Next Milestone: This Corbin but I need help

[m12lrpv]

I've been interested in lockpicking for a while and only recently did I finally pick up a southord 14pc kit and a clear practice lock.

After doing the usual beginner stuff like going through the padlocks I had including a couple of lockwoods I played with the pinning on the practice lock and covered it so I couldn't see and got pretty good at single pin picking particularly after I made myself some TOK wrenches.

Last night I successfully single pin picked my lockwood 355 deadlock and felt pretty pleased with myself given I've only been doing it hands-on for a week.

But that isn't enough. I have this old corbin which is my real milestone but I need some help because honestly I don't know where to start.

The keyway (that's a bit of teflon powder above the keyway)

Basically the primary requirement is not to damage it in any way so I really need to be gentle with the keyway.

Factors making it tricky are:
The top of the keyway tapers significantly (it's not clear in the pic) and is rounded on top making wrench fitment tricky.
My southord pics cannot reach the pins from the bottom of the keyway.
My BOK tension wrenches won't stay put and risk causing damage.
The bitting is 5 pins with pin 4 being a very deep cut on the key. The rest are high cuts.
Trying to pick off the ledge on the right cannot get the pick in under the pins without pushing some of them to high.

So how would people advise tackling this lock?
BOK/TOK?
What wrenches and what picks would people look towards using when faced with this lock?
I'm up for buying what I need but don't want to buy stuff that has zero chance.
I don't rake

[femurat]

Hello and welcome to the forum.

I'd make a custom tok tension wrench for this padlock. Any piece of metal, from a bicycle spoke to a windshield wiper blade could do the job. You just need a flat file to make its tip fit nice and smooth in the top of the keyway. Make it enter as much as you can, then back up just a bit so you're not touching the first pin.

Then you're ready to pick it!

Cheers

[billdeserthills]

You can actually make a decent TOK tension wrench from a piece of hanger wire, just bend it into a 7 shape and then bend the lower L, you'll wind up with 1/2 a swastika--now flatten the upper & lower bends with a hammer & file to fit your keyway

[m12lrpv]

Thanks for the feedback. I have already been making TOK wrenches from bike spokes and they're working great with nice fit's for large and small padlocks with regular keyways however I won't use them here because of the risk of damage due to poor fit.
There's just not enough vertical "meat" in a wrench made from wire for them to do the job.

I've got some cheap wrenches coming from china with the intention of shaping them to fit. Another option is some old allen keys ground down.

All that is pointless though at the moment because none of my picks can get anywere near the pins. The pick is the bigger issue for me. Any suggestions there?

[billdeserthills]

Diamond or a hook pick, you might need to make yours thinner

[Raymond]

Using a street sweeper bristle or windshield wiper make a standard turning tool. Then cut a step into the tip of the bent end. The step will be about half the blade width and about 1/8" or 3 mm long from the tip. The purpose of the step is so the tip will fit into the bottom of the keyway, but the step will stop where it touches the cylinder housing just below the plug. It will hold solidly and not roll under a ward. It will no longer wobble up in the way. On other locks use just the tip as a top of keyway turning tool.

[m12lrpv]

Then cut a step into the tip of the bent end. The step will be about half the blade width and about 1/8" or 3 mm long from the tip. The purpose of the step is so the tip will fit into the bottom of the keyway, but the step will stop where it touches the cylinder housing just below the plug. It will hold solidly and not roll under a ward. It will no longer wobble up in the way. On other locks use just the tip as a top of keyway turning tool.

I'm really not understanding you here and that's mainly because my "hands on based" understanding of the standard turning tool is that it will fit in the bottom of the keyway regardless and if I make the first 3mm of it at half width it won't have any impact on it's behaviour in the keyway.

[GWiens2001]

Using a street sweeper bristle or windshield wiper make a standard turning tool. Then cut a step into the tip of the bent end. The step will be about half the blade width and about 1/8" or 3 mm long from the tip. The purpose of the step is so the tip will fit into the bottom of the keyway, but the step will stop where it touches the cylinder housing just below the plug. It will hold solidly and not roll under a ward. It will no longer wobble up in the way. On other locks use just the tip as a top of keyway turning tool.

Are you referring to something modeled after the Peterson Prybar?

Gordon