My first real world application

[Picking_Newb]

Finally able to use some of my skills in a real life application. My brother in law and I were going to go out shooting yesterday. Well he had a cable lock through the bolt to prevent my nephews from messing with it and causing health issues. He lost the keys and went to the garage for bolt cutters to chop the cable. I told him to hold on because I had my bogota titans in my pocket.

About 10 seconds later the lock was open.

Nothing too impressive but it was cool to actually use the skill instead of just practicing all the time.

[Squelchtone]

hey well done! that's exactly why I keep a pair of Bogotas in my wallet, every day situations like this one.

next thing you know you'll be asking me to change your member name, since it doesn't seem you're a newb any more!

Happy picking and happy shooting,
Squelchtone

[DCT]

Nice Picking_Newb!
Feels good doesn't it:)

[Barthel]

I haven't got Hands on bogotars, but i Keep some hooks, whiperblade tensiontools and a "skyine" Rake in my EDC-kit or wallet

My first "real" world Applikation was on my Mailbox...
I broke the last key inside the lock, extracted it, opened the lock within 20 sec's with my hook and removed the old lock.

There i found out that it wasn't a pin-Tumbler... but something really simmilar with small plates with Slots in ...


WAIT .-.. that reminds me that i have to upload the Fotos ^^

[Barthel]

*edit* well those locks where so called "double waver locks" i guess

[Picking_Newb]

I find wafer locks are generally pretty easy to open. That is the same kind of lock I have on my cabinet at work. The only thing I dislike about wafer locks is that picks and rakes don't slide over them as easily, but the easy open makes up for that.

[Valdo]

I find wafer locks are generally pretty easy to open. That is the same kind of lock I have on my cabinet at work. The only thing I dislike about wafer locks is that picks and rakes don't slide over them as easily, but the easy open makes up for that.

Be carefull, some picks can damage the wafers, when you pick a wafer lock use ball picks and snakes, and yes, they are easy to open because they have no anti-picking protection,
they are the cheapest locks you can make :p

[Steelbacks]

My first real world application was last spring, I think. I'd driven an hour from North London to just north of Milton Keynes to spend some time on our boat on the Grand Union Canal. I was about ten minutes away from arriving when I realised that I'd forgotten to pick up the keys. Should I drive back and get the keys, or carry on and use my picks on the locks with no guarantee of having them work?

Well, I got into the marina, parked up, then got the picks out on the roof and started to sort out a tension tool and some picks. The locks came with the boat... a couple of cheap discus locks. I think they're 4 pin, and I'd never managed to SPP them, but I had raked them a couple of times. After some frustrating minutes with no success, I got the locks open. Much relief, picks away, kettle on, etc.

Interesting how some locks give great feedback and you can just pop them open, even though they have 5 or 6 pins, including security pins. Then you get a cheap 4 pin lock, no security pins, and whilst you can pop the lock in seconds with a rake (some locks, not all) you just can't SPP it open if your life depended on it!

Maybe that's why I like locks and picking them open (one reason at least), because there's so much variety, and you never know how a lock is going to respond to your attempts to pick it until you try. Even when the lock is right in front of you, even in your hands, it's still a 'lucky dip' experience when you start picking.

[Valdo]

Interesting how some locks give great feedback and you can just pop them open, even though they have 5 or 6 pins, including security pins. Then you get a cheap 4 pin lock, no security pins, and whilst you can pop the lock in seconds with a rake (some locks, not all) you just can't SPP it open if your life depended on it!

Well, if the lock is exposed like on a boat it is going to be dirty which dampens the feedback, I have an old padlock, same thing, you can't spp it, but shove a rake in there and it pops open.

[Steelbacks]

Interesting how some locks give great feedback and you can just pop them open, even though they have 5 or 6 pins, including security pins. Then you get a cheap 4 pin lock, no security pins, and whilst you can pop the lock in seconds with a rake (some locks, not all) you just can't SPP it open if your life depended on it!

Well, if the lock is exposed like on a boat it is going to be dirty which dampens the feedback, I have an old padlock, same thing, you can't spp it, but shove a rake in there and it pops open.

I understand what you're staying, and agree completely. However, some of these locks seem to be easy to rake but next to impossible to SPP right from the start. I completely understand the next comment, which is likely to be something along the lines of "But you're new to this. You can rake, but you're just no good at SPPing" and I understand that comment, but really, some locks seem to be easy to rake, but next to impossible to pick, even from brand new! Like I said, I've picked locks with 5 and 6 pins, including security pins. And yes, I can SPP as well as rake, though not as well as some, or as well as I'd like.

And then there are these puny little 3 and 4 pin locks, badly made, no security pins, and they stump us, even though they should be so easy to defeat and get opened.

This isn't about the number of pins, security pins, or how new the lock is. Maybe it's the tension needed to SPP?! The shakle on the discus locks I have need quite a lot of pressure to turn them and get them to open. Easy to apply too much tension. Also possible to apply too little, and sit there trying to open the lock, when it's actually open! Several times I've been messing around and getting nowhere, then applied more tension and the thing has just opened right up. God knows how long it was open before I applied more (enough) pressure and opened up the shackle.

Sometimes a lock is difficult to pick because it has 6 or 7 pins, security pins, and goodness knows what. Other times it's only a puny, badly made lock, but the moon was in its first quarter, the sun was in line with Pluto, the wind was blowing ing from the south west... and the lock just won't let itself be picked open!

[Valdo]

@Steelbacks , ha, you were talking about very very cheap locks; On the other forum I contribute to, we always give advice to people to buy at least 10 euros locks because for 3 euros you have someting
so badly made the errors make it harder to SPP x)

Don't worry I wasn't gonna tell you you couln'd spp because you were a beginner, I didn't even know you were a beginner, I just answered the question ^^

To add to this, on my forum a guy completely new to lockpicking just opened a Mul-T-lock interactive, so you are right, planet alignment is important to lockpicking x)

[crowley]

about 5 years ago, when I got my first apartment. The previous owners left behind rusted tri-circles (really common here in Singapore) to secure the window grilles. Took me a while to pick em open, which saved me some cash from calling the locksmith or buying bolt cutters.

The things I remember about them was the real world picking was so much tougher than my practice locks, I couldnt hold them in my normal way, it was at weird angles and I kept dropping my tension wrench out the window...

I also remember that one of them was impossible to spp, despite being the same model. Had to rake it to pop the fella open. Think it was either the corrosion/rust thing or just the pin heights that made it different. On a personal level I used to think that raking was pure luck and spp was skill based. Then I read somewhere that at the dutch open, there was someone named Arthermeister (if I recall correctly) who popped open a high security lock in less than 5 seconds or something by raking. My views changed completely!

[GWiens2001]

At the beginning levels, raking is mostly luck. As one gains more experience, then they can develop skill using a rake. The more you practice, the better you can become with a rake.

The biggest part of picking, IMO, is appropriate tension with the tension wrench. Some locks need very light tension, some moderate, some require quite heavy tension, and others do best with varying tension.

My picking skills are only intermediate level, and seem to be slipping lately. (Probably due to using an air hammer a lot lately (shaking my hands with each impact), and less practice picking). But tension is very important.

Bogota picks are used slightly differently than a normal rake. And few people use a city rake in the manner for which it was designed. The city takes should be used in the same fashion as the king and queen picks (which are not rakes).

Gordon

Gordon