MacGyver Lockpicks: Picking with household items

[Quickpicknpay]

As a teenager I would lock myself out of my house regularly. We only had Schlage wafer type entrance knobsets. I went straight to the clothesline and took a wooden clothes peg from the line, removed the spring and somewhat straightened it out between the brickwork on the corner of our house. In the end you have a makeshift jiggle key that never failed to unlock the door.

[GWiens2001]

Here is the tension wrench (top) and reach pick (bottom) that I made from the key ring using the door lever. They are facing the way they would inside the lock. The angle of the tension wrench reached behind the pins to provide tension.



Gordon

[Dogrocket]

Paperclips make good "trainer" tension wrenches.

I wanted to see if anything could be done to make a decent pick or tension wrench out of a paperclip. They're widely available, cheap and they work in the movies.

Rather then trying a straight bended clip, which makes a pick that's too wide and bends really easily I wanted to see if a little cold forging and changing the profile would help.

1. Straightened the paperclips half way, and squared them off with a hammer and a piece of scrap steel as an anvil,
2. Used a pair of needle-nosed pliers to make a pick like profile (smaller then intended as the hammering will cause the pick to spread wider),
3. Flattened the pick profile and shaft until they were the desired thickness and profile (about twice as wide as normal, half as deep),
4. Tempered the picks with a gas stove and some cold water (not sure this helped at all).

The resulting picks came out alright:



They navigate the key-way better due to the thinner profile, and were a little stronger due to the additional height. I was able to open a few cheap padlocks, but found that even after the additional work even a relatively strong spring is sufficient to bend the picks. I'm going to stick with windshield wiper blades for now.

[cuttinedge1]

This is one of my favorite part of lockpicking
Pen clips for tension wrench(some even have serrations where they connect with the body)
Some rakes have metal tines that work great
The side pieces of eye glasses have metal inside
Jig saw blades require no filing
Street sweeper bristles if you were really lucky

[KPick]

This is one of my favorite part of lockpicking
Pen clips for tension wrench(some even have serrations where they connect with the body)
Some rakes have metal tines that work great
The side pieces of eye glasses have metal inside
Jig saw blades require no filing
Street sweeper bristles if you were really lucky

That tears it. I guess it's time for me to break out of jail. Now to look for some glasses.

[Kheops]

My absolute favorite tension wrench, for top torsion, is one I made with a bra under wire. I can pick decent locks with it such as American padlocks with it.. yet without my underwire I'm up the creek without a paddle for such small key ways and tons of security pins..

Will have to try pen clips, sounds like a good idea!

[Paleo123]

, ,

It's all about the bobby pins lol These bobby pins don't have the little squiggly bend on the flat like a lot do. They are basically perfect for making a quick pick, the metal can be bent on edge with just pliers. I took an extra five minutes and filed the ends of the rake side so it works on both sides of the rake fairly smoothly now.

[Paleo123]

So I was thinking in the spirit of MacGyver I had to open a lock using no tools...introducing the hand bent gonzo lol:



So basically give me two bobby pins and a stick of gum and I can open at least half the locks in north america

[cuttinedge1]

Lets not forget the long hose clamps as well as the classic windshield wiper. When you use a pen clip bend it slowly because the metal is brittle.
This type of pen clip has two small prongs on one side which I think might actually work on tubular lock.

What count is not the pen but the pen clip that says zebra. Uniball works great for regular tension wrench.

[shaofutzer]

Lets not forget the long hose clamps as well as the classic windshield wiper. When you use a pen clip bend it slowly because the metal is brittle.
This type of pen clip has two small prongs on one side which I think might actually work on tubular lock.

What count is not the pen but the pen clip that says zebra. Uniball works great for regular tension wrench.

When my roommate locked me and my girl out one night while we were on the front porch talking and then passed out drunk, I repaid him by removing a blade insert from one of his windshield wipers, snapping it in half, bending one half to make a tension tool and grinding the other on the concrete until I had a half-diamond. It took more time to make the tools than it did to pick the knob and deadbolt. It was a cool feeling and my girlfriend at the time thought I was James Bond or something. Wiper blades... yes...

[cuttinedge1]

Lets not forget the long hose clamps as well as the classic windshield wiper. When you use a pen clip bend it slowly because the metal is brittle.
This type of pen clip has two small prongs on one side which I think might actually work on tubular lock.

What count is not the pen but the pen clip that says zebra. Uniball works great for regular tension wrench.

When my roommate locked me and my girl out one night while we were on the front porch talking and then passed out drunk, I repaid him by removing a blade insert from one of his windshield wipers, snapping it in half, bending one half to make a tension tool and grinding the other on the concrete until I had a half-diamond. It took more time to make the tools than it did to pick the knob and deadbolt. It was a cool feeling and my girlfriend at the time thought I was James Bond or something. Wiper blades... yes...

That is really cool, I'll have to try that some time

[nite0wl]

It has been quite a while since I last tried it but I was able on many occasions to use heavy gauge paper clips to pick out of handcuffs. I would unwind the shortest portion of the paperclip and use the gap between the ratchet arm and the body to bend the tip of the wire into a rough "L" shape which was long enough to reach the levers for both the 'double lock' bar and the primary ratchet lever. They would be good for about a dozen uses or so before they finally gave out. I haven't been able to find the particular size of paperclip in a while though.

[GWiens2001]

That or they are the newer ones with grooves cut into them to make them break if you bend them. Hate those paperclips.

Gordon

[nite0wl]

That or they are the newer ones with grooves cut into them to make them break if you bend them. Hate those paperclips.

Gordon

I always avoid those when making tools from paperclips. The ones I had the most success with were quite thick, non-serrated, and were almost perfectly round in profile.

[youngpicker99]

The first time I picked a lock ( or attempted to anyway) I got out my dremel and cut a pick out of a butter knife. For the tension tool I used a modified Allen wrench.