Impressioning Documentary

[skilless]

Dont know if anyone else saw it but there was an survalience story on the TV yesterday about how in america the cops were making phone taps before the 1960's and it was illegal.

Anyway they showed a guy that was in the FBI that did key impressioning (just so you know he used a triangle file and said he could do a key in about 3 minutes). This was to get other feds into mobsters hideouts for bug planting. I think they said that they put him in a box that bigger than the door then just put the box infront of the door (didnt really understand that bit).

But i dont see why he did not just pick the thing (i dont think they needed a working copy).
Was impressioning invented before picking?
Other than having a new key what is the point of impressioning?

I was going to give it a try for fun but then found 2 old picks i made when i was about 14 (had a go but still cant do it). Are the picks trash (if so whats wrong)?


Street Cleaner steel

[digital_blue]

Other than looking like they could use a good sanding, those picks look alright. THe diamond head may be a bit on the large side from what I can tell, but probably still usable. Maybe have a read through the MIT Guide to Lockpicking. You can find a link to it in the FAQ section of the website. That should tell you what you need to know about picking technique.

Hope this helps. Happy picking!

db

[Jimmie]

Impressioning is a VERY old technique ...


I think you're referring to pin lock impressioning but before that ... all the old locks were opened by impression by decoding the inner wards with some wax or with some material to blacken the key they tried to impression

in the old days (XV, XVI centuries) a smith coud be sentenced for death if he had cut a key out from a lock which was not afixed on a door or without the presence of the owner. It was banned to cut out a key from an old one and to share his files to another person but his apprentice

The yale pin lock has been made because in the XIX century a LOT of burglaries was made in London by lockpicking or by impressioning locks (read "the Great train robbery")

the advantage of impressioning is : you have a working key you can duplicate later, you can predict the time consuming to make it, for a special ops there is not a lot of noise to impression a lock even in a collective building

even if you can improve your impressioning speed by different techniques I would like to see this cop cut a key in 3 mn during a special ops in real time !!

Jimmie

[Chrispy]

I would like to see this cop cut a key in 3 mn during a special ops in real time !!

With mobsters 3 feet away....

[ToOtHpIcK_au]

take a look at: http://www.fortliberty.org/military-lib ... ning.shtml

[skilless]

Yeah i've looked at all the guides but finding the first pin or getting any of the pins to the correct height is impossible.

The hook on the 50meg video is a lot bigger i thought the picks may be too small.

Will i kill my house lock doing this??

[Jimmie]

the best way is to cut the first cut out with a cut key machine to have the right position of each pin

read the manual fisrt then ...

try different ways to find the position of each pin by filing out the blade like a knife blade or by blackening the blade with a black marker, candle smoke, etc

file when YOU SEE A REAL MARK ... if you have some doubt ... don't file !

good will !

Jimmie