I have been devoting some time to continuing to learn lockpicking while there aren’t a lot of things going on. This has been aided by being in a review program where among other things I can get locks and review them.

tl;dr – lock bloggity

Fret not, there’s a ton of gadget news and reviews and potentially a series coming up, but at the moment old school turning metal is amusing me.

But I thought I’d share a lock I just got… advetised 75mm padlock, hardened steel, disc detainer core, waterproof, element proof and more. Sounds good right?

It was a 67mm padlock in a 73mm plastic shell first off. Front of the package claimed waterproof, back of the package said not. Logos were falling off where they’d been applied. I’m pretty sure the keys I have are the same cut as the keys shown in the product photos (which was the case with my last disc detainer core.)

“Hardened steel” that can be easily scraped with a fingernail file and damaged easily by light pressure with plyers.

The other day I got a 10 pack of wafer lock lock-out locks and was through all 10 in under 5 minutes. I wish this was about me being good, but it’s how absurdly low security some of these locks available for review are.

I got a two pack the other day that popped open as I was sticking a rake tool in it. It took slightly longer to single pin pick or shim open but not much longer. So much insecure crap out there and it’s priced online at about the same pricing as what has actually stopped me.

I’ve got a collection of 25 or so rather simple to open locks, including a glass storefront lock that I can get in using just a wire (or pick, or rake, not been able to zip) and I decided it was time to take on something real. Free is good but I wanted a challenge.

Picked up a Masterlock 5, and yeah… I am currently defeated. I’m interested to see how long I am as this brand is what amused me enough to get into lock picking. Well, people popping open Masterlocks with other Masterlocks is.

Due to reasons I ended up with three pick sets. A set from Lockpick Extreme I got for attending a seminar along with 5 extremely easy cores, a 24 piece set I got off of Amazon because I wanted a collection of see through locks (page gone now,) and a set from Covert Instruments including an FNG.

I discovered, as I was told, that I would use the see-through locks a couple of times and tire of them. They’re all as simple as can be, and useful once if you don’t have YouTube to see what you are doing… actually I take that back, I did get some useful hand/eye feedback on how far in a lock I was and that did help some. That said, I wish I could re-key and make them a bit more realistic.

My cheap Amazon set gets some use, but I seem to be mostly using the Covert Instruments or Lockpick Extreme set – either of those feel right… the cheapies do the job but the feedback just isn’t there for me. It may be because I’m training myself on the more expensive sets, I’m not sure.

I ended up getting a vise. I am a bit ashamed of that as I don’t feel I have the skills to need a vise… but I also felt I kept moving my hands around and was cramping and getting annoyed so it’s cheaper than physical therapy.

I have become absolutely fascinated in how to overcome most daily lock I encounter… I have no intention of using my skills for evil, but it has taught me a lot of things to slow down even people coming via sledgehammer (which happened to a person in our neighborhood recently). Fun times.

Plugging along in lockpicking by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I have been devoting some time to continuing to learn lockpicking while there aren’t a lot of things going on. This has been aided by being in a review program where among other things I can get locks and review them.

tl;dr – lock bloggity

Fret not, there’s a ton of gadget news and reviews and potentially a series coming up, but at the moment old school turning metal is amusing me.

But I thought I’d share a lock I just got… advetised 75mm padlock, hardened steel, disc detainer core, waterproof, element proof and more. Sounds good right?

It was a 67mm padlock in a 73mm plastic shell first off. Front of the package claimed waterproof, back of the package said not. Logos were falling off where they’d been applied. I’m pretty sure the keys I have are the same cut as the keys shown in the product photos (which was the case with my last disc detainer core.)

“Hardened steel” that can be easily scraped with a fingernail file and damaged easily by light pressure with plyers.

The other day I got a 10 pack of wafer lock lock-out locks and was through all 10 in under 5 minutes. I wish this was about me being good, but it’s how absurdly low security some of these locks available for review are.

I got a two pack the other day that popped open as I was sticking a rake tool in it. It took slightly longer to single pin pick or shim open but not much longer. So much insecure crap out there and it’s priced online at about the same pricing as what has actually stopped me.

I’ve got a collection of 25 or so rather simple to open locks, including a glass storefront lock that I can get in using just a wire (or pick, or rake, not been able to zip) and I decided it was time to take on something real. Free is good but I wanted a challenge.

