noob help with BEST/FALCON SFIC door locks

[electronman]

Hi I'm kind of just getting started in lockpicking as a hobby. I'm really interested in the falcon/best locks and how they work and I was wondering if anyone has anykind of info for a beginner or if you know of some good places to find out and what kind of a pick it might take...all i currently have is one of those cheap dyno kwick picks with the pick and tensioner. Any help would greatly be apreiciated?

[bushd]

Normal picks and tensioners work; however, there is a special tensioner you can use on them to keep the pins from falling out if turned 180 degrees. T

These won't be easy locks to conquer.

[bushd]

I forgot to post some more information about the tool itself. Silly me - Insert bid for edit button here.

Alright, the tool itself looks like a normal tension wrench with teeth. I'll post a link to one when I find it but I can't yet.

[bushd]

http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/sfic/index.html

[electronman]

Cool, I'll check that out thx for the reply. Is there anything special way to pick the pins or anything i should watch out for?

[32768]

Normal picks and tensioners work; however, there is a special tensioner you can use on them to keep the pins from falling out if turned 180 degrees. T

I may be wrong, but I've never had a problem with pins falling out of these.
I'm pretty sure though, that the peterson tensioner you're talking about wouldn't prevent the pins falling out if they could do so. The point of this tensioner is to allow you to put pressure only on the control sheer line, making it easier to pick.

I've made a couple of these wrenches- it's not hard, and there's a schematic on this site. Here's a pic of the first one I made and a couple early picks, before being polished. I messed up one tooth, but it still works. And check out that chunky handle!
The graph paper is 0.2" for scale.

[bushd]

You're right on that. I've always been under the impression that picking 180 degrees would cause pin fallage. I thought I saw that on these forums before.

[Chucklz]

It may, but it depends on the shape of the keyway. Ive had it occur in any Kwikset lock thats even the slightest bit worn, some Yale LFIC, and in some BEST keyways (K,E,D,J) but with differing amounts of wear. No worries, the back of a pick, or an extra tension wrench will solve the problem rather quickly.

[32768]

You're right on that. I've always been under the impression that picking 180 degrees would cause pin fallage. I thought I saw that on these forums before.

OK, we're both right.

If you pick it to 180, the pins will drop just a little tiny bit- enough to make the cylinder stick. They will not fall out (probably ). Just put a little tension on it with a wrench and run a snake or hook along the top and it'll turn right around, no harm done. I mostly pick these for fun in a cheapo padlock, so they never turn more than about 30 degrees.



As a sidenote, I had a heck of a time picking this core out of the lock. I must've picked the control line a dozen times before I finally for the operating line. Of course, once I stopped pushing on the control lug with my thumb it got easier...
But that seems like a useful trick- if you're trying to pick the control line on a bare core, just push on the control lug. That makes it very easy- don't know why I didn't think of it before.

[Chucklz]

If the core is new/freshly combinated for some reason, yet to be fully described, the control line is a fair bit easier to pick than operating.

[thertel]

Actually, master pins falling into the cylinder is pretty common on pest locks especially when using size 1 and 2 master pins. I've found that if you need to rotate the cylinder 180 degrees stick something like hte handle of a tension wrench into the lock while rotating past the top, or use a plug spinner.

Electroman, I'm glad to see you here, and that you took my advice on asking your questions to the forum as a whole. It makes it much easier then if I had answered the question through email, as this way other beginners can reference this information without having to ask for it.

Thomas

[electronman]

Thanks, sounds good....I tried picking the lock yesterday and still am having trouble. i've been reading on here about shear line and control key and some special types of pins is there anything like that on these type of locks?

[logosys]

Thanks, sounds good....I tried picking the lock yesterday and still am having trouble. i've been reading on here about shear line and control key and some special types of pins is there anything like that on these type of locks?

Is that a newbie who searched? I thought those only existed in fairy tales....

Ahem. Your lock will have two shearlines, an operational shearline (To turn the cam that operates the deadbolt) and a control shearline (To pull the core out of the cylinder). As you can imagine, this can be a bit painful, because you can have all the pins set on the shearline, but they all have to be on the SAME shearline. That is the advantage to the SFIC tension wrench - it will aid in setting the pins on the control shearline. As far as mushrooms, spools or serrated pins, I have never seen a Falcon with any of them in there.

Keep up the searching, it will serve you better than you think.

[thertel]

I feel that with SFIC locks there is not point to picking the operational shearline because once I have the control shear picked I can pull the core, stick in my tool from BEST and turn the lock, not to mention its much easier to pick the control shear most of the time. Once your done using that door you simply reinsert the core.

Speaking of removing the cores I heard a good one about how a store was broken into, but thats better saved for the advanced forum.

Thomas

[Chucklz]

I also have a BEST turning tool, for when the core is removed. I've never had to use it but the only time I've done a SFIC lockout, I picked control, pulled the core (much to the supprize of the person being helped). I had nothing to turn the "two rods" so I used a screwdriver. Well I opened the door, but the core wouldn't go back in! I had ever so slightly bent the rods out of true. It took only a moment with the screwdriver to fix, but I certainly don't want to go through that again.