Help moving past padlocks?

[AngryHatter]

Agree with progressive pinning.

You'll find your sense of touch changing as you practice, from being "lucky" to knowing when you have set a pin and how many more there are to go.

[Moses057]

I have been having a hard time moving beyond padlocks. I have several padlocks that I got a while back and I seem proficient in picking all of them. Recently I got a dead bold lock from a local hardware store. Thus far I have been unable to pick it. I recently tried my front door and then bought a second dead bolt lock all unsuccessfully picked after several hours (over 3 days) of trying . I feel I am pretty good at picking my padlocks but these other locks have humbled me. For my padlocks I have about 10 with different kind of pins so I doubt that the dead bolt pins are whats hanging me up.

Any advise? Thanks for any help!

Do your padlocks have a lot of spring tension in the core?
If they all do, try to lighten up your tension when you move on to the deadbolts.
Also find a bunch of Key in Knob (kik) cylinders on eBay that's where I moved to at 1st.

A master lock #570 has no spring on the core with spools in it. This lock took me a long while to adjust to not having spring resistance in the core.

[Deja vu]

I have been having a hard time moving beyond padlocks. I have several padlocks that I got a while back and I seem proficient in picking all of them. Recently I got a dead bold lock from a local hardware store. Thus far I have been unable to pick it. I recently tried my front door and then bought a second dead bolt lock all unsuccessfully picked after several hours (over 3 days) of trying . I feel I am pretty good at picking my padlocks but these other locks have humbled me. For my padlocks I have about 10 with different kind of pins so I doubt that the dead bolt pins are whats hanging me up.

Any advise? Thanks for any help!

Do your padlocks have a lot of spring tension in the core?
If they all do, try to lighten up your tension when you move on to the deadbolts.
Also find a bunch of Key in Knob (kik) cylinders on eBay that's where I moved to at 1st.

A master lock #570 has no spring on the core with spools in it. This lock took me a long while to adjust to not having spring resistance in the core.

Yeah all of them do. Ill look up the #570.

Thanks for the help!

[gumptrick]

I am seconding the recommendation of the Master 570! Great training lock for teaching you tension control. I have five of them, plus a 575 (which is the same lock but in brass instead of Aluminum). I still use them for practice.

But, there are some of them out there which do contain springs. See this thread: http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=64084

[AngryHatter]

Mr. Wizard's 7 pin stack lock is a good value for the money.

You can repin it to your hearts content. Add spools or serrated pins, master pins et cetera - all included.

[billdeserthills]

Mr. Wizard's 7 pin stack lock is a good value for the money.

You can repin it to your hearts content. Add spools or serrated pins, master pins et cetera - all included.

I don't wanna disparage Mr Wizard,
but I think $50 for his lock is an un-necessary extravagance
Much cheaper to learn how to disassemble any standard pin tumbler
lock and load the pins with a tweezer

[GWiens2001]

Mr. Wizard's 7 pin stack lock is a good value for the money.

You can repin it to your hearts content. Add spools or serrated pins, master pins et cetera - all included.

I don't wanna disparage Mr Wizard,
but I think $50 for his lock is an un-necessary extravagance
Much cheaper to learn how to disassemble any standard pin tumbler
lock and load the pins with a tweezer

Yet with the set screws he puts in the tops of the pin channels, it is easy to rekey and if something goes wrong like forgetting a key pin or mixing up which pin stack gets pins and which do not when progressive pinning, then they do not need to damage the lock to get it apart.

The common facepalm errors (why oh why did I do that???) of new people who have not learned how to do the beginning tasks with locks are easily remedied.

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

Mr. Wizard's 7 pin stack lock is a good value for the money.

You can repin it to your hearts content. Add spools or serrated pins, master pins et cetera - all included.

I don't wanna disparage Mr Wizard,
but I think $50 for his lock is an un-necessary extravagance
Much cheaper to learn how to disassemble any standard pin tumbler
lock and load the pins with a tweezer

Yet with the set screws he puts in the tops of the pin channels, it is easy to rekey and if something goes wrong like forgetting a key pin or mixing up which pin stack gets pins and which do not when progressive pinning, then they do not need to damage the lock to get it apart.

The common facepalm errors (why oh why did I do that???) of new people who have not learned how to do the beginning tasks with locks are easily remedied.

Gordon

The main facepalm error, of pulling out the cylinder while the key is inserted,
causing all the top pins & springs to burst forth like a party celebration creates
character--besides nothing is quite as exciting as having all those pins going flying

[stratmando]

A lot of good advice from all above, forgive if already mentioned somewhere. You could work with the lock you have, or want to figure, prop door with something solid, not closed. Try looking at the Key(Personally, I think looking at the Key is Cheating) for picking, but for learning, it is OK?
Have you tried that?

[GWiens2001]

A lot of good advice from all above, forgive if already mentioned somewhere. You could work with the lock you have, or want to figure, prop door with something solid, not closed. Try looking at the Key(Personally, I think looking at the Key is Cheating) for picking, but for learning, it is OK?
Have you tried that?

Looking at the key can help, but don't pick a lock in use!

@billdeserthills - gotta love the games of hide and seek for the pins and springs. Especially if you have thick carpeting!

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

A lot of good advice from all above, forgive if already mentioned somewhere. You could work with the lock you have, or want to figure, prop door with something solid, not closed. Try looking at the Key(Personally, I think looking at the Key is Cheating) for picking, but for learning, it is OK?
Have you tried that?

Looking at the key can help, but don't pick a lock in use!

@billdeserthills - gotta love the games of hide and seek for the pins and springs. Especially if you have thick carpeting!

Gordon

If only people would put this stuff inside a bag the first time they take it apart

[Silverado]

Thick carpeting would definitely be a pain! I can also attest to the face that hardwood floors are nightmarish when pins decide it is time for a game of hide-and-seek. They hit the floor and just motor off to wherever they want to be.
I knocked a tray of pins off the table last year when I was making some challenge locks

[stratmando]

Just use a Magnet, Kidding, I have a Garretts Propointer, I use it when a small screw or part falls in pearock or grass, I have not tried, but feel it will work with pins?

[Silverado]

That may work. Give it a try and see if it does?

[Ralph_Goodman]

My go-to for anything small that falls onto the floor is to take my shoes and socks off. And then I slide my feet along the floor in swooping metal detector type motions in front of me. (It has served me well with many pins, wood floors, grass, and carpets).