wear from practice picking

[knowspicker537]

Hey guys just wondering something lately, I've been practicing on the same schlage deadbolt for quite some time, can picking a lock say 100 plus times wear the lock out and make it harder to pick?

-knowspicker537

[billdeserthills]

The thing that comes to my mind is once you have crushed a spring or two,
The lock is on it's way to being un-pickable, or at least much harder to pick.
Why not get a package of .115 springs and re-load those top pins?

[Korver15]

Another thing that maybe could be happening is when you are picking you are slowly filing down the soft brass inside the lock. The brass powder gets everywhere and can start to make you loose feeling in the lock. It is just a hypothesis though.

[knowspicker537]

OK yeah thanks for the replies guys makes sense, I'll probably just pick up a new one at Home Depot then

knowspicker537

[knowspicker537]

OK so this is kinda and adendum to this post I have been picking that same schlage for quite some time and it consistently takes much longer than before, I myself thought I was just getting sloppy and rushing things for a while and thinking it's getting worn out. I just picked a new one in less than 40 seconds and then felt around and tried to pick the other one within a few min and can notice a huge difference between the two. So I can definitely say now with 100 percent confidence if you use the same practice lock for to Long it will slowly make the lock harder to pick. At least on a schlage deadbolt

-knowspicker537

[LocksportSouth]

I've been practising on the same practice lock quite a lot lately for a set of reviews that I'm working on and I've found that one of the locks is definitely starting to seize up and cause issues. Could be partly because I'm probably more heavy handed with tension and the picks than I should be, but I've had zero luck with a lock that I was doing fine with until recently. So I do wonder if this could be a thing... Although it could just be a case of having an 'off day', at least for me.

[knowspicker537]

I don't know if normal locks do this but I'm guessing the popping of the spool pins under tension after a while will deform or change how the lock works, I haven't had the key in forever do I can't see if it still works but I am confident in my diagnosis

Knowspicker537

[cj101]

With time, the pins develop a brass patina. This might change picking behaviour as well.

[kwoswalt99-]

With time, the pins develop a brass patina. This might change picking behaviour as well.

That's possible on a lock exposed to the weather that doesn't get used regularly, but they won't develop much oxide on the pins if used often.

[QuantumEntangled]

I have noticed on some locks that been practiced on extensively that they seem to actually get harder. I think constant prodding from a hook or rake especially can wear down key pins and stress springs to the point that feedback is quite diminished, or at the very least distorted. That can confuse the heck out of the person picking. I know a few times where I thought a pin was binding only to dismantle the lock and see that the spring was twisted and had lost its flex. By the way, the lock was nothing special--just an Arrow house deadbolt with regular pins. Like another picker who posted above, upon purchasing a new one, it was picked quickly.

[jimu57]

The first practice lock I bought thru Ebay eventually got work down much the same way. Seems like it was the constant wear on the bottom pins that caused the problem for me I am not trying to insert a plug here, but I do make and sell practice lock kits. I include a mini pinning kit in a small divided box also so that there are plenty of extra bottom pins, spools, plain drivers, serrated pins, springs. Don't ask where because I am going to offer those soon on LP101 in "Buy-Sell-Trade" and will donate a portion of sales to the forum.

jim

[Abe Froman]

I have a padlock that I picked hundreds of times with a too small tension wrench in the top of the key way. It wallowed it out so bad a tension wrench won't stay in anymore.

I took that lock apart and the key pin holes were ovaled out really bad also.

[blue60]

and that's part of the reason we say dont pick a lock that is in use , you are using the lock in a way it was not designed to be used so they will fail.
but for number of openings before its no good depends on how heavy handed you are with them. (I had a lock break the first time I picked it but I also have a old Master that i have picked at least 1000 times in the last year and its still good as the day I got it.

[nine4t4]

Yeah, they can wear out. As blue60 pointed out we aren't supposed to pick locks that are in use.

It seems like it shouldn't happen but if you think about it, it's almost a given. Brass is quite soft, relatively speaking. Throw an anti-drill pin into the first chamber and it will cause wear. Also, unlike a key that lifts the pins simultaneously, we purposely bind the pins. It's very small wear but it adds up. The stone of the Grand Canyon was carved with water.

[Br0keN]

i have an assa twin 6000 padlock that ive been picking on for a long time and ive worn a groove in the bottom of the key way. it hasnt affected picking( that i can tell at least) but every time I pick on it my finger gets covered with brass powder, and ive picked on this thing a lot.