Picked up a Masterlock 5, and yeah… I am currently defeated. I’m interested to see how long I am as this brand is what amused me enough to get into lock picking. Well, people popping open Masterlocks with other Masterlocks is.

Due to reasons I ended up with three pick sets. A set from Lockpick Extreme I got for attending a seminar along with 5 extremely easy cores, a 24 piece set I got off of Amazon because I wanted a collection of see through locks (page gone now,) and a set from Covert Instruments including an FNG.

I discovered, as I was told, that I would use the see-through locks a couple of times and tire of them. They’re all as simple as can be, and useful once if you don’t have YouTube to see what you are doing… actually I take that back, I did get some useful hand/eye feedback on how far in a lock I was and that did help some. That said, I wish I could re-key and make them a bit more realistic.

My cheap Amazon set gets some use, but I seem to be mostly using the Covert Instruments or Lockpick Extreme set – either of those feel right… the cheapies do the job but the feedback just isn’t there for me. It may be because I’m training myself on the more expensive sets, I’m not sure.

I ended up getting a vise. I am a bit ashamed of that as I don’t feel I have the skills to need a vise… but I also felt I kept moving my hands around and was cramping and getting annoyed so it’s cheaper than physical therapy.

I have become absolutely fascinated in how to overcome most daily lock I encounter… I have no intention of using my skills for evil, but it has taught me a lot of things to slow down even people coming via sledgehammer (which happened to a person in our neighborhood recently). Fun times.

Plugging along in lockpicking by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

After surgery I had a couple of months of recovery that involved me watching a whole lot of YouTube. One of the things I really focused in on was lockpicking. It’s like solving a puzzle to me and I have thus far enjoyed doing it.

TL;DR – more on Paul’s hobby, nobody is forcing you to read this. Want more Android content / submit some.

It’s taught me a new way of thinking of security. I mean, not that the average criminal isn’t just going to bash in your door with a sledgehammer, or cut your lock off the shed, or just take your bike because over half the bike locks out there are garbage.

I bought a few locks the past couple of weeks. I’m not locking anything up, I just wanted a variety to practice with.

The lock above I managed to open using shims, picking, and I used a comb (yes, I know it’s the wrong style lock to use it on now,) and using said comb evidently managed to hit something behind the keyway and open it. Only managed the comb open once. This was my first shimming and easier than expected.

I bought another lock that I can’t pick without a disc detainer tool. Eh, my bad. I did however discover that they’re using only one key for the entire lock run because my key and the product key are the same, and other reviewers of the lock have mentioned they have the exact same key pictured on the Amazon page. So if you ever see a “top security” branded lock and want to open it evidently that’ll cost you $8.99 if it’s the one I have.

I also picked up two combo locks to try out my decoder tool and yeah, nothing. I feel nothing. I can sort of slow the wheels down but there’s no difference in feel. The time I spent attempting to decode the wheels I could have easily sawed through the locks. May be shielded, may be I am no good at it. Who knows.

Fun times. I have a training lock I need to assemble and practice on, and a couple of doors to attack, but that’s for another day. I’ve got to plow through working on some reviews now.

I picked my second real lock (and didn’t a couple of others) by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I mentioned before I decided to take up lockpicking as something I could do following surgery while I recovered and was awake for 8 minutes at a stretch. The videos on each lock are usually short (depending on who you’re watching,) it involves puzzle solving, and it’s a relatively low cost hobby that teaches you magician tricks and can get your 1970’s filing cabinet you lost the key to open.

I have no idea how many McNally Official, Lockpicking Noob, or Lockpicking Lawyer videos I watched, nor how many I slept through post hospital, but it was a fair chunk of them.

I picked up these little beasts at Amazon. Priced at $12 for two I figured it was probably a fun starting lock as it looked like it could be picked with an errant glance, and I was at that point beyond noob. By real lock I need you to understand it’s not a trainer lock, I’m not saying anything beyond that. The manufacturer claims they’re real and offers protection.

The hardest part I had was the little rivets all around the key area which blocked my turning tool in the position I’d practiced using the practice locks.

Raking opened it in a few seconds, single pin picking opened in under 30. I repeated over and over again and the times were about the same on either lock (both are keyed the same, and I am slow).

