locks with Two Shear Lines

[Metalworker]

Using six BEST lock cores, I have made a re-pinning block and a picking practice set with pin numbers ranging from 1-6 pins per core (see attached). While I have sucessfully picked 6-pin BEST cores before, I have been having significant trouble telling the difference between the regular shear line, and the control key shear line. On many of the cores, I have only been able to pick to the control key line. This has been rather frustrating, to say the least.

What methods do you guys use to tell the difference between the control shear line and the regular shear line? How do you avoid setting some pins at the control line, and others at the user line? (My stopgap solution is to put a 1-pin BEST core with control key in my pick set, so that if I can only get the core out, I can just temporarily replace it with my own core, and pick that core to open the lock.)

[unlisted]

wait, what are you doing?

[Metalworker]

I am trying to pick locks which have two shear lines, one for the regular user key, and one with a shear line for the control key. I have been having trouble telling the difference in feel between the control key shear line and the regular shear line, the result being that I have been unintentionally picking the control key combination, rather than the regular key combination which actually unlocks the lock.

I'm wondering if there is some technique which gets used to differentiate between the different shear lines in the core.

[unlisted]

(My stopgap solution is to put a 1-pin BEST core with control key in my pick set, so that if I can only get the core out, I can just temporarily replace it with my own core, and pick that core to open the lock.)

this is more what I am referring to.. what locks are you removing and placing your own into?

[LocksmithArmy]

(My stopgap solution is to put a 1-pin BEST core with control key in my pick set, so that if I can only get the core out, I can just temporarily replace it with my own core, and pick that core to open the lock.)

wait man thats silly, if you could pick it to shear and remove the core why would you put another core in just to pick it agin and open it... not to be too descriptive but if you can get the core out you can then open it...

sounds alittle pointless

[thelockpickkid]

Hmmm, are we allowed to give him the info he needs to open the lock?

[unlisted]

I'm more curious what he is picking to the control line than replacing with his core's

[thelockpickkid]

I don't figure he has enough experience to pick somebody else's cores to the control line! It's somtimes hard for an experienced picker.

[Metalworker]

I apologize for the confusion. I am not attempting surreptitious entry through stranger's doors. I have the cores because I enjoy practicing picking, and it so happened that the second set of cores I bought had control keyings (I didn't know this existed until I bought the cores). Two days ago my roommate was locked out of his room (i live in a 2-room double), so he asked me to attempt to open it for him (he had class soon, and the RA was gone). We have a door between our rooms to which there is not a key. For some reason I could only pick the control combination in the lock, so since I needed to open it, I used a different core to actually turn the mechanism.

As for picking the control combination intentionally, I'm not. It just so happens that with these types of cores I have been unintentionally picking the control combination even when I'm not trying to. I thought it was just a quirk of the cores I had bought for practice, until I had the same problem with my roommate's lock. This is why I posted.

LocksmithArmy, I know what you are referring to, but in the case of my roommate's door, I did not have any particularly long-reach thin pliers (needlenose would have been insufficient to overcome the drag of his lock) to reach the two pins that go into the back of the core. So, I just used a core I had which happened to fit the lock to open it (the core only had one pin, so it was trivial to pick). Of course I replaced the original core afterwards. You are correct in that if I were interested in opening locks in general, a proper tool for turning the mechanism once the core has been removed would be effective far more often than a core which fits only one type of lock.

Reading back, I see the lack of clarity in my original post. I pick locks for fun, and follow the philosophy of "a closed door is a concrete wall unless the owner of it has explicitly allowed me entry." However, since I am a machinist and enjoy locksmithing as a hobby, on occasion I am asked by friends and family to examine, repair, or fabricate new locks for them. This is why my lockpick set has a slightly more practical grounding. I made the rekeying block so that I could re-key the cores I bought for practice, not to re-key my school's doors. Now that I have the pick set made, the re-keying block sits in a toolchest in my shop, a full 2400 miles and 3 time zones away from the dorm where I and my lockpick set are currently residing.

[unlisted]

Do not pick locks in use, and really don't pick locks not owned by you.

Your not going to find much here openly admitting to picking locks at your college.

[Metalworker]

Well, I appreciate the warning. In retrospect it was unwise for me to pick my school's lock, and I appreciate that you pointed that out. That said, it was the only time I had picked a lock that the owner had not expressly asked me to pick. But whatever. The obvious answer to my question is practice more, so i guess that's the "method" I'm going to use.

[sfi72]

Well, I appreciate the warning. In retrospect it was unwise for me to pick my school's lock, and I appreciate that you pointed that out. That said, it was the only time I had picked a lock that the owner had not expressly asked me to pick. But whatever. The obvious answer to my question is practice more, so i guess that's the "method" I'm going to use.

He isn't the owner, thats the problem. If it was his house that would be a different story, but dorms and apartments are the property of the school or whoever else rents out the space. So, not a huge deal...a lot of people have done it before, just don't do it again