Seven Habitual Behaviors of Highly Effectual Lock Pickers

[luckey]

Thanks again db. When I first started, which seems like a lifetime ago, but is only several weeks, your beginner's exercise on SPP helped me move from the poke and prod method to knowing and feeling what is happening when lock picking. I have not posted for awhile and just read this post for the first time and the reason I have not posted for a while is that I have been busy reading MIT and LSI guide (again on your suggestion). I have also been collecting locks and taking them apart and visualising what I am doing when lock picking. I have easy locks that I can pick at will and one that I can open but never at will but it contains 6 spool pins. I started with one spool and picked it easily with one, then two then three pin stacks all with spool pins. it got tricky at 4, and took a few days to open at will. Then with 5 spool pins it took me 2 days to open it once, then once I could open it regularly albeit never at will I moved onto 6. This is hard and I am pleased that I have opened it at least a dozen times but disappointed that I cannot open it at will yet. So more reading, more visualising, more practice and more locks. Thanks db. Anyone reading this got any advice for a noob? I can pick 5 and 6 pin cylinders with standard pins with ease and with practice I can usually open them at will in a few seconds. But how do you progress? How do you find locks with serrated pins and mushroom pins in the UK? Any tips would be appreciated.

[beancurd]

Thanks for this excellent article! I've just started out, and this article has proven very useful. Currently, I can't find the time to practice everyday. I can read, read and read some more thanks to my blackberry!
My ego locks are some cheap padlocks (99p shop types) which probably have a 2 or 3 pins in them! I have also made a skeleton key for a warded padlock as well.
Probably the visualisation bit is going to be the hardest of them all. I'm good at the retaining knowledge of how something works, but the practical stage is the hardest of all, I kinda lack the fine motor skills in my fingers at the moment! I read somewhere else on here practicing in the dark helps a lot!

[Ruff_Dog]

This thread interests me because it seems to be fairly spot-on. Digital, may I ask how you came up with it? Even as a very nooby noob, I can tell that I'll become like what you outlined here, more or less. I do it with other things. Guitars, for example. Read a ton about them, collect them, visualize where I am while playing, etc.

[teamstarlet]

I bashed an American (A706) after weeks of on-and-off attempting. How embarrassing, but <censored> it sure felt good to smash that bad boy up with the sledge! hahah. Sometimes you've just gotta let it all out and restart once things have cooled down lol.

Ha ha! Nice one... You're totally right about taking a step back and approaching it with a fresh mindset tho.

[GWiens2001]

Not to mention a hammer.

Gordon

[UnlockingBoredom]

Wow, great thread with lots of valuable information.... I am one of those people that things come natural to in most cases. I always strive to be the best that I can be at what ever I do (whether its in a job or in fun) I sure wish I would have took this up when I was young (turning 50 in a few months) I just got into picking locks because I was bored of doing nothing, hence my forum name (unlockingBoredom)

My nephew is a locksmith in Oregon and I was finally able to take a trip up to visit him and other family (I am disabled and am in pain 24/7 and have been since I was 15) I had to stop working almost 4 years ago now and am still battling with SSDI. I sleep 20 minutes at a time so when I cant sleep I needed to find something I could do to take my mind of hurting without waking my lovely wife. Well, when I met up with my nephew he was making fun of me because I said that I wanted to try picking a lock. He went out to his truck and brought a board with a few locks he had mounted on and gave me a standard hook and tension wrench and said "go for it"

As I started to insert the tension wrench into the first lock he said it was the same lock his boss gave him to pick as a test for hiring him. His boss gave him 30 minutes to pick it if he was to get hired. He said that he got it in like 18 minutes (it was a Schlage deadbolt) He explained real quick how a pin tumbler lock works before I started. It took me about 4 minutes to open it the first time SPP'ing it. It took even less when I zipped the pins into setting (I didnt know what it was called at the time) Its just how my brain works, I can picture in my mind how something works and what to do to it. I have been picking when ever possible ever since. Its been just over a month now since I picked my first lock (schlage) and went through all of the Master Locks, Quickset's and now the American 1105.

I met a local locksmith last week at the local swap meet and was talking to him for a few minutes and he said that he has boxes of locks at home that he will bring this coming Wednesday if I show up. I hope I can make it so I can have more to do to stop the boredom.

I will follow the advice in this thread and keep picking as much as my hands will let me, I already re-keyed my daughters front and back door locks so they will all be the same key (had to file a few pins to get that to work, maybe I should have bought a repin kit?)

Well thanks for letting me ramble on (sorry its part of the disease I have) and thanks for the great site as it helps to read when I cant use my hands all that good.


UnlockingBoredom

[knowspicker537]

Dude Google patents.... I've been looking for this all my life.

[Luke13]

Great article !!! thank you for posting it !!

[FoxMacLeod2501]

"You're totally right about taking a step back and approaching it with a fresh mindset tho."

"Not to mention a hammer. "

I definitely agree. When you get stuck and frustrated with something, backing off for a minute can really help.

That, and taking a step back gives you room you to approach it with a fresh, full-force swing of the 12-pound "master key" Gordon is referring to!

Cheers,
-Fox

[nine4t4]

The value of practicing in new ways cannot be overstated.

When you hit a plateau, force yourself to avoid your regular go-to's. I got into a rut where I would instinctively grab a Gem/hybrid offset, small hook, or Bogota. And once you'd picked a lock a few times, you develop a feel and the challenge goes out the window.

But, if you force yourself to use your other picks, you can get some challenge back by attacking the same old locks in a new way.

I could probably count the number of times I've used an L-rake in the first few years on my hands. In the last few weeks I've been amazed at how well it works (it's not Bogota brilliant, but it works). The funny thing is that before I REALLY understood how to SPP, the L-rake was useless. Now that I can visualize what's happening it's much more effective than I ever would have thought. Picking up a Snake rake instead of a Bogota is also an eye opener because you really have to picture whats going on and what is or isn't working.

It's funny, most of us learn raking first, with SPP being the goal. But once you've got some decent SPP chops, raking methods are almost comically effective. Spools and serrated pins that used to REALLY jerk me around, can be raked (again I know the locks well, so it's partially specific experience

[108CAM]

My list of seven not so effectual lock picking habits:
1. Breaking an expensive pick after less than a week of use
2. Oversetting pins
3. Too much or too little tension
4. Snapping the heads off keys
5. Picking a damaged lock without knowing it's damaged.
6. Getting driver pins stuck in the keyway
7. Trying to set a pin that's already set