New to SPP? Try this exercise.

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Rather than write up some elaborate and boisterous tutorial, I'm just going to briefly share an alteration to a cylinder's pinning that can help someone who is learning SPPing get the feel and technique down through creating larger tolerances. This alteration requires no filing, drilling, or any other methods that might render the cylinder or pin(s) any different than they were at the beginning of this exercise.

All you need is a pin tumbler of choice, the knowledge/tools required to disassemble and reassemble the cylinder, and one extra bottom pin for each stack in the cylinder (this will make sense in a bit). So, if you have a cylinder with 5 pin stacks you need 5 extra bottom pins in addition to the bottom pins that already exist in the cylinder.

Step 1 involves diassembling the cylinder. The bottom (key) pins can be left in the plug, we aren't going to change any of them so go ahead and set them to the side.

Step 2 involves removing all top pins. During this time, make sure all the springs in each respective stack are freely moving and in good working order. You may also want to apply some lubricant but that is purely optional.

Step 3 involves replacing all the top pins with our new bottom pins with the tip of the pin pointing away from the spring, towards the plug. Replace all top pins like this, no matter the stack count.

Step 4 involves re-assembling the cylinder as normal. Once re-assembled, double check that everything went as planned and that the key still freely operates and the cylinder itself is still within acceptable working conditions.

The cylinder has now been prepped for the exercise. By replacing the top pins with bottom pins (points placed down), we have effectively opened the tolerances in an efficient and uniform manner which doesn't require any alteration to the cylinder or pin(s) themselves. Depending on the bitting, the difference may be night and day but under all circumstances, so long that the pinning remains the same, this alteration will allow for easier single pin picking. I could get technical here but I trust that everyone who browses or posts on this forum is competent enough to understand what is going on here. Nevertheless, if anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Also, manufacturer's produce bottom pins of different measurements and physical orientation. Schlage, for example, features pointed tips on their bottom pins while Sargent uses rounded tips and Kwikset uses what I can best describe as a combination of the two. Obviously, those which most resembles a top pin (Sargent) will give tolerances similar to the top pins, and those which do not (Schlage) will result in looser tolerances. Kwikset bottom pins will serve in the as an intermediate pin, in terms of difficulty, in this particular exercise. Feel free to work from easiest to hardest in order to develop the feel and technique for single pin picking. You could also even mix them up to further your development.

This exercise can help you get the feel and technique down after which point the top pins can be replaced with the previous top pins. Enjoy.

[ElAbogado]

Rather than write up some elaborate and boisterous tutorial, I'm just going to briefly share an alteration to a cylinder's pinning that can help someone who is learning SPPing get the feel and technique down through creating larger tolerances. This alteration requires no filing, drilling, or any other methods that might render the cylinder or pin(s) any different than they were at the beginning of this exercise.

All you need is a pin tumbler of choice, the knowledge/tools required to disassemble and reassemble the cylinder, and one extra bottom pin for each stack in the cylinder (this will make sense in a bit). So, if you have a cylinder with 5 pin stacks you need 5 extra bottom pins in addition to the bottom pins that already exist in the cylinder.

Step 1 involves diassembling the cylinder. The bottom (key) pins can be left in the plug, we aren't going to change any of them so go ahead and set them to the side.

Step 2 involves removing all top pins. During this time, make sure all the springs in each respective stack are freely moving and in good working order. You may also want to apply some lubricant but that is purely optional.

Step 3 involves replacing all the top pins with our new bottom pins with the tip of the pin pointing away from the spring, towards the plug. Replace all top pins like this, no matter the stack count.

Step 4 involves re-assembling the cylinder as normal. Once re-assembled, double check that everything went as planned and that the key still freely operates and the cylinder itself is still within acceptable working conditions.

The cylinder has now been prepped for the exercise. By replacing the top pins with bottom pins (points placed down), we have effectively opened the tolerances in an efficient and uniform manner which doesn't require any alteration to the cylinder or pin(s) themselves. Depending on the bitting, the difference may be night and day but under all circumstances, so long that the pinning remains the same, this alteration will allow for easier single pin picking. I could get technical here but I trust that everyone who browses or posts on this forum is competent enough to understand what is going on here. Nevertheless, if anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

Also, manufacturer's produce bottom pins of different measurements and physical orientation. Schlage, for example, features pointed tips on their bottom pins while Sargent uses rounded tips and Kwikset uses what I can best describe as a combination of the two. Obviously, those which most resembles a top pin (Sargent) will give tolerances similar to the top pins, and those which do not (Schlage) will result in looser tolerances. Kwikset bottom pins will serve in the as an intermediate pin, in terms of difficulty, in this particular exercise. Feel free to work from easiest to hardest in order to develop the feel and technique for single pin picking. You could also even mix them up to further your development.

This exercise can help you get the feel and technique down after which point the top pins can be replaced with the previous top pins. Enjoy.

