Starting with only one pick

[deralian]

I was wondering who started off with only one pick and tension tool? I started doing locksmithing via apprenticeship and was told 'this is the tool I use so it's what you will use'. It worked out ok using an S-Rake and heavy tension tool.

Unfortunately I don't think this type of training helps progress your skills beyond a certain level. It wasn't until I made some of my own tools and had a few different types of picks to play with that my skill level took off. I think starting with too many tools would also be bad.

Just wondering everyone's thoughts

[billdeserthills]

My Dad always stressed to me that there was more than one way to successfully complete any job, his feeling was You needed to be a self-starter
if You want to succeed, and take the initiative to get the job done, with the tools at hand

[nite0wl]

Having only one tool is very limiting. Any given tool will not work for everyone, any given tool will not work on every lock.
This doesn't mean you need 500000 different tools to get started but some variety and experimentation is extremely helpful in developing good skills and with experience will open many more locks than the most narrow skills and experience.
I started with 6 different picks and about the same number of tensioners, I got a few things open and built a little bit of skill. A bit later I got a higher quality set with some slightly different tools and built more skills and experience. That was when I felt confident enough (and had reached the limits of what I thought I could do with the tools I had) to buy a large set of very high quality tools. I experimented with lots of different tools and lots of different locks and now I really only use 3 different picks (in two thicknesses) and 6 different tensioners on a regular basis because I tried lots of different things and figured out what works best for me in various situations and built a kit around the most common.

[deralian]

You said it night0wl. There is little reason to have a $300 lockpick kit. Once you have some experience with all the tools you realize there are 3 or 4 that you actually like and would use on a regular basis.

[GWiens2001]

I started with just one pick and one tension wrench. The pick was a teardrop pick made from a bobby pin, with a short wood dowel for a handle. The tension wrench was the rest of the bobby pin. Can't count the number of Master padlocks opened with that pick.

Gordon

[KPick]

Well, it's okay to start out with one tension wrench and one picking tool, just as long as the pick is versatile in your hands. In that, I mean you can use it on locks in ways which are considered clever.

For example, with a short hook (my favorite pick) and a tension wrench, I'm able to pick all the locks I have encountered granted the fact that some locks are just super difficult, but with skill, picking and opening can be achieved. A short hook can pick pin tumblers, tubular locks, and wafers (which basically are the most common locks out here in the US). Like someone above me said, "You will end up using just a few picks out of your pick set." This is very true because with time and progression, skill level enhancement, you will eventually find a pick that you will find the best suitable for your hands. It's like picking a japanese sword, some people like them short and light and not so strong, and some people like them long reaching and heavy accompanied with power. It's just your type.

[Chaos Engine]

I agree with most of you, I started with a simple home rake and now I have a crap load of homemade picks and wrenches, but I find myself only using about 4 picks for whatever lock I come across. Nine times out of ten, that's all I need.

[nikola007]

I have started whit one pick and one tension too, I made it myselph, and when I learned how the stuff works, then I bought a set, and adjusted it to my capabilities

[sentientsentinel]

If I was going to start with just one pick it would have to be a hook like a Peterson gem or a 1/2 diamond.There is something to be said for this one pick training idea anyone can rake for instace my wife asked to try picking a lock and she knows nothing about picking I handed her a sparrows worm and a five pin schlage cylinder in 20 seconds she had opened it (kinda pissed me off too lol).The real magic in picking is the single pin picking when everything else fails non destructively speaking you have to spp.My feeling is that if everyone started off with just a hook and progressively harder locks to build confidence they would be far better off.I heard most locksmiths only use a couple different picks anyway probably because they learned how to use them in almost every picking situation.I am a boxing coach I see alot of martial artists with only marginal punching skills because they never separated out punching from kneeing,kicking,elbowing etc. but boxers are almost always proficient punchers.Why because they concentrated the time and effort on only one thing and thats punching nothing else.As with picking you may be onto something I really think if you started with only one hook you'd probably be a really good single pin picker which is the default if everything else fails.

[Comrade627]

I started with a Southord low hook and wrench and like a bad nooby ordered the 50 dollar set. Fast forward 5ish years and I'm only using a hand made hook, southord snake and half ball, bogotas and a handmade wrench.

[Legion303]

I would consider two tools and a dual wrench (or two wrenches, as long as you can use both TOK and BOK tension somehow) to be the bare minimum needed. You'll need a hook for single-pin picking and some kind of rake to learn raking techniques. You can kind of do both with a half diamond, but it's not really as effective as a hook for SPP.

[deolslyfox]

I started out with a couple of bobby pins .... My first real set of picks was from Majestic many moons ago and I still have them. (Along with sets from Sparrows and Peterson and a bunch of home-growns).

Look at some of the templates available on the web to get an idea of what you might need.

You can get some good tips here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYOTJh7NV68

There's an old saying - "Beware the man with one gun - he probably knows how to use it" ....

That is good advice for guns, but as you progress, gain skill and move into more advanced locks, one pick will lead to a set, one set will lead to two sets, and then you'll add / make specialty picks as you go along.

But to answer your question - starting off with one pick is at least a start !! "A journey of one thousand miles begins with the first step" ...

[knowspicker537]

I've only ever used one type of pick a half hook buy I've had to buy different sizes for different locks, from what I've gleaned on these forums is that most professionals use only one kind of pick for mostly every lock spp of course

-knowspicker537

[Korver15]

I started out with a couple of bobby pins .... My first real set of picks was from Majestic many moons ago and I still have them. (Along with sets from Sparrows and Peterson and a bunch of home-growns)

I started with just one pick and one tension wrench. The pick was a teardrop pick made from a bobby pin, with a short wood dowel for a handle. The tension wrench was the rest of the bobby pin. Can't count the number of Master padlocks opened with that pick.

Gordon

Haha! Another bobby pin starters.

I learned it could be done but bobby pins are fat so I got a single southord hook and three wrenches. Worked great for a month or so then I found my real love, a peterson gem. <3

[Shifty1]

I've been picking for several hours a day for about a year and a half now and I have a fondness for just 5 or 6 picks and about the same number of wrenches. The reach tool, a short hook and a couple of bogys can eventuate an opening of any darn pin tumbler lock I set out to open. It just came about that way. Practice makes perfect!