UPVC lock picking practice

[AlexandtheDJ]

Hi,

I'm new to lock picking and can comfortably pick padlocks on my shed I then tried picking the lock on my back door (upvc). But I have encountered something I cannot find information on. I can only assume it is a security measure. I can "zip" the lock and turn the barrel with the tension wrench, but rather than unlocking, the barrel simply rotates and there seems to be some sort of security spring loaded thing preventing the lock from being picked.

Does anybody know what I mean? And if so could you please provide your knowledge of what I have encountered?

Thanks,

DJ

[Divinorum]

First off welcome.
Second, one of the rules of lock sport is absolutely no picking locks in use. We do not condone picking locks in use because you can potentially cause damage and really screw up a lock especially when you are new. Search the forums and you will see many, many, many posts from people who picked a lock and messed it up to the point where now the lock is jammed and/or doesn't work. There is even a stickied list of these posts but I don't remember where its located. Do yourself a favor and learn to pick locks that are not in use and do it in a LAB environment. We won't give any advice on picking anything in use. Hope you can understand why. Happy Picking

[AlexandtheDJ]

Hi Divinorum,

Thanks for the welcome and the reply. What you say makes total sense, thanks. Could you perhaps confirm whether I am correct in assuming what I have encountered is a safety device? I will take a trip to a few local salvage yards and see if I can find a upvc door locking mechanism to practice with instead.

Also when picking padlocks, I sometimes find I have pinged the pin up too far, and have to reset the pressure on the torque wrench and start again. Is that a normal error for a beginner or am I doing it wrong?

[Divinorum]

What you have described sound like overs setting. When you lift a pin beyond the shear line (too high) it's what we call over set. This is a normal thing that happens when picking and happens often when you are learning to pick. As you said, you must release a bit of tension to get it to fall back down and attempt to pick that pin again. Next time try letting your tension off very slightly little by little until you hear the over set pin drop. Usually you can let only the over set pin reset and not have to start the entire pick all over.