I hit it a few times and was unable to pop the lock that way but I’m also sans hammer. Plans are to shim it, take it home and break out the hammer (you would think I’d have one at work, but no,) but I’m stuck until I build some shims or go home for the day, or buy a hammer for work.

Eh, fun times.

Quarter million dollar surgery, now I have skills to break into school lockers given enough time.

Lessons I learned on my first real locks picked

• If you watched on a 60+ inch tv screen you will find that it feels like you’re working with miniatures
• The turning tools I purchased in a set were too large to fit in and not block the keyway. Luckily I had very tiny tools from a freebie pack I was sent for a software demo / lockpicking intro.
• Oddly I had no issues identifying what pin I was on on a real lock where I used my imagination, I did have issues on a transparent lock
• Being able to defeat $6 worth of lock somehow does not make me king of the world

I picked my first real lock yesterday by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

After surgery I had a couple of months of recovery that involved me watching a whole lot of YouTube. One of the things I really focused in on was lockpicking. It’s like solving a puzzle to me and I have thus far enjoyed doing it.

TL;DR – more on Paul’s hobby, nobody is forcing you to read this. Want more Android content / submit some.

It’s taught me a new way of thinking of security. I mean, not that the average criminal isn’t just going to bash in your door with a sledgehammer, or cut your lock off the shed, or just take your bike because over half the bike locks out there are garbage.

I bought a few locks the past couple of weeks. I’m not locking anything up, I just wanted a variety to practice with.

The lock above I managed to open using shims, picking, and I used a comb (yes, I know it’s the wrong style lock to use it on now,) and using said comb evidently managed to hit something behind the keyway and open it. Only managed the comb open once. This was my first shimming and easier than expected.

I bought another lock that I can’t pick without a disc detainer tool. Eh, my bad. I did however discover that they’re using only one key for the entire lock run because my key and the product key are the same, and other reviewers of the lock have mentioned they have the exact same key pictured on the Amazon page. So if you ever see a “top security” branded lock and want to open it evidently that’ll cost you $8.99 if it’s the one I have.

I also picked up two combo locks to try out my decoder tool and yeah, nothing. I feel nothing. I can sort of slow the wheels down but there’s no difference in feel. The time I spent attempting to decode the wheels I could have easily sawed through the locks. May be shielded, may be I am no good at it. Who knows.

Fun times. I have a training lock I need to assemble and practice on, and a couple of doors to attack, but that’s for another day. I’ve got to plow through working on some reviews now.

I picked my second real lock (and didn’t a couple of others) by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I mentioned before I decided to take up lockpicking as something I could do following surgery while I recovered and was awake for 8 minutes at a stretch. The videos on each lock are usually short (depending on who you’re watching,) it involves puzzle solving, and it’s a relatively low cost hobby that teaches you magician tricks and can get your 1970’s filing cabinet you lost the key to open.

I have no idea how many McNally Official, Lockpicking Noob, or Lockpicking Lawyer videos I watched, nor how many I slept through post hospital, but it was a fair chunk of them.

I picked up these little beasts at Amazon. Priced at $12 for two I figured it was probably a fun starting lock as it looked like it could be picked with an errant glance, and I was at that point beyond noob. By real lock I need you to understand it’s not a trainer lock, I’m not saying anything beyond that. The manufacturer claims they’re real and offers protection.

The hardest part I had was the little rivets all around the key area which blocked my turning tool in the position I’d practiced using the practice locks.

Raking opened it in a few seconds, single pin picking opened in under 30. I repeated over and over again and the times were about the same on either lock (both are keyed the same, and I am slow).

I hit it a few times and was unable to pop the lock that way but I’m also sans hammer. Plans are to shim it, take it home and break out the hammer (you would think I’d have one at work, but no,) but I’m stuck until I build some shims or go home for the day, or buy a hammer for work.

Eh, fun times.

Quarter million dollar surgery, now I have skills to break into school lockers given enough time.

Lessons I learned on my first real locks picked

• If you watched on a 60+ inch tv screen you will find that it feels like you’re working with miniatures
• The turning tools I purchased in a set were too large to fit in and not block the keyway. Luckily I had very tiny tools from a freebie pack I was sent for a software demo / lockpicking intro.
• Oddly I had no issues identifying what pin I was on on a real lock where I used my imagination, I did have issues on a transparent lock
• Being able to defeat $6 worth of lock somehow does not make me king of the world

I picked my first real lock yesterday by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

After surgery I had a couple of months of recovery that involved me watching a whole lot of YouTube. One of the things I really focused in on was lockpicking. It’s like solving a puzzle to me and I have thus far enjoyed doing it.

