So Far So Good

[Fire Fox]

Well, I've been practicing for some time now. I've been working on digital_blue's exercises. I'm now starting with four pins and using a pair of Defiant locks.

I find it interesting that sometimes it seems that I'll pick a pin and when I go to pick another pin the first pin falls back, yet after I pick the second pin and go back to that first one it will then stay. At first I would obsess over this, but come to just shrug it off and keep going.

I do tend to have trouble with longer pins. I can't seem to get a feel for those, so I've been forcing myself to practice more with those by mixing up the pins setting them in the lock at random with one of the longer pins.

I'm also starting to see how everyone keeps saying very little tension. I'm finding that as I get better I can feel more by using less tension to the point where sometimes I can feel a pin click as it sets.

It's pretty fun and interesting hobby.

[apaplayer]

Yes Fire Fox sometimes the first pins you set fall back down. This is what the exercise your doing is designed to teach you. The reason they reset is they were picked out of the binding order. The first pin you set should be the one that's binding. When you encounter the correct binding order they won't fall back.

[Fire Fox]

I'm slowly starting to learn. One of the new things I'm encountering is that I'll set all the pins but I'm not using enough force so it seems like the pins aren't set but they are.

My new goal is to set up a small station where I can mount the locks to practice on, and to work on four pins!

[raimundo]

Understanding. sometimes its real.

When my brother says he wants to understand, he isn't even going to try, he just wants me to make a statement for him to argue with. I wont get another sentence in once he finds a hook for arguement. typically from the time he says he wants to understand to the interuption of my narrative for his arguement, I can get one or two sentences in. then its over.
thats not understanding, its just arguementativeness.
In the end he will probably assert that he just cant understand, which I knew to start with, in fact I know this conversation so well because its always the same.

beginner pickers have a habit of overintellectualizing, and its just not subject to that sort of thing. go with what you know and accept the results. accept is not understanding but its still copacetic.

trying to fit understanding onto the problem as you work it is going to cause you a lot of problems, This is very common,
this is why so many have found that watching tv while idly lifting pins under light pressure without thinking about opening the lock has caused locks to open anyway.

[Fire Fox]

Thanks raimundo, I'm going to try picking while watching tv.

I'm trying to take it slow, and when I start getting frustrated and start jabbing around I'm forcing myself to just stop and go do something else.