tension problems

[michaelman25]

ok on my door lock(one of those heavy duty outdoor knobs) i am haveing trouble picking it

i can get the first pin up easy(i go front to back) but when i move onto the second one, the first pin falls back down

i think i am having tension problems but i am not sure

any tips would be greatly apreaciated

[Dent]

You shouldn't pick front to back or back to front.


You should be feeling for which pin is binding and then work from there.

If the front pin is the last one that binds, then you should pick it last.

Most locks that have been used for a long time bind back to front, because generally the first pin gets knocked around 5x as much as the back pin due to the key inserting and working the lock.

So you should really focus on determining the binding order, and pick them in that order

[cred]

hi,
when you say your 1st pin falls back down after picking the 2nd pin,its not the bottom pins that you want to stay up in the hull of the lock its the top pins,if you look at photos of a lock that has been picked you will see that you can still see the bottom pins

[michaelman25]

cred: thanx

dent: i am having trouble understanding what u mean

[Dent]

Micheal..

I was refering to "i go front to back".

This is a wrong approach to take to picking.

All the pins don't bind in order nor at the same time.

You *cannot* just "go front to back" or "back to front" when picking.

The pins bind in a certain order which you can feel with your pick while applying tension and bouncing the pins.

For instance one of my locks binds in the order of 2-5-4-1-3.

If your first front pin is the last pin in the "binding order", then you need to pick that pin last, and you won't be able to pick it first because of the problems you have already been having.