TL;DR – more on Paul’s hobby, nobody is forcing you to read this. Want more Android content / submit some.

It’s taught me a new way of thinking of security. I mean, not that the average criminal isn’t just going to bash in your door with a sledgehammer, or cut your lock off the shed, or just take your bike because over half the bike locks out there are garbage.

I bought a few locks the past couple of weeks. I’m not locking anything up, I just wanted a variety to practice with.

The lock above I managed to open using shims, picking, and I used a comb (yes, I know it’s the wrong style lock to use it on now,) and using said comb evidently managed to hit something behind the keyway and open it. Only managed the comb open once. This was my first shimming and easier than expected.

I bought another lock that I can’t pick without a disc detainer tool. Eh, my bad. I did however discover that they’re using only one key for the entire lock run because my key and the product key are the same, and other reviewers of the lock have mentioned they have the exact same key pictured on the Amazon page. So if you ever see a “top security” branded lock and want to open it evidently that’ll cost you $8.99 if it’s the one I have.

I also picked up two combo locks to try out my decoder tool and yeah, nothing. I feel nothing. I can sort of slow the wheels down but there’s no difference in feel. The time I spent attempting to decode the wheels I could have easily sawed through the locks. May be shielded, may be I am no good at it. Who knows.

Fun times. I have a training lock I need to assemble and practice on, and a couple of doors to attack, but that’s for another day. I’ve got to plow through working on some reviews now.

I picked my second real lock (and didn’t a couple of others) by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I mentioned before I decided to take up lockpicking as something I could do following surgery while I recovered and was awake for 8 minutes at a stretch. The videos on each lock are usually short (depending on who you’re watching,) it involves puzzle solving, and it’s a relatively low cost hobby that teaches you magician tricks and can get your 1970’s filing cabinet you lost the key to open.

I have no idea how many McNally Official, Lockpicking Noob, or Lockpicking Lawyer videos I watched, nor how many I slept through post hospital, but it was a fair chunk of them.

I picked up these little beasts at Amazon. Priced at $12 for two I figured it was probably a fun starting lock as it looked like it could be picked with an errant glance, and I was at that point beyond noob. By real lock I need you to understand it’s not a trainer lock, I’m not saying anything beyond that. The manufacturer claims they’re real and offers protection.

The hardest part I had was the little rivets all around the key area which blocked my turning tool in the position I’d practiced using the practice locks.

Raking opened it in a few seconds, single pin picking opened in under 30. I repeated over and over again and the times were about the same on either lock (both are keyed the same, and I am slow).

I hit it a few times and was unable to pop the lock that way but I’m also sans hammer. Plans are to shim it, take it home and break out the hammer (you would think I’d have one at work, but no,) but I’m stuck until I build some shims or go home for the day, or buy a hammer for work.

Eh, fun times.

Quarter million dollar surgery, now I have skills to break into school lockers given enough time.

Lessons I learned on my first real locks picked

• If you watched on a 60+ inch tv screen you will find that it feels like you’re working with miniatures
• The turning tools I purchased in a set were too large to fit in and not block the keyway. Luckily I had very tiny tools from a freebie pack I was sent for a software demo / lockpicking intro.
• Oddly I had no issues identifying what pin I was on on a real lock where I used my imagination, I did have issues on a transparent lock
• Being able to defeat $6 worth of lock somehow does not make me king of the world

I picked my first real lock yesterday by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

If you’re recovering from fairly major surgery you might find out like I did that 1) you have no brain, 2) you can’t pay attention to things longer than about 3-5 minutes because of issue 1. This is what I found following my chest-splitting tumor removal at least. A combination of being exhausted, sick, and not really wanting to interact with people much lead me down an interesting path that evidently tickled the puzzle solving part of my brain.

TL;DR – took up opening locks using mostly tools I got from a cool presentation. Had fun. You might as well.

I learned to open locks, bump open locks, pick locks, bypass padlocks, rake, shim, and otherwise destroy any confidence I had in my doors holding off a devoted attacker for more than about six minutes (not that that’s how they’re going to enter.) or any padlock I possessed from locking up anything important for more than 10 seconds. I need new padlocks.

