Peterson Everest tension tools

[Josh K]

I have a couple of everest locks, anyone try these? Worth $50 to pick with them?

I'm a huge fan of my Peterson Prybar (TOK tension) so I would love to use that if possible and save myself some money.

[ChemicalRobot]

50 dollars for something like that seems pretty spendy. People on YouTube just take small pieces of metal and run them on the bottom of the keyway to lift the pin.

[zeke79]

Just cut down an old everest keyblank to use for activating the check pin. The peterson tools in some situations are too long and will hit the door jamb when you try to pick to the unlock position. Then you cannot retract them when the plug is turned as the check pin locks it in place so spinning the cylinder if needed is tough due to the extra mass with the tools inserted in the lock. There are much easier and cheaper ways to pick these locks. My favorite is a cutdown blank and I also keep a piece of street sweeper bristle that I have filed down to fit into that area of the lock and bent a 90 degree leg on the tool so it is easy to remove. Either of these tools will work very well and will save you $50 plus shipping.

Most cases you will not have the problem of the tool hitting the door jamb as there are two of the peterson tools and the one that faces away from the door jamb turns the cylinder to the unlock position and the one good thing about they is they double as a tension tool. Some cases though the length of the tool gets in the way of turning. These cases are when you run into a KIK lock that happens to turn the direction of the door jamb to unlock so this won't work. Another case that these tools may not work is if you are called out to unlock a padlock on a storage unit.

All in all, these are not worth the $50. Use the cutdown key blank or the filed down sweeper bristle and then use your favorite tension tool on the top of the cylinder.

[Josh K]

See, I could justify it if they were amazing, but barring that I think I'll just find something that will work. Probably demel a key blank down.

Thanks.

[FarmerFreak]

I wouldn't buy that tool. Cutting a key down works very well.

Here is a video of me using the bottom of a key to hold the check pin up. I also picked the core out in this video. The cores can be picked out like this probably about 50 percent of the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B75HYQY62Iw

But now I rarely use that tool to hold up the check pin. And when I get bored at home I use my toes to hold the cylinder. ...Yes I can be that weird.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBRYZDwRypc

[Josh K]

Actually quite proud of myself today.

A while back I stopped by my local locksmith to pick up a generic KIK cylinder to practice with. He through in an unmarked KIK Schlage Everest cylinder he was going to throw away. No keys, nothing. I did go back and get a C123 blank to fit it. After spending the better part of my afternoon with a file, I rummaged through and picked up the smallest Southord hook I have. I ran that down the keyway and then flipped it up under the ward. I applied some TOK tension, removed it, and set to work picking it like usual. 30 seconds later I have it open.

Thanks for the information, I think it's safe to say there are far cheaper ways to bypass that check pin then some $50 specialty tools that will only work on that particular lock.

I'm going to work on that IC core now. Considering it isn't SFIC with multiple shear lines it shouldn't be hard at all.