Locksport - fordsfords/fordsfords.github.io GitHub Wiki

My wife and I have a new hobby: lock picking. Yes, it's legal and ethical. We're trying to get good at SPP (Single-Pin Picking). It's slow going, but we've had some successes.

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents
• My Gear
• How to Get Started
• Gages
• Vocabulary
• My Tips
• Organizations
• Random Videos
• Why

My Gear

I started with CI's Genisis set, designed by LockPickingLawyer, and a nice practice lock. I've added his top of keyway turning tools. I also got UHS Hardware's pinning mat. I've gotten a variety of other picks, but my current favorite is Sparrows' Monkey Paw. (Thanks Lock Noob!)

How to Get Started

I dunno. I'll tell you what I did. I started watching the LockPickingLawyer's videos. They are short, and the ones that are critical of a poor lock are fun to watch (he has a dry sense of humor that I like). Anyway, after watching a bunch of them over a couple of weeks, I started to think, "Hey, I bet I could do that." He makes it look easy.

Naturally, it's not nearly as easy as he makes it look.

Anyway, like I said, I wanted to develop picking as a skill that I could practice and hone. So I'm concentrating on single-pin picking. That's what most people think of when they hear "picking a lock".

I found these much later, but they give a good introduction:

Gages

The thickness of tools. (mil = thousandths of an inch)

  • .254 mm (10 mils) - very thin (not sure who sells, but I've seen them used)
  • .381 mm (15 mils) - thin Sparrows picks
  • .4 mm (15.7 mils) - thin Multipick
  • .5 mm (19.7 mils) - thin-ish new Multipick thickness
  • .508 mm (20 mils) - thin-ish Sparrows picks
  • .559 mm (22 mils) - UHS hook
  • .6 mm (23.6 mils) - Multipick standard width
  • .635 mm (25 mils) - CI and Sparrows standard width

Vocabulary

This is one of the better glossaries I've found: https://www.sopl.us/locksmith-dictionary.html

The glossary below is tailored to the kind of lock-picking that my wife and I do (and the kinds of videos we watch).

  • Bible - the area of the lock that contains the springs and driver pins, but not including the plug.

    • Sometimes it is shaped a little like a book (is that where it got its name?):
    • Other times it is a general area of the body:(This pic is missing the pins and springs, which I think are considered part of the bible.)
    • But I've also heard the entire body (plus pins and sprints) called the bible, not just the pin area. I don't know...

  • Bitting ("BIT-ing") - the cuts made in a key. Deep bitting means that the corresponding key pin is long and shouldn't be lifted very far to be set. (See Zero Cut.)

  • Body - the part of the lock that the plug slides into. I'm not sure this is the right word. I've seen a locksmith dictionary call it the "shell" (or "cylinder shell"), but I've never heard "shell" used on any video I've watched so far. I have heard one YouTuber say that body is the same as bible, but I'm not sure that's quite right either. I'll stick with "body".

  • Core - I've heard this used to refer to just the plug or the whole cylinder. Ambiguous. Avoid using this term.

  • Counter-Rotation - With the plug under gentle tension and you're trying to raise a key pin, the plug wants to rotate against the direction you're tensioning. This is usually due to a spool pin. You have to allow the plug to rotate backward a bit to allow the bottom of the spool pin to get past the shear line. (This frequently drops other pins that were set, so you have to re-set them.)

  • Cylinder - the entire lock assembly including the plug, the body, and all the pins and springs. I've heard some people say "cylinder" to refer only to the plug (the part that turns), but cylinder usually refers to the whole shebang.

  • Driver Pin (or Top Pin) - the topmost pin in a pin stack. (See also Key Pin and Master Pin.)

  • False Set - a click, usually combined with a tiny movement of the plug, that makes you think a pin is set, but it's not. (See Spool Pin and Serrated Pin.)

  • Key Pin (or Bottom Pin) - the bottommost pin in a pin stack. The pin that touches the key. (See also Driver Pin and Master Pin.)

  • Master pin (or Master Wafer) - a third pin (optional) that is added to a pin stack between the driver and key pins. It enables the use of a master key which can open multiple locks that have different regular keys. (See also Driver Pin and Key Pin.)

  • Overset - when a key pin is lifted so far so that it is obstructing the shear line, preventing the plug from turning. You pushed it up too far, and will typically require dropping all the pins and starting over.

  • Paracentric Keyway - A keyway where the warding intrudes past the center of the keyway, making it impossible for a pick placed at the bottom of the keyway to lift the pins. You can have a keyway that is slightly paracentric, where a thin pick can sometimes bend its way around the warding, or heavily paracentric, where you need to pick from much higher in the keyway to avoid the warding. Very challenging warding can make a lock almost pick-proof, although it also greatly increases the cost of manufacturing the lock and key.

