I been loving the challenge of lockpicking for a fair while now. Have even gone so far as to use my dremel to craft a few lockpicks by my own hand.
But I never seem to comeby locks that I can practice on cheaply, never usually less than £5 from my local locksmith. An expensive hobby I can tell you
Anyhow, surely theres a cheaper resource of locks to simply practice on?
Ask your locksmith for padlocks hes cut off/ replaced etc. Offer to pay for them. And chat with him/her, you may be supprised at what they may give you, both in the terms of locks, and lessons.
How about the locks on your front door? lol, jk. if dont want to do anything illegal like picking the neighbors locks for practice I think you would have to buy your own locks. Try looking into small hardware stores, they should carry a few simple locks for cheap.
You all have thrift stores across the pond? I've found half a dozen doorknobs and just as many padlocks there, and you can usually get them for l ess than a buck, especially if they don't have keys.
I am new to this also and just went out on my first purchase. Basically the hardware had "replacement cylinders" with keys for $10au. Which is not that bad as you will be spending alot of time with it. Then you get a piece of wood and drill holes and then you have it mounted. You can buy more of these or rekey them.
Padlocks are always good. You can always take your deadbolt off the door if you dont want your parents/neighbours asking why there is a scratching sound on the door but that takes the fun away
For budding pickers in the UK - U can get a box of 5 cylinders from screwfix.com for £12.45. They are cheapie bird cylinders though and won't pose much of a challenge to all but starters - url here:-
The cheapest place to get locks that have been pre-used is your local rubbish dump. Tell the people working there that you are looking for old locks and that keys aren't important - you'll get a carrier bag full for a couple of quid (give them a tenner and they'll keep their eyes open for all the good stuff)
When it comes to practicing on mortices - stick em in a vice
ask you friends and relitives if they have any locks that the key has been lost or that they dont use anymore that you can have to add to your "lock collection" . it has worked for me i have got many old lock and keys that way
:0)
Today I looked in the yellow pages and asked all the locksmith stores if they had any extra locks they didn't need. One nice guy said yeah and gave me 4 locks and a lot of key blanks.
