Today I got my first challenge lock in the mail. It's the PK1 by DutchLockPickNewbie.

This is not only the first challenge lock that's shared with me, but my first not-padlock as well. So, I guess picking in a vise will be in order. That will be a challenge in itself 😊

Wonderful detail is the little bag with extra pins, I guess DutchLockPickNewbie was really enjoying making custom pins!

This probably sounds like a total beginner‘s question, but I swear, I‘m not half bad. I am wondering if it‘s possible to apply tension with just the pick, without a secondary tension tool. Obviously it‘s more convenient and precise to do it with one, but in a pinch, you may not have the option, and I‘m wondering if there’s any specific reason why this wouldn‘t work; some physical or engineering argument for why it would be impossible. I‘ve tried a few times myself without luck, but it feels like it should be possible to, delicately, apply rotational force to the pick while moving it back and forth to pick the pins, no? Am I totally wrong on this, what am I missing?

Hello reddit people ive been intrested in locksmithing for a long time and have been looking for an apprentice ship but dont know the requirments i live in the little shit hole know as tasmania and finding info here is hard so i got 3 major questions to ask

1. Is it worth me learning to pick a lock on my own to put on my resume on or something similar

2. Do i need to got a tafe for carpentry on metal work i dont have much know how as ive been working as a labourer

3. What is the best way to approach a buisness to ask for some hands on experience it avalible

Thank you to anyone who replys and sorry for my poor spelling

Hey All,

I was able to pick the Masterlock 150--it's a 5 pin lock with what (appears) to to 4 spool pins and a single regular one. For me, I was having a really hard time with this lock--especially when I got false set. I just didn't quite understand what to do.

Even though I had seen a number of videos explaining what a spool was, I didn't fully understand how to pick it. That is, until I watched this video by BosnianBill. Not only was it just well made and fully explained the process, I felt like he explained a missing critical info that I needed:

• You need to get the false set first to really work on the spools.
• If you are trying to set a spool and you lose your false set, you need to get it back before you move on
• Just because you lose your false set, it does does not mean you lost all progress. Go back and re set it, then keep setting the other pins.

Here are some things that I personally learned going through this lock:

• Everyone always says "you will feel some counter rotation" which is true, but there is a lot of finesse that you need to release just enough tension to allow the spool to push up. Generally I only barley let us and I actually let my pick do most of the work to push through the friction.
• Speaking of force--I had to push up on spools fairly hard. At first I thought I was just hitting the core (or space between pins) but they were actually bound spools that I really needed to push up on. That may also be a sign that I am over tensioning.
• I used TOK and a regular 25 hook for SPP. I wished I had listened to people saying to start picking using TOK as I can tell that it's really going to be an essential way to pick locks moving forward. This lock finally got me comfortable using TOK vs BOK and I now prefer it in some ways.

Anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone!.

For the life of me I can no longer pick my Master 141 or #3 locks. Had this happened to anyone else.

This is what getting ready for Friday night looks like…. Hope it doesn’t ruin the magic too much.

Just a quick question, I've seen that the Abus C83 has two versions with one being blue belt and one orange. I want the blue one but don't know how to find out if I'm getting the right one. I've seen the Abus C83N and the C83, does the N mean something like "new version"? Because in the description it mentions and shows a drawing of normal spool pins in there. So I hope someone can point me in the right direction so I don't waste money getting the wrong version. Thanks in advance

My mother-in-law has a friend who owns a brewery. She was given this key on the brewery’s opening night a few years ago. She always thought it was a ‘spare key’ to the brewery — maybe for emergencies or something. I had to tell her.

My first foray into lockpicking.

Let's see how far down the rabbit hole this takes me.