  • Pin - usually a pin in the pin stack, one of driver pin (or top pin), key pin (or bottom pin), or optional master pin (or master wafer). But there can be other pins, like the cap pin (in some locks to prevent the cap on the back of the plug from coming unscrewed).

  • Pin Stack - the collection of a key pin, zero or more master pins, a driver pin, and a spring.

  • Plug - the inner cylindrical part containing the keyway that can turn when the key is inserted. I sometimes hear this called the "core" or "cylinder", but others consider the core and cylinder to include the body and everything else.

  • Security pin - usually a driver pin that is modified to make picking harder. Spools and serrated pins are examples, but there can be other kinds too, like beveled pins, mushroom pins, "T" pins, etc.

  • Set - a pin is "set" when the top of the key pin is at the shear line (and the bottom of the driver pin is also at the shear line) so that the plug turns a tiny bit, enough that it blocks the key pin from being further raised. When the pick is lowered, the key pin can drop, but the driver pin stays above the shear line. Raising the key pin again shouldn't seem "springy", and it will stop at the shear line again. (See overset.)

  • Shear line - the interface between the plug and the body. When the lock is "locked" with no key inserted, driver pins are usually positioned in the shear line, preventing the plug from turning (although see zero cut).

  • Serrated Pin - a driver pin (usually) that has grooves milled into it. This makes the lock harder to pick by giving clicks and false sets.

  • Spool Pin - a driver pin (usually) that is shaped like a thread spool, or a capital letter "I" with serifs. This makes the lock harder to pick by giving clicks and false sets.

  • Tension - the force applied to the tensioner to try to turn the plug. Torque. Can be light, moderate, or heavy.

  • Tensioner (or Tensioning Wrench) - the part of a lock pick set that is used to apply torque to turn the plug.

  • Warding - the metallic obstructions placed in the keyway to ensure only the right-shaped key can be inserted. The zig-zags. Sometimes you have to rest the pick on a piece of warding to be able to reach the pins (see paracentric keyway).

  • Wrench - see Tensioner.

  • Zero Cut (or Zero Bitted) - the deepest possible valid cut in a key. It corresponds to the longest possible valid key pin. A zero cut means that, when inserted, the key does not lift the key pin at all because it rests at the shear line (is already set). When picking, a zero cut pin should not be lifted at all; any lift will over set it and prevent the lock from opening.

My Tips

By this, I do not mean tips for other people. There are TONS of learning resources for lock picking, and I'm not nearly good enough yet to contribute meaningfully to them. These tips are things that I tend to forget and need to remind myself of.

  • When a pin is "set", it should be difficult to raise it further. If you force it, you overset. ...
  • ... UNLESS it is a spool in a false set, in which case you need to raise it further to set it. Apparently, I will learn to tell the difference.
    • I'm not sure, but I think that maybe a spool in a false set will exert more of a counter-rotational force than a properly set pin.

Organizations

Random Videos

Tutorials

Example picks.

Not picking, but fun

Why

Why lockpicking?

My main hobby is software development. The problem with coding as a hobby is that it requires sustained focus, often for many hours straight. This is pretty much impossible when you have a full-time job, and you want to spend much of your non-working time with your family. So I probably won't really dive into my coding hobby until I retire.

I got interested in lock picking when I was, maybe ... 14? 16? Somewhere in there. I discovered that many of the padlocks around then could be opened with a dental pick. They were "warded" Master locks, and required essentially zero skill to pick. I did some study of locks (mostly from the Worldbook Encyclopedia) and I kind of knew the general principles of picking more complex locks, but due to a lack of tools (and tool-making skills) and a lack of information, I never really progressed my skills.

Fast forward 50-ish years. In the Spring of 2022, I discovered the LockPickingLawyer videos, and enjoyed them. Each one is short and sweet, and while he doesn't really have any beginner tutorials, my childhood experience gave me some good confidence that I could do it too. But who has time for a new hobby? Not me.

However, I had a feeling that my wife would also find the hobby interesting and fun. So I purchased CI's Genisis set and a nice practice lock for her as a surprise. And I was right - she saw its potential right away and is enjoying it. I said I would take the hobby up after I retire.

(pause for laughter)

OK, that lasted about a week. Of course I started playing too (with my wife's encouragement) and of course I am putting more time into it than I probably should. But it's fun. It's a puzzle. Every lock is different - some are easy, some hard.

Lockpicking is something I can do when I have 10 minutes to spare. Or while watching TV. Or while setting in a Zoom meeting. I can do it while only barely paying attention to the lock. Granted, I probably won't open the lock if I'm not paying much attention, but sometimes I surprise myself.

It's also a multi-faceted hobby. Not only are there many different kinds of locks to learn to pick, you can also get into tool making, lock modifying, and who knows, maybe someday I'll become a YouTuber and make vidoes. (Not.)

But for now, I'll just continue trying to get good at single-pin picking.