I’d probably first gotten the bug for opening stuff a year or two back when I was asked if I thought I could get a safe open for my inlaws. Grand-inlaws had passed and the note given to open it was, in retrospect, 1 number off of each position, the directions were reversed, and the number of rotations were all incorrect by one. I guess if you’re going to put it on paper mask it, but whatever.

YouTubing that model safe showed me that the directions and numbers of rotations were wrong, and when I got that the other I learned by listening. Cool beans, I had defeated a safe (although I had close enough to the numbers to defeat it by ear.) Its contents were greater than those of Al Capone’s vault but only for sentimental reasons.

I bought a lockpick training kit a couple of years back thinking that it amused me to be able to get into things, and beats me how it disappeared, but it was gone and I moved on. It was on my desk, it is no longer on my desk, things worth 80x more are on my desk. It wandered out never to be seen again… goodbye $29.

So we had a confluence of events happen these past couple of months. I had major surgery in February, I had an offer to attend a small presentation virtually called School of Lock (which I believe was held by these guys and sponsored by Egnyte, which has nothing to do with physical locks,) in which we were given a small sales pitch on a non-lock related software product by the sponsor company, and then had 5 lock cores and a lockpicking kit which had been mailed to us a week earlier… useful since mine disappeared. I did this, and while still drugged up on pain killers and pain, had a grand old time picking some pretty easy lock cores.

I completely forgot what Egnyte was presenting… I blame the medication… I remember saying I was going to check out something of their and yup, slept three days straight pretty much after.

Woo hoo… blew through 5 lock cores with no spool pins, serrated pins, or much… just enough to get the picking basics and enough to then subsequently learn my outer door has 3 security pins and that there had been no need to learn binding order on the initial practice set… oh well, it was a very basics course for IT people to play around with intro to locksport/opening.

I devoured everything that McNally Official had put out (amusing stuff, mostly YouTube Shorts shorter than my medicated attention span,) and then started looking at a few things from the Lock Picking Lawyer, and then a few things became roughly a third of his videos. I purchased a couple of Lishi tools with spacers (from Red Team Tools,) so I could practice with visual feedback and finished out some lockpicking channels on YouTube that were abandoned years ago.

I have probably watched every nondestructive method of entry for most things I encounter (other than cars, straight up not interested at the moment,) learned that a magnet can open a lot of smart locks that claim to be unpickable, and learned to open some old junk left at my work and determine what cut we would need for a new key.

I have no interest in going door to door shopping houses for drugs or easily accessible firearms, but if a friend gets locked out of their house I might be a quicker and much less expensive call than a locksmith, if they’re willing to wait for 10+ minutes for me to pick the door while complaining about my knees.

While I might ace a written test I’m still struggling with binding order on spool pins and how much tension to apply, especially when it’s 40 degrees out and raining sideways and I’ve almost mastered sitting in a comfy chair with a lock in my hands with next to no security.

For the most part while healing I was able to do this in a comfy chair, with some cores or a padlock. It was fun, gives you an entirely new view of what people do to feel secure and shatters that illusion. It’s solving one little clicky puzzle after the next.

I will note, I am indeed terrible still. I have the skills of a two month old. But it’s really fun. If I’m at your door going at the lock it’s like a zombie slowly shuffling toward you. You would have time to re-turn the deadbolt until the police arrived.

I will also note where I live it’s perfectly legal to purchase and pick a lock if you’re given permission. I read that some places it’s not so yeah… don’t there. If you’re young, wouldn’t advise carrying because as I learned well when I was driving garbage in Franklin, TN, police will decide anything is suspicious and a reason to detain you for 40 minutes.

Also, am I trying to sell you anything? Nope… just something fun to learn and as you can learn in many videos if you’ve got a couple of paperclips you’ve got a pick and turner. I have not paperclipped open anything other than a 2 pin lock so don’t take my word on it.

A fun skill learned (somewhat) while recovering from major surgery by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I mentioned before I decided to take up lockpicking as something I could do following surgery while I recovered and was awake for 8 minutes at a stretch. The videos on each lock are usually short (depending on who you’re watching,) it involves puzzle solving, and it’s a relatively low cost hobby that teaches you magician tricks and can get your 1970’s filing cabinet you lost the key to open.

