Top or Bottom?

[radiohaze]

I've just begun lockpicking about a month ago. I'm practicing a lot and getting much better with my SPP (even picked open my first lock with spool pins today!). Anyway, i've found that using top of keyway tension works much better for me than bottom. I don't really know why anybody would use bottom of keyway tension, tensioning from the top seems to produce so much less "clutter" in the keyway (at least for a newb such as myself).

So I'm wondering...for all of you with more experience than me (that's pretty much everybody, probably!) which do you prefer, bottom or top keyway tension?

[Solomon]

This question only really applies to rim cylinders for me. Top is better, but you can get away with bottom with a lot of locks, so personally when picking rim cylinders I prefer to tension from the bottom. I find it's a lot more comfortable, and you can tell if switching to TOK is necessary anyway so I wouldn't go straight for TOK. It just feels weird.

As for euros, since the pins are at the bottom, tensioning from the bottom is comfortable and gives plenty of room so that's pretty nice. I can both SPP and rake easily this way, whereas with rim cylinders raking is far easier with the wrench in the bottom.

Same with padlocks, I pick with pins at the bottom and tension from the bottom... although when raking padlocks I tend to flip em upside down, bung the wrench into the keyway with the pins up top and try it like that first. We really do need a more universal term for tension types... TOK and BOK can have opposite meanings depending on the type/orientation of the lock and it can lead to confusion at times. Maybe we could call it "deep cover vs. just the tip"

[LexDevil]

For me it depends entirely on the lock. With some locks, no matter how neat your tension wrench will fit into the T.O.K. it will inevitably block your first key pin if it has a high cut.

Technically speaking, if your tension wrench does not block any pins when anchored in the T.O.K. then this would probably be the most effective as you have more room to maneuver your pick without hitting your tension wrench.

Comfort-wise, I find that when picking standard rim cylinders/padlocks with the pins up top, then bottom tension is easier to apply. Sometimes if my left hand hurts i will apply tension and S.P.P. a lock with a single hand. This would be a lot harder to do using T.O.K. tension (unless I was upside down!).

If you have not being picking long there is a good chance that you do not own correct tension wrenches for applying T.O.K. tension, and it would be most beneficial for you to purchase/make some. Two great materials for making tension wrenches (and picks) are the spring steel inserts that you find in windshield wipers, and the flat type bristles that drop off street sweepers from time to time, these are very flexible and you can bend them (slowly!) into the correct shape with a pair of pliers. A T.O.K. tension wrench will obviously need to be a lot shorter (the part you insert into the lock) and it may benefit from a couple of small serrations made with a file to help the wrench grip better.

Hope this is of some use to you, good luck with your new hobby!

[LexDevil]

Before anyone picks up on this, I am aware that I arbitrarily labeled the pins in a padlock do be at the top.

Yes of course this depends on which way you hold the padlock, what I should have said was that I prefer to pick padlocks with the pins above the pick, rather than below, and picking this way I find it easier to apply bottom tension.

[radiohaze]

God, I never considered the orientation of the lock, or Euro cylinders. I guess what I should have said was that for, say, a padlock...I prefer the tension tool to be on the same "side"as the pins...not below them. Geez, I had no idea how complicated this could be semantically!

Lex, I made my tension tools out of the windshield wiper inserts. For my TOK tensioner, the part that I insert into the keyway is probably only about 1/4" (maybe 3/16") long. I was going to try to add little serrations on it to help it "grip" a little better, but I only have a bench grinder so making those little cuts can be difficult. Man, I need to get a Dremmel....

[EddieBro]

You can use a pair of dikes (wire cutters ) and press the serrations in worked great, believe got that from one of Raymundo's videos.