Deadbolt

[Picking_Newb]

Hi everyone. New to the board, but I have been reading it for a month or so. My picking needs practice for sure. So far I have picked some basic padlocks and a cheap kwikset door knob. I still have not had any luck picking the doorknob or deadbolt on my house. Current tools I own are short hook, half diamond, s rake, and a L rake. And of course tension wrenches. I bought those rakes because I figured I would want them at some point, but I am trying to teach myself on the short hook and half diamond. At some point if I get decent at this I want to get a set of bogotas, they are by far the coolest rakes I have seen, I love watching YouTube vids of people using them.

Anyone have any advice on how to defeat my first deadbolt, I'm obviously doing something wrong. I think I have the tension correct, I use a fairly light tension, about the same force it takes to turn the key.

Thanks in advance, this seems like an awesome community.

[Divinorum]

Hello, welcome to the forum. It's not advised to practice picking locks that are in regular use like the ones on your house. This is a general rule to avoid damaging or screwing up a lock that is important and relied on for your security. My advice would be to get some locks to practice on that you can take apart. Deadbolts are sometimes harder to pick than simple pad locks and a great way to learn how to pick them is so start with just a few pins to get a feel for it and then add more in when you progress.

digital_blue wrote an excellent guide on using a regular 5 pin deadbolt as a practice lock
viewtopic.php?t=10677

Also if you havent already, read these papers. They should contain everything you need to get yourself started.

The MIT Guide to Lock Picking
http://www.lysator.liu.se/mit-guide/MITLockGuide.pdf

Lock Picking: Detail Overkill
https://www.dropbox.com/s/x68fcstt8k6mi ... 3ks%5D.pdf
Password: evva3ks

Locksport International Guide to Lock Picking
http://locksport.com/files/5012/6964/4049/liguide.pdf

[Picking_Newb]

Looks like a bunch of good material. I will go through it all. I picked my first padlock with a pick and tension tool that I made. I wanted to see if I could pick something before I invested too much in it. Since I bought legit picks I don't use my little homemade stuff much anymore.

Thanks again!

[billdeserthills]

Have you tried some spray lubricant in the key hole? Really makes a difference

[Picking_Newb]

Good news. I was able to pick my first deadbolt. The reason I am willing to pick the dead bolt on my house is because it is going to be replaced shortly with something a little better. Quite the experience, the first time the cylinder starts rotating on a deadbolt you are trying to pick. Picked it a couple more times to make sure it wasn't a fluke. Been practicing picking for 2 or 3 weeks, cool hobby, useful one too.

[GWiens2001]

Even so, what happens when the lock breaks again, and you can not secure your house while you suddenly have to go purchase a replacement lock?

Gordon

[Picking_Newb]

The lock hasn't broken a first time, so how can it break again? As for securing my house if this one breaks... I have already purchased the new deadbolt, just haven't gotten around to putting it in yet. The current deadbolt is going to end up as a practice lock anyways. But thanks.

[Squelchtone]

The lock hasn't broken a first time, so how can it break again? As for securing my house if this one breaks... I have already purchased the new deadbolt, just haven't gotten around to putting it in yet. The current deadbolt is going to end up as a practice lock anyways. But thanks.

We're just trying to give you good advice based on years of experience. We've been doing this for a ridiculously long time and locks can and DO break from picking. When a new picker is picking, they often have no idea what they're really doing and the real reason the lock even opens is blind luck. I was teaching a class the other week in Vegas and by the end of the class there was a small pile of brass dust and filings on the black table cloth below the deadbolts I had mounted on a wooden practice board. People would walk up and rake and jiggle and scrub the pins and at the end of it 3 of the deadbolts no longer operated properly because of the wear and tear on the pins inside the lock.

Not saying this happens to everyone, and at least you have a spare deadbolt already, but if its 11pm and you're sitting there picking and something goes wrong, now you have to either go to sleep with the door screwed up, and either you cant lock up for the night, or you cant unlock the lock in an emergency (key doesn't insert all the way, it inserts but cant turn, etc), or you get to spend an hour taking the old lock off and putting the new one on. We're just trying to save you the hassle.

Either way, it's just a bad habit to get into because if nothing goes wrong this time, then the next lock in the wild (at your friends house, at work, etc) will be just as attractive of a lock to practice on, but I suppose we've all had that one lock in use that was just too temping not to try picking while we got started in the hobby and didn't yet have a coffee table full of practice locks.

Enjoy the forum and start collecting some practice locks,
Squelchtone

[romit]

Frankly I am not in the favor of picking, and obviously not the locks meant for my own security. Suggestively, please do not practice picking your own door locks. If you have to with those tools you have (some good ones at that), you must try with locks that are not used in regular security.