I have no idea how many McNally Official, Lockpicking Noob, or Lockpicking Lawyer videos I watched, nor how many I slept through post hospital, but it was a fair chunk of them.

I picked up these little beasts at Amazon. Priced at $12 for two I figured it was probably a fun starting lock as it looked like it could be picked with an errant glance, and I was at that point beyond noob. By real lock I need you to understand it’s not a trainer lock, I’m not saying anything beyond that. The manufacturer claims they’re real and offers protection.

The hardest part I had was the little rivets all around the key area which blocked my turning tool in the position I’d practiced using the practice locks.

Raking opened it in a few seconds, single pin picking opened in under 30. I repeated over and over again and the times were about the same on either lock (both are keyed the same, and I am slow).

I hit it a few times and was unable to pop the lock that way but I’m also sans hammer. Plans are to shim it, take it home and break out the hammer (you would think I’d have one at work, but no,) but I’m stuck until I build some shims or go home for the day, or buy a hammer for work.

Eh, fun times.

Quarter million dollar surgery, now I have skills to break into school lockers given enough time.

Lessons I learned on my first real locks picked

• If you watched on a 60+ inch tv screen you will find that it feels like you’re working with miniatures
• The turning tools I purchased in a set were too large to fit in and not block the keyway. Luckily I had very tiny tools from a freebie pack I was sent for a software demo / lockpicking intro.
• Oddly I had no issues identifying what pin I was on on a real lock where I used my imagination, I did have issues on a transparent lock
• Being able to defeat $6 worth of lock somehow does not make me king of the world

I picked my first real lock yesterday by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

If you’re recovering from fairly major surgery you might find out like I did that 1) you have no brain, 2) you can’t pay attention to things longer than about 3-5 minutes because of issue 1. This is what I found following my chest-splitting tumor removal at least. A combination of being exhausted, sick, and not really wanting to interact with people much lead me down an interesting path that evidently tickled the puzzle solving part of my brain.

TL;DR – took up opening locks using mostly tools I got from a cool presentation. Had fun. You might as well.

I learned to open locks, bump open locks, pick locks, bypass padlocks, rake, shim, and otherwise destroy any confidence I had in my doors holding off a devoted attacker for more than about six minutes (not that that’s how they’re going to enter.) or any padlock I possessed from locking up anything important for more than 10 seconds. I need new padlocks.

I’d probably first gotten the bug for opening stuff a year or two back when I was asked if I thought I could get a safe open for my inlaws. Grand-inlaws had passed and the note given to open it was, in retrospect, 1 number off of each position, the directions were reversed, and the number of rotations were all incorrect by one. I guess if you’re going to put it on paper mask it, but whatever.

YouTubing that model safe showed me that the directions and numbers of rotations were wrong, and when I got that the other I learned by listening. Cool beans, I had defeated a safe (although I had close enough to the numbers to defeat it by ear.) Its contents were greater than those of Al Capone’s vault but only for sentimental reasons.

I bought a lockpick training kit a couple of years back thinking that it amused me to be able to get into things, and beats me how it disappeared, but it was gone and I moved on. It was on my desk, it is no longer on my desk, things worth 80x more are on my desk. It wandered out never to be seen again… goodbye $29.

So we had a confluence of events happen these past couple of months. I had major surgery in February, I had an offer to attend a small presentation virtually called School of Lock (which I believe was held by these guys and sponsored by Egnyte, which has nothing to do with physical locks,) in which we were given a small sales pitch on a non-lock related software product by the sponsor company, and then had 5 lock cores and a lockpicking kit which had been mailed to us a week earlier… useful since mine disappeared. I did this, and while still drugged up on pain killers and pain, had a grand old time picking some pretty easy lock cores.

I completely forgot what Egnyte was presenting… I blame the medication… I remember saying I was going to check out something of their and yup, slept three days straight pretty much after.

Woo hoo… blew through 5 lock cores with no spool pins, serrated pins, or much… just enough to get the picking basics and enough to then subsequently learn my outer door has 3 security pins and that there had been no need to learn binding order on the initial practice set… oh well, it was a very basics course for IT people to play around with intro to locksport/opening.

