What did you pick today?

[Jremington401]

Found this lock on the ground in front of a savers (thrift store) been trying to open it all week.

Dang, Jremington401! Great find! Where are you located that you found a Fichet padlock?

I have the same padlock in my collection.



If you succeed in picking that baby, let us know!

Gordon

I'm in Rhode Island I'm jealous you have a key for yours after I found mine I looked around to buy one. Fitchet locks apparently aren't easy to find.

[GWiens2001]

Yes, I looked for years before I found mine.

IIRC, I have a key blank for that baby.

Gordon

[adi_picker]

Im with Gordon on this one, I would love to have a Fichet to play with

[MiPo]

Finally I got my Christmas present open. Since the 24th of December I tried to open this monster "Burg Wächter Diamant". After many hours of frustrated picking and some broken picks it just opened for me.

Please note the elastic band. This is necessary when you pick the padlock in the hand as you have to help the counter rotation manually. The spools are very sharp and they do not set easily. The keyway is very paracentric and with the given bitting it's a pain to set the back spools. In fact this lock has only spools (all 6 key pins and drivers are spooled) and the tolerances are tight. It's a great product from Burg Wächter and still made in Germany.
The pick that finally opened the lock is a home made deforest diamond that I received from Javid Patel. It turned out that this is the perfect profile for this narrow paracentric keyway.
I never thought that it would ever open

More pictures: http://imgur.com/a/D0dNl

Some additional pointers:
Elastic band usage: https://youtu.be/ZWfPKtqFFLw
Pins: https://youtu.be/HwVT0Myqihs?t=891

Cheers,
Michael

[Silverado]

Good one MiPo! That looks like a nasty lock!

[Divinorum]

Really cool idea using the rubber band around the tension wrench. Many times I have messed up mid pick because letting off tension for counter rotation was not enough and I had to actually turn the tension wrench back the other way. Next thing I knew everything fell down. I'm definitely going to try this.

[MiPo]

Thank you
Works almost perfect if you get a tight fit of the tension wrench in the keyway and picking doesn't take too long so that the reduced blood circulation in the finger doesn't hurt too much

Really cool idea using the rubber band around the tension wrench. Many times I have messed up mid pick because letting off tension for counter rotation was not enough and I had to actually turn the tension wrench back the other way. Next thing I knew everything fell down. I'm definitely going to try this.

[Shackle Jackal]

Over the holidays I felt like I had made some big leaps in skill only to find that I have gone two steps forward and one back .
I finally picked a brinks R70 that was actually one of the first locks I bought with the sole purpose of picking, I also am now able to open a brinks commercial lock that has a bunch of spool pins very consistently and quickly, and the accomplishment that I was most proud of was finally spping ALL of my schlage locks quickly and consistently, I thought "finally I really understand single pin picking".
only one problem now, I cannot seem to SPP regular pins anymore, I do not get that feedback of the security pins and feel lost. I know that spool give that great counter rotation and kind of tell you where to go and what to do, but now that I spent so much time getting here, i feel like I have regressed instead of progressed. Just had to vent I guess.

[huxleypig]

Elastic band around the finger is the coolest idea ever! Better than superglue.

[MiPo]

Haha, superglue has the advantage of not disturbing the blood circulation. But how does this look like when you have permanently attached a tension wrench on the finger?

Elastic band around the finger is the coolest idea ever! Better than superglue.

[femurat]

But how does this look like when you have permanently attached a tension wrench on the finger? .

Wait, you mean there are people who don't have one?

Cheers

[Eazy123]

I realize it's not much of an accomplishment but I picked these three today. Bought the two Brinks from Walmart and I kid you not, my very first open on the left one came within 20 seconds, and I opened it another two times in as many minutes. Not much of a surprise though, the bitting was as basic as they come. The Brinks on the right took a bit more time but jeez - get what you pay for, I guess. Acquired a Schlage deadbolt as well but I'll take that apart and pick it tomorrow.

[Eazy123]

Picked another American 5200, but this Abus is still giving me problems. I've been getting it in and out of a false set for the past hour and a half...grrr

[Silverado]

[quote=Eazy123]Picked another American 5200, but this Abus is still giving me problems. I've been getting it in and out of a false set for the past hour and a half...grrr[/quote]

I have a Titalium that I've had for close to two months now and I still can't get it open. Stuck in the loop with pin 1 and pin 2 to this very day. Once I get one set, the other is binding but resets the previous so it's just back and forth resetting one another. Heavier tension, lighter tension, nothing helps.

[Eazy123]

[quote=Eazy123]Picked another American 5200, but this Abus is still giving me problems. I've been getting it in and out of a false set for the past hour and a half...grrr

I have a Titalium that I've had for close to two months now and I still can't get it open. Stuck in the loop with pin 1 and pin 2 to this very day. Once I get one set, the other is binding but resets the previous so it's just back and forth resetting one another. Heavier tension, lighter tension, nothing helps.

Right? What kind of sorcery did they use in making this lock?!

I've only picked about 20 locks but by far this one gives the best bang for buck at only $10. And had to drive 20 miles to get one since Frys of all places was the only place that carried it.