Southord 801 pick set

[beardyweirdy]

When I registered here just about six years ago, I bought a Southord 801 pick set. It has two wrenches and seven picks.

My question is, as I am still at beginner level, should I stick with this set for now, or branch out a little?

The locks I have dabbled with are are couple of padlocks and a cylinder rim lock but am thinking about getting a training lock now, and take this a bit more seriously.

I have a bunch of mortice locks around the place I'd like to have a crack at as well, and am unsure about what basic mortice pick set I might get.

I read here that a n00b and his money are easily parted, and I think that can be very much the case. However, I don't want to go mad and buy stuff I might not need in the short to mid term (here I'm assuming that I might not make it to the long term in picking!)

Cheers chaps.

[amlwchlocksmiths]

i can pick a lot of lock just by using the hook pick and i find it to be great,i dont really like raking that much just do it when i have to,i have a large amount of hook picks even thou i only use about 2 of them.if you can already pick the locks with the picks you got how about trying to make your own picks,i find it to be very saterfing to make my own then pick locks with them.(i would buy a good lock,thats hard to pick)
as for mortise locks,it depends if you wunt to pick the one with curtens or not,witch ones do you have,i would say start with the ones without so you get the feel for it,im not sure if i can give you any advise on the mortise locks on how to pick so i wont.
a good mortise(curten) pick set will cost you about 140.the others are not really that much.the pick make that i perfur is hpc.

[loki-aka]

Stay with Southords' slimline range, for Euro type locks, including profile cylinders. Their standard American
range are a bit too large and rigid, according to many, to work well on locks commonly found in the EU.

For BS locks, you'll need a decent lever set- as suggested by the author of the last post.
A non-curtain set, with some extra wire to make your own lifters would be good. You can always buy an expensive curtain pick set later.

[nostromo]

Beirdy-weirdy,

How is it POSSIBLE to go six years without buying tons of picks or locks? OMG!!! You mean there are lockies out there that DON'T have a toolbag full of picks, wrenches, odd bits of wire and metal? I heard that Squelchtone had to clear out half his collection because his downstairs neighbors' ceiling was bulging too much.

I've heard that there ARE people that go an entire career with just one pickset, but . . . wow.

OK, everybody - we need to seriously think about doing something like those concerts Willie Nelson does for farmers.

[Eyes_Only]

That SO set is fine but be careful cos those slimline picks can bend very easily. It just can't take the kind of "abuse" that a standard size picks can. I've been picking locks for about 10 years now and keeping those slimline from bending is still tricky sometimes.

[beardyweirdy]

Nostromo, I started looking at picking all that time ago as a possible career change but of course found it too difficult! I lacked the determination you need to achieve the results, I think. So I didn't want to become a n00b who bought loads of stuff and never used it, but I did keep the 801 set, and am, for now, just 'playing around' a bit, to see if I can get somewhere with it.

I'm not aiming at becoming a locksmith in the shirt term, just to see if I can get that 'eureka!' feeling now and then.

I've bought a couple of practice locks now, one a euro, the other a cylinder, and will post separately about my experience of them. (Have done in another thread).

Eyes-only - yes, I have managed to bend a pick already, but only after thinking that I really needed to exert some more pressure than I had been applying.

Cheers chaps.