On a roll today, two blue belt opens 😀

Finally got the Sargent Keso on camera! My second recorded black belt! Only took designing a gutting sleeve and a new order of springs. 🤣 I will share the gutting sleeve file with anyone and if you are lurking in the future for springs like I did. (Part #13-0265)

As the title says. I picked it rather easily compared to my American 1100 (which I still haven’t picked…) so I decided to attempt my first gut of a lock to see what it had inside. Instantly, I noticed some differences than what I saw on YouTube tutorials. The first one is that there was no C clamp. Instead it appears that the end of the core was just crimped a bit in manufacturing. Because of this I wasn’t able to get any of my plugs through and instead I had to use a Pen to follow behind it. Once I was able to get everything out sure enough there was only one barrel style driver. Anyways, it was still cool to take apart but now I just have to put it back together. Thanks for reading!

Hey there. I'm fairly new to lockpicking. Recently got the Cover Instruments FNG kit and I'm using the clear pad lock they send with the kit.

When I can visually see the pins I am able to know the pins that need to be picked still versus what is staying in place. What I am struggling with is trying to determine the pressure on my tension wrench. So many videos and online tutorials have different suggestions.

I've seen some that say "half as much pressure as you press on a keyboard key" but when I do that I find all of the springs and drivers move freely and go right back down once I stop pressure with the pick. But if I increase tension pressure I never really hear/feel a "click" with any of the pins as I push the driver and spring up. But I can visually see which ones don't go back down.

If I stop looking at the lock/cover it up, outside of just randomly hitting pins over and over and tweaking tension, I never get any kind of feedback that the pins are set. I do successfully pick it every time. But I'm worried I'm building a bad habit of needing to see the locks insides.

Open to any suggestions/ways to do this different. I did order some other locks to practice on that aren't clear.

I just happen to buy a mechanical combination lock that has 12 digits.
I don't have massive security concerns for the purpose of the locker itself, but I was thinkering with it,
learning how to configure it and I realized something.

https://preview.redd.it/edl0fanit96e1.png?width=610&format=png&auto=webp&s=8be1ce2dae8a5821bac323f97f037533678ad4c2

Being a mechanical lock you set the code but switching on or off each number from behind.
This means that the order doesn't count, and you cannot repeat numbers.

So I tried to remember the few calculus classes I did 15 years ago to realize if this had more chances to be unlocked in vs a classic one with 4 gears, like the following

https://preview.redd.it/x9rb9qh2u96e1.png?width=300&format=png&auto=webp&s=3f3762b11e7d679a7b05d56f9dd37297af98f848

So if we only focus on statistics I think that we're talking about 2^12=4096 vs 10^4=10000 combinations.
Is it as simple as this?
I'm just a curious noob in the lockpicking word but I kinda knew that already the 4 gear ones are really low level, does it make any sense to produce a lock with 4k combinations?

I wonder maybe, on the statistic side is like I say above, but the tech part comes in place, and instead that one is safer?
I tried to feel if you can get any feeback by clicking any button, and the feedback is always the same, because you "test" the combination only when you turn the knob, and if you pushed more or less buttons it's hard/impossible to tell which one was right and which not.

Thank you for any answer and consideration

The Rizz picks, and, Covert Companion turning tools are both on sale today only and if you add in the handle/scales/sides whatever you want to call them. The Slim Pickings equivalent that has the Rizz picks instead is only $0.50 more

Abus plus core. Having trouble with reassembly. I noticed that the disks have a small square stamped in them. Does the square go toward the bow of the key or away. And does this have butterfly disk in it?

Hey im new to this and been trying to pick an Abus 85/40. It feels like my tools arent fine enough to properly SPP this particular Lock since the opening is very slim. I would appreciate any tips or heads up on the tools you guys might ve used to open the Abus 85/40. PS. My picks are from the “Lockcowboy” set.

Recently started diving into more difficult locks and decided to start with an Abus 80TI/40 for my first spool pin experience.

Took about an hour or two for my first set. Now that I’ve really figured out the bitting I can SPP this both bottom and top of keyway in a minute or two with minimal chasing dropped pins.

Seems to be standard pin on 1 (typical for abus?) and 6 is a no lift, so maybe an easier bitting. 3, 4, and 5 all feel like spool pins but where I got hung up the longest was 2. Feels like a mushroom pin or tapered spool with really high bitting. Seems like the core continues to rotate further as I set 2 until it binds and needs counter rotation at the top.

Anyway, fun learning curve. Excited to try more.