I've actually seen Chinese key in knob locks that have bottom pins that are rounded on both ends, and top pins that are rounded on the bottom. Why bother to have a lock at all?

As for this exercise, I think it's kind of like eating baby food... some people will like it, others won't. I don't think I would recommend this, as I learned on difficult cylinders and had no problem with them. Either you can or you can't....

[Tyler J. Thomas]

Well that's like saying training wheels serve no purpose because either you're going to ride a bike or not. Some people just don't catch on as fast as others and need that extra bit of help to get them going.

I actually learned about this method after we inherited a master key system. Turns out the previous locksmith, rather than going about things correctly, accounted for multiple keys out there of varying tolerances just replaced the top pins this way. Any key that was virtually similar to the cylinder's pinning would work, just a huge liability waiting to happen.

[raimundo]

If you do this to all five pins, you will have a lock so easy that you wouldn't learn anything picking it. but if you put the round ended pins in one or two collumns, you would have reduced the difficulty of the spp,
perhaps you could put a long long bottom pin and standard driver pin, in the front of the keyway, and a short pin right behind it, with a long driver pin. and gaff the rest of the pin collumns with the wide open shearline. then you could practice getting that short pin behind the long one at the front of the lock,

after you learn to pick the short pin behind the long pin in the front of the lock, you could move these two to the middle of the lock and learn how it works there, then to the back of the keyway and after that you could repin with another long pin bracketing the short pin and the rest ofthe lock gaffed.

You learn nothing if you gaff the lock so that it has nothing to resist with but by doing it by halfs, you could learn more I think.

[quiksilver]

Why is it so important to disassemble the lock? I see that most of the guides suggest taking apart a lock and how this is so important to learning how to lock pick, but I feel that all of the cross sections of locks and pictures sufficient enough, so can someone convince me why this is so important to the process?

[darklighterz7611]

A lot of reasons really, first all locks are at least slightly different.

when practising this means that say your having trouble on the 4th pin you can open it up and find out if there is a security pin there or a different spring/dirt etc and the next time you encounter this difficulty you may already know what it feels like etc.

You will also at some point want/need to re pin the lock. Maybe to add spools etc or just to change the key pin layout and length orders. This enables us to add that extra challenge without buying another lock and also to be able to rekey a lock.

Repinning a lock helps to simulate other key pin orders that are likely to occur in the real world which may require a slightly different technique i.e. short pins at the back and long ones in front etc. If you only practised on newly bought brands it is possible that you may never encounter these learning curves until one day when you feel your advanced and you are set in your ways and muscle memory.

It is also vital if you wish to start with DB's guide to learning to SPP.

Finally i think it is also a lot different when you see the lock in person, Most people will understand the lock pretty competently by watching videos and reading, but there is something about being able to freely rotate and examine and understand a lock in person that enables us to understand something more intimately. It incorporates all of our senses at once.

Each time you physically touch an object the weight and feel is assimilated, This will probably enable better tactile awareness in lockpicking to develop quicker as subconsciously you know how heavy/how much resistance things offer against and with gravity etc

In short yes you can and will be able to learn to pick without ever opening a lock. The question is why would you not obtain this extra information and understanding when it is on offer for free and so easily? Eventually you may regret it.

[quiksilver]

As I understand it you have to be able to pick it to re pin it...or at least have the pins in the right spot to be able to shim it...so how does that help in understanding the mechanics of the security pins you dont have the ability to detect yet?

[mylofox]

Just happen to run over this thread, thought I'd share my two cents. When I learned and when I teach guys I start them on a lock loaded with one pin. Then have them reload with two pins and pick the lock. As they work their way up to five pins they learn to feel the pins at the shearline and get to experience the plug turning little by little as they get the lock picked. They also get reloading practice which is very important.

[le.nutzman]

Why is it so important to disassemble the lock? I see that most of the guides suggest taking apart a lock and how this is so important to learning how to lock pick, but I feel that all of the cross sections of locks and pictures sufficient enough, so can someone convince me why this is so important to the process?

Don't you think it's important to know how your car works in order to use it? I mean, you just didn't jump into it one day and started driving it and learning where all the buttons and gizmos were on the fly did you? To that extent, you've never done your own tune up? So you don't know where the inejectors and spark plugs and air and oil filters are and how if they're all gummed up how they will inhibit your car's overall performance.

Same ideology applies to locks. The first way of defeating a lock either through brute force or NDE is to know how it works. Knowing how it works means you understand and identify its weaknesses and therefore are able to exploit them easier, faster and more effectively thereby defeating the lock that much faster. In cases where it's cold as hell outside, having a pretty good idea of how a known lock works ahead of time means you'll spend less time out in the cold and more time collecting your profits.

Welcome to the world of lockpicking.

[darklighterz7611]

As I understand it you have to be able to pick it to re pin it...or at least have the pins in the right spot to be able to shim it...so how does that help in understanding the mechanics of the security pins you dont have the ability to detect yet?

Yeah or just use the key.