Having read the FAQ's you are still unfulfilled and seek more enlightenment, so post your general lock picking questions here.
Forum rules
Do not post safe related questions in this sub forum! Post them in This Old Safe
The sub forum you are currently in is for asking Beginner Hobby Lock Picking questions only.
by Sandi Cooney » 20 Mar 2012 8:53
Seem to be addicted to the lockpicking tools and saw the Peterson pry bars. I'm sure a lot of you have tried them and wondered what you think? They will cost me more to ship then the product itself so want to make sure its worth my while. Thanks for any comments. Just love this site! I can be lost on it for hours 
-
Sandi Cooney
-
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 10 Mar 2012 18:37
- Location: Mississauga, Ontario
by gloves » 20 Mar 2012 9:45
Sandi Cooney wrote:Seem to be addicted to the lockpicking tools and saw the Peterson pry bars. I'm sure a lot of you have tried them and wondered what you think? They will cost me more to ship then the product itself so want to make sure its worth my while. Thanks for any comments. Just love this site! I can be lost on it for hours 
In a few words: make your own tension tools. It's fun, totally customizable and you'll improve your metal working skills too. Cheers 
-
gloves
-
- Posts: 149
- Joined: 4 Jun 2010 14:42
by MacGyver101 » 20 Mar 2012 10:28
gloves wrote:In a few words: make your own tension tools . . .
...or just be like the rest of us who've been bitten by the lockpicking bug: just keep adding more tools to your order, until the relative shipping cost looks better. 
-

MacGyver101
- Moderator Emeritus
-
- Posts: 1560
- Joined: 21 Jun 2006 14:40
- Location: Toronto, Canada
by Sandi Cooney » 20 Mar 2012 21:06
lol OK maybe I will order a few more things (that makes sense to me!)....and I can even order a bending tool to make my own! Thanks for your thoughts. Picked my first wafer lock today. Surprisingly easy.
-
Sandi Cooney
-
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 10 Mar 2012 18:37
- Location: Mississauga, Ontario
by Eyes_Only » 20 Mar 2012 23:35
The Pry Bar tool is awesome. It's the tension tool I rely on for most pin-tumbler locks I pick. But be careful which one you get, because they have two versions. A standard one and the thinner "lite" version.
I only use the "lite" on keyways that are more restrictive or smaller. The standard size will do most locks.
And that tension wrench bending tool is nice too. It was so much fun for me to use that tool, that I ended up running out of all my wiper inserts in one day.
If a lock is a puzzle, then its key is the complete picture
-
Eyes_Only
- Supporter

-
- Posts: 4111
- Joined: 17 Dec 2003 20:33
by raimundo » 21 Mar 2012 9:59
tension wrench bending tool is for those who's mechanical abilities do not extend to the use of pliers.
Wake up and smell the Kafka!!!
-
raimundo
-
- Posts: 7130
- Joined: 21 Apr 2004 9:02
- Location: Minnneapolis
by obeisance » 21 Mar 2012 10:06
The tension wrench bending tool also takes up a significantly smaller amount of space than a pair of pliers and can be carried in a pick case. Never needed one but I can see the appeal.
-
obeisance
-
- Posts: 2
- Joined: 15 May 2011 15:11
by dmux » 28 Mar 2012 18:14
I say buy them, the peterson pry bars are in a class of their own. I have had good use out of them. It would be a lot more work to grind out a tension wrench that thickness and have serrations on it.
-
dmux
-
- Posts: 611
- Joined: 28 Dec 2004 10:56
- Location: MD
by cyrano138 » 29 Mar 2012 11:06
I'm new to this, but I picked up both sizes to add to my pickset. They are incredibly useful, although my experience has been a little different than the poster above. I've found the lite to be the most versatile. They're both quite thick, and the standard is too big for my yale, american, master no.5, and ace 40mm padlock. It fits in my kwikset and brinks keyways. I can post photos if you're curious. If I had to only buy one, and I think that's what I'd do if I had it to do over again, I'd get the lite and never look back.
-
cyrano138
-
- Posts: 126
- Joined: 5 Mar 2012 13:50
- Location: Sarasota, FL
by Sandi Cooney » 30 Mar 2012 10:21
thanks for everyone's input....always appreciated. I decided to buy both the Peterson pry bars and bought the flat 5-serrated set too as well as the tool to make my own tension wrenches. Yah, I want it ALL but that's just the way I fly!!!!! Enjoy the day everyone and all it has to offer. Will post when I receive and play with my new tools. 
-
Sandi Cooney
-
- Posts: 3
- Joined: 10 Mar 2012 18:37
- Location: Mississauga, Ontario
by cyrano138 » 30 Mar 2012 13:52
I'd love to hear your thoughts on the Flat 5 set. I've been eyeing them myself, but they seem a little redundant. Correct me if I'm wrong please!
Jack
-
cyrano138
-
- Posts: 126
- Joined: 5 Mar 2012 13:50
- Location: Sarasota, FL
by OrangePick » 4 Apr 2012 18:00
I consider my Pry Bar Lite one of the most significant tools in my kit. It's one of the few tools I've used to be successful at TOK tension, and gives you all kinds of room to work in the keyway. I would buy it again in a heartbeat and recommend it to newbies. It's the only tensor that I can't readily make.
The flat-5 set on the other hand has not been as useful to me. The only one I've really found a use for is the really skinny one -- used it on a no-name cut off lock from the military that we think is maybe an Abus -- small funky keyway on that one and nothing else would fit in it to tension it. I don't like the featherweight ones either -- I prefer to have a stiff tension tool for maximum feedback.
I wouldn't have bought the flat-5 outright but it came with the "Ken's" pickset.
-
OrangePick
-
- Posts: 41
- Joined: 2 Feb 2011 12:07
by cyrano138 » 25 May 2012 9:32
Thanks for the response. The reason I was eyeing them was, at least partially, for that reason. I have an american cylinder with a Y1 keyway that none of my wrenches will work with--I'm actually heading out to the auto parts store today to grab some steel and see if I can make something that will work. Other than that I have to say I use the Peterson pry bar on just about everything. Well worth the money, in my opinion.
Jack
-
cyrano138
-
- Posts: 126
- Joined: 5 Mar 2012 13:50
- Location: Sarasota, FL
Return to Got Questions? - Ask Beginner Hobby Lockpicking Questions Here
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 7 guests
|