I devoured everything that McNally Official had put out (amusing stuff, mostly YouTube Shorts shorter than my medicated attention span,) and then started looking at a few things from the Lock Picking Lawyer, and then a few things became roughly a third of his videos. I purchased a couple of Lishi tools with spacers (from Red Team Tools,) so I could practice with visual feedback and finished out some lockpicking channels on YouTube that were abandoned years ago.

I have probably watched every nondestructive method of entry for most things I encounter (other than cars, straight up not interested at the moment,) learned that a magnet can open a lot of smart locks that claim to be unpickable, and learned to open some old junk left at my work and determine what cut we would need for a new key.

I have no interest in going door to door shopping houses for drugs or easily accessible firearms, but if a friend gets locked out of their house I might be a quicker and much less expensive call than a locksmith, if they’re willing to wait for 10+ minutes for me to pick the door while complaining about my knees.

While I might ace a written test I’m still struggling with binding order on spool pins and how much tension to apply, especially when it’s 40 degrees out and raining sideways and I’ve almost mastered sitting in a comfy chair with a lock in my hands with next to no security.

For the most part while healing I was able to do this in a comfy chair, with some cores or a padlock. It was fun, gives you an entirely new view of what people do to feel secure and shatters that illusion. It’s solving one little clicky puzzle after the next.

I will note, I am indeed terrible still. I have the skills of a two month old. But it’s really fun. If I’m at your door going at the lock it’s like a zombie slowly shuffling toward you. You would have time to re-turn the deadbolt until the police arrived.

I will also note where I live it’s perfectly legal to purchase and pick a lock if you’re given permission. I read that some places it’s not so yeah… don’t there. If you’re young, wouldn’t advise carrying because as I learned well when I was driving garbage in Franklin, TN, police will decide anything is suspicious and a reason to detain you for 40 minutes.

Also, am I trying to sell you anything? Nope… just something fun to learn and as you can learn in many videos if you’ve got a couple of paperclips you’ve got a pick and turner. I have not paperclipped open anything other than a 2 pin lock so don’t take my word on it.

A fun skill learned (somewhat) while recovering from major surgery by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

I mentioned before I decided to take up lockpicking as something I could do following surgery while I recovered and was awake for 8 minutes at a stretch. The videos on each lock are usually short (depending on who you’re watching,) it involves puzzle solving, and it’s a relatively low cost hobby that teaches you magician tricks and can get your 1970’s filing cabinet you lost the key to open.

I have no idea how many McNally Official, Lockpicking Noob, or Lockpicking Lawyer videos I watched, nor how many I slept through post hospital, but it was a fair chunk of them.

I picked up these little beasts at Amazon. Priced at $12 for two I figured it was probably a fun starting lock as it looked like it could be picked with an errant glance, and I was at that point beyond noob. By real lock I need you to understand it’s not a trainer lock, I’m not saying anything beyond that. The manufacturer claims they’re real and offers protection.

The hardest part I had was the little rivets all around the key area which blocked my turning tool in the position I’d practiced using the practice locks.

Raking opened it in a few seconds, single pin picking opened in under 30. I repeated over and over again and the times were about the same on either lock (both are keyed the same, and I am slow).

I hit it a few times and was unable to pop the lock that way but I’m also sans hammer. Plans are to shim it, take it home and break out the hammer (you would think I’d have one at work, but no,) but I’m stuck until I build some shims or go home for the day, or buy a hammer for work.

Eh, fun times.

Quarter million dollar surgery, now I have skills to break into school lockers given enough time.

Lessons I learned on my first real locks picked

• If you watched on a 60+ inch tv screen you will find that it feels like you’re working with miniatures
• The turning tools I purchased in a set were too large to fit in and not block the keyway. Luckily I had very tiny tools from a freebie pack I was sent for a software demo / lockpicking intro.
• Oddly I had no issues identifying what pin I was on on a real lock where I used my imagination, I did have issues on a transparent lock
• Being able to defeat $6 worth of lock somehow does not make me king of the world

I picked my first real lock yesterday by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.

If you’re recovering from fairly major surgery you might find out like I did that 1) you have no brain, 2) you can’t pay attention to things longer than about 3-5 minutes because of issue 1. This is what I found following my chest-splitting tumor removal at least. A combination of being exhausted, sick, and not really wanting to interact with people much lead me down an interesting path that evidently tickled the puzzle solving part of my brain.

