I finally found another lock. I took this one apart because I wanted to thoroughly clean it up (it was pretty dirty on the outside, and gummed up with grease on the inside).
To my great surprise this lock had 4 spool pins. I noticed that the last three have very prominent littly nubs on top of the spool. I imagine it's either a left over from the machining process, or even better, helps to keep the spring properly centered over the middle of the pin.
A conventional pin-tumbler can't have only spools, because as soon as you touch the lock you create a false set. The thing I like about this lock it that the lock spring pushes the plug/shackle back, which prevents an accidental false-set (pretty smart).
Lesson learned: Don't judge an old lock by it's cover.
It's not because a lot is a century old that it won't have decent security pins!
Now, on to making a key!
