Left handed picking

[Eyes_Only]

I've decided I'm gonna learn how to pick with my left hand even though I'm right handed and it feels weird, like I'm venturing into some parallel universe.

I've been able to pick some of my kwikset locks without much of a problem so I'm starting to mess with Schlage. Anyone here who has done something like this, do you have any tips or methods that helped you be an ambidextrous lockpicker?

[pjzstones]

i've thought about it when picking something in a wierd position where it'd be easier to pick it if you left handed. tried it once for about a minute but it just felt way too strange. but if you're looking for a challenge this would be it.

[Eyes_Only]

Yeah, aside from trying to pick a lock like an ASSA Twin or Mul-T-Lock's MT5+ I've kinda feel like I've peaked when it comes to picking so I wanted a new challange and this seemed like the perfect thing.

Being able to pick a lock left handed would have come in real handy a few times when I was working as a lockey. Would have saved some time too on lockout calls where the lock was mounted on the left side of the door along with a wall on your left hand side. Thank goodness I had my pick gun in those cases.

[rx6006]

As a left handed hobbyist (albeit extremely green), I've found that I need to hold a lock in a way not quite like what the diagrams and videos depict. While I can't say that it's caused me difficulty as of yet, I do wonder if I could pick the locks more quickly if I were right handed and able to mimic techniques made for the right handed majority.

[Eyes_Only]

I noticed that's true if you are using a standard style tension wrench that is just bent at a 90 degree angle but when using my Peterson (flat) Pry Bar wrench, it doesn't seem to matter too much so far.

[UEDan]

What I've noticed is that lock picks tend to have an ambidextrous design. Except tension wrenches with twists, everything else is symmetrical. Keyways aren't.

Yeah I've been doing this since I started, I've always had a fascination with ambidexterity. Probably the biggest factor is age, the older you are the harder it is to basically, switch hands.

Like you've heard before, practice practice, then practice some more. Try to mirror the motions with your non-dominate hand.
And this is like learning to pick all over again, your left will be used to tensioning and the pressure would seem weird. Kind of like learning to left foot braking in cars. It takes time to have your muscles adjust to the feel.

[UEDan]

Ohh I forgot to mention, I like practicing left handed on mounted locks. Holding a lock and picking on it seems to cause me more frustration. And hey, its more of a real world situation!

[rx6006]

How is your feedback on the mounted locks? My understanding is that the mounting takes some of the tactile response away.

[UEDan]

For me, my dexterity on my right isnt as good as it is on my left.
So holding and tensioning a lock with my right takes so much away effort away from just tensioning. And since you already know how pins should feel like when binding, not binding, in false set, etc. You shouldn't really need all that extra tactical feedback.
What I did was relearn how to tension and pick first, then went back and learned to hold a lock while picking it.

Basically, I wanted to learn to pick a lock left handed rather than hold a lock.

[raimundo]

to some new pickers, a distraction like watching tv is sometimes good advice because its to releave the focus and frustration in the brain before it over heats and blows.
Much of lockpicking has to be mental attitude.
Zen
anyway, i have heard of the theory that if one sense is deprived, the others will sharpen, so if you are trying to learn one handed picking perhaps a blind fold or the less physically distracting dark room, to see if this helps the focus. or just tell the dominatix to use the german handcuffs on your right hand

[Josh K]

I'm mildly ambidextrous so it's easier for me to pick left handed. I practice both ways though. I'll run through a set of padlocks right handed, and then left handed.

[ElbowMacaroni]

Well, I'm weird... I'm essentially right handed, except I write left handed. You'd think due to that I'd be more ambidextrous, however, I'm horribly inept doing anything left handed other than writing, and inversely true of writing. I haven't even bothered trying to pick left handed, but it might be an interesting experiment, especially as people often seem to recommend holding the pick as you would a pen/pencil. Wheels turning... grind...buzz...snap...crack...smoking... ... ... ...

[tacit_guardian]

I'm left handed, and pick almost entirely padlocks. I pick them "dismounted" ie holding them in my hand, manipulating the torsion tool with the hand holding the lock and the pick with the other.

I've found that as the majority of padlocks open only one way, which is clockwise, it can be a real pain to tension with my right hand. I often end up using my thumb to hold tension, as I pick with my left. When comparing this with the "traditional" right handed method, I've found a noticeable difference in the quality and quantity of feedback I feel in my thumb vs in my index finger.

This is really frustrating, to the point where I'm starting to teach myself to pick off-handed (right handed) so I can get some of that sweet, sweet feedback from the security pins I'm crunching on.

If anyone has tips or tricks you develop for picking left handed, I would love to hear them. I am still practising picking everything left handed, as I found my pick manipulation is better as my fine motor control in my left hand is more practised than my right. But tensioning is something that still grates on me.

[Comrade627]

Hmm...
Right handed tensioner that turns the plug clockwise...

To the lab!

[UnlockingBoredom]

Hmm, I may have to try picking left handed... ( I will have to wait until I have money to buy more picks though..) Im sure I will break a few trying to do that!! My fine motor skills are not that good in my left hand.. But great advice to learn with the opposite hand