Tubular Lock Picking

[calipicker]

Hey, I'm a fairly new lock picker. I can get through master locks and wafer locks just fine and I'm interested in tubular locks now. The 7 and 8 pin tubular picks look cool and are certainly the right tool for the job, but I was wondering if anyone has had any luck or experience picking tubular locks with regular picks?

[cledry]

Yes, they pick easily with regular picks. The trick is crafting a tension wrench.

[smokingman]

They are fairly easy to pick with a sturdy large paperclip or slim flat pick that
will fit in the space, however making/fitting the tension tool is somewhat challenging.
And you will have to re-pick every quarter turn since the the pins will reset there .

[cledry]

They are fairly easy to pick with a sturdy large paperclip or slim flat pick that
will fit in the space, however making/fitting the tension tool is somewhat challenging.
And you will have to re-pick every quarter turn since the the pins will reset there .

I think you have to repick every pin position so 7 times per revolution for the 7 pin etc.

[calipicker]

Is there any specific type of tension tool you recommend?

[smokingman]

Look at this thread, it shows some ideas.

viewtopic.php?t=31510

[Squelchtone]

Is there any specific type of tension tool you recommend?

Part of this hobby is looking at a lock and then figuring out what parts and tools you have in order to pick that lock. There may not be a wrench already made that we can give you the part number to just go buy. Once you fully understand how a tubular lock works and which parts interact with each other, you can then get some metal and make the proper size and fit wrench for that lock. It's just something you figure out by looking at it and working with it hands on.

Squelchtone

[smokingman]

I measured the hex wrench that I have been using and it is 1/16 inch or 1.56 mm.
Has a good enough fit and easy to come by.

[mechanical_nightmare]

What kind of tubular locks do y'all recommend for practice? I would like to get a few of varying difficulty levels if possible, from easy to difficult... Apparently Southord is having a 30% discount on all products for the holiday season (to prior customers only from what I understand), and it seemed like a good deal to me so I bought their 7 and 8 pin tubular pick decoder tools.

[KPick]

The southord tubular picks work fine, but I heard somewhere that there are different variants of tubular locks out there.

[mechanical_nightmare]

Kpick, do you have experience with the Southord tools? What locks do they not work on in your knowledge/experience?

[docjon]

Up to this point my efforts have been on standard pin locks. Kinda neat to see the diagram of the tubular lock and gain a little insight into picking them. Thanks guys. Jon

[daniel22747]

For a tension wrench you could use needle nose pliers that have been filed down at the tip to make them thin enough to fit into the tubular lock and grasp.