Try to pick a beat up lock?

[petemoss]

Let's say you got a padlock, with a removable cylinder, that has had considerable picking damage (as least I think that to be the case) to the point where it is difficult to open with the key. Would it be worth spending much time trying to pick it as is or just try re-pinning it from the start?

Thanks,

[GWiens2001]

Up to you. There are locks that are heavily worn and beat up in use out there. But they can be very aggravating to open. Do you want to frustrate yourself practicing on this lock when you are likely to not find another one that picks quite the same?

Gordon

[petemoss]

Yeah. I totally get where you are going. While I would love to be able to open it as is, I also worry that it isn't helping my technique any. Kind of like learning how to hit a baseball with hockey stick or something.

[petemoss]

For info. I was wrong on my assumptions kind of. So, I took the cylinder out of this lock and removed all the pins and springs (more on this later). I then put the cylinder, devoid of pins and springs, back into the lock. It turns out that the turning issues was just the lock being all gummed up and cruddy. I cleaned it out pretty well and it it functions pretty well now.

As for the pins and springs, the pins actually looked good. The spring for pin 1, however was mangled up near one end. It looked like it had been caught in the sheer line at some point maybe. Help me understand this. I would assume that you couldn't do that using the key. Would that be possible through picking if you set pins 2-5 and then applied torque while only pin 1 was in the "down" position? Should the spring ever be at the sheer line when it is at a resting position? Not sure.

Anyway, this lock has an identical mate with the same keying. Both keys that I have seem to be the same. However, their were two master wafers, one on pin 3 and one on pin 4 or 5 (it fell out of place while I was pushing the plug out with the follower).

I think what I want to do is to replace the messed up spring and just remove the master wafers. I think doing so would make it harder to pick in theory, but would also turn it into a simple lock that I can practice basic technique on. Anyone have any differing suggestions?

Thanks,

[GWiens2001]

Make sure that if you put the key pin AND the driver pin into just the plug, that the driver pin is above the shear line. A short key pin and a short driver can allow the spring to be below the shear line and get mangled.

Gordon

[petemoss]

Make sure that of you put the key pin AND the driver pin into just the plug, that the driver pin is above the shear line. A short key pin and a short driver can allow the spring to be below the shear line and get mangled.

Makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation Gordon.

[demux]

Make sure that of you put the key pin AND the driver pin into just the plug, that the driver pin is above the shear line. A short key pin and a short driver can allow the spring to be below the shear line and get mangled.

Makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation Gordon.

Some manufacturers have different size drivers for just this purpose. You're meant to match a longer driver with a shorter key pin and vice versa to make sure there's always a good bit of pin above the shear line but not so much that you mash the springs. Pay attention to the pinning specs for any given system when rekeying.

[petemoss]

Some manufacturers have different size drivers for just this purpose. You're meant to match a longer driver with a shorter key pin and vice versa to make sure there's always a good bit of pin above the shear line but not so much that you mash the springs. Pay attention to the pinning specs for any given system when rekeying.

Thanks for that information demux.

I just checked pin one that had the bent spring by putting both pin 1 pins into the core and they stuck out of the hole. So, it seems right. Not sure what happened to the spring originally, but it should be okay once it put it back together, I think.

[GWiens2001]

If it is a locksport pass-around lock, it may have been damaged before.

Gordon