TL;DR – took up opening locks using mostly tools I got from a cool presentation. Had fun. You might as well.

I learned to open locks, bump open locks, pick locks, bypass padlocks, rake, shim, and otherwise destroy any confidence I had in my doors holding off a devoted attacker for more than about six minutes (not that that’s how they’re going to enter.) or any padlock I possessed from locking up anything important for more than 10 seconds. I need new padlocks.

I’d probably first gotten the bug for opening stuff a year or two back when I was asked if I thought I could get a safe open for my inlaws. Grand-inlaws had passed and the note given to open it was, in retrospect, 1 number off of each position, the directions were reversed, and the number of rotations were all incorrect by one. I guess if you’re going to put it on paper mask it, but whatever.

YouTubing that model safe showed me that the directions and numbers of rotations were wrong, and when I got that the other I learned by listening. Cool beans, I had defeated a safe (although I had close enough to the numbers to defeat it by ear.) Its contents were greater than those of Al Capone’s vault but only for sentimental reasons.

I bought a lockpick training kit a couple of years back thinking that it amused me to be able to get into things, and beats me how it disappeared, but it was gone and I moved on. It was on my desk, it is no longer on my desk, things worth 80x more are on my desk. It wandered out never to be seen again… goodbye $29.

So we had a confluence of events happen these past couple of months. I had major surgery in February, I had an offer to attend a small presentation virtually called School of Lock (which I believe was held by these guys and sponsored by Egnyte, which has nothing to do with physical locks,) in which we were given a small sales pitch on a non-lock related software product by the sponsor company, and then had 5 lock cores and a lockpicking kit which had been mailed to us a week earlier… useful since mine disappeared. I did this, and while still drugged up on pain killers and pain, had a grand old time picking some pretty easy lock cores.

I completely forgot what Egnyte was presenting… I blame the medication… I remember saying I was going to check out something of their and yup, slept three days straight pretty much after.

Woo hoo… blew through 5 lock cores with no spool pins, serrated pins, or much… just enough to get the picking basics and enough to then subsequently learn my outer door has 3 security pins and that there had been no need to learn binding order on the initial practice set… oh well, it was a very basics course for IT people to play around with intro to locksport/opening.

I devoured everything that McNally Official had put out (amusing stuff, mostly YouTube Shorts shorter than my medicated attention span,) and then started looking at a few things from the Lock Picking Lawyer, and then a few things became roughly a third of his videos. I purchased a couple of Lishi tools with spacers (from Red Team Tools,) so I could practice with visual feedback and finished out some lockpicking channels on YouTube that were abandoned years ago.

I have probably watched every nondestructive method of entry for most things I encounter (other than cars, straight up not interested at the moment,) learned that a magnet can open a lot of smart locks that claim to be unpickable, and learned to open some old junk left at my work and determine what cut we would need for a new key.

I have no interest in going door to door shopping houses for drugs or easily accessible firearms, but if a friend gets locked out of their house I might be a quicker and much less expensive call than a locksmith, if they’re willing to wait for 10+ minutes for me to pick the door while complaining about my knees.

While I might ace a written test I’m still struggling with binding order on spool pins and how much tension to apply, especially when it’s 40 degrees out and raining sideways and I’ve almost mastered sitting in a comfy chair with a lock in my hands with next to no security.

For the most part while healing I was able to do this in a comfy chair, with some cores or a padlock. It was fun, gives you an entirely new view of what people do to feel secure and shatters that illusion. It’s solving one little clicky puzzle after the next.

I will note, I am indeed terrible still. I have the skills of a two month old. But it’s really fun. If I’m at your door going at the lock it’s like a zombie slowly shuffling toward you. You would have time to re-turn the deadbolt until the police arrived.

I will also note where I live it’s perfectly legal to purchase and pick a lock if you’re given permission. I read that some places it’s not so yeah… don’t there. If you’re young, wouldn’t advise carrying because as I learned well when I was driving garbage in Franklin, TN, police will decide anything is suspicious and a reason to detain you for 40 minutes.

Also, am I trying to sell you anything? Nope… just something fun to learn and as you can learn in many videos if you’ve got a couple of paperclips you’ve got a pick and turner. I have not paperclipped open anything other than a 2 pin lock so don’t take my word on it.

A fun skill learned (somewhat) while recovering from major surgery by Paul E King first appeared on Pocketables.