How did you pick up Lockpicking.

[Thalli]

Waiting looooonnnnggg periods of time for complicated test renders to complete for an over-the-top animation project I did.

Frame 1/30000 . . . . pick . . . pick . . . Frame 2/30000 . . .

What a way to kill time ;)

[Tengu]

Here and there...

Everything for me started as a hobby. Models led to motorcycles, computers led to a career, and being a bit of a miscreant at heart led me to security related jobs. I found a book, I still have...in fact I'm looking at it now "Practical cousre in -- Modern Locksmithing" Nelson-Hall co. 1971. it's funny to look through it now, but when I bought it at a garage sale in the late 80's I was hooked.

"Gee! I can break into things!"

Was I ever wrong. The book taught locksmithing, not lock manipulation and it barely greased the surface of anything. What it did was whet my appetite.

Within a few years I was working as a locksmith in my hometown. Getting paid crap wages, working crazy weekend hours, and above all learning about all sorts of things that I had always wanted to know about. There is no substitute for experience I suppose. That was several years ago...damn, like ummm nearly 15.

I busted out my lock box the other day and started to -try- to remember how to pick a lock. I am damn rusty, but ya know... it doesn't matter all that much. I think I like the idea of remembering how much fun it was to get a Kwikset, then a Schlage, a Russwin...so the simple answer to how I got started in lock picking is -it was fun and a challenge- I kinda feel that again now and I'm looking forward to seeing someone pick open a Medico biaxial or an ASSA....hehehe that would kick ass. It will not be me for sure.

[[MasTaH[FlaNk]]

Wow, I guess it was just a little easy. Your right about it being easy if someone shows you. You said that it was easier to pick cheaper locks. But people actaully dont think about protecting there storage with stronger locks. They just dont know how simple it is to get in. I started at 14. And could pick most master locks. I hated the little bitty gold master locks.

[lil_freak]

(Disclamier: I in no way condon the breaking and entering of a car, unless it's your vehicle. I only know how to do the discribed below because it's part of my job)

I got into lockpicking about five years ago, because of where I work.

I started to learn how to pick locks on things such as small file cabinets, desk drawers, and the like. After a few months I had moved on to larger things such as car doors and trunks, which I found you have various methods that you can use to unlock these items. I found that most car trunks can be opened using nothing more than a standard phillip heads screw driver, however there are some trunks that require more than a pick set, a screw driver, or a hammer.

The locks on car doors can be opened in various ways as well, the most common is by using a General Motors Lock-Pick Set (I like to think of these as really oversized lockpicks :D ), this kind of set comes with a book that states which pick will open what make, model, and year of car. You can also go with a normal set of picks, but you run the risk of ruinning the lock and window to the car. The other more widely use method is the old metal coat hanger and hammer trick, but this it not a wise choice to go with.

I really only get to pick the locks on cars nowadays, but sometimes for kicks I will lock my little brother in a room to see if I can get him back out.

[TheCotMan]

I was at a gun show in Knoxville, Tn and a man was displaying his lockpicks for sell. This was the first time I was introduced to lockpicking. He picked up some locks and showed me the basic technique. I racked a few master locks and some pad locks. Honest to god after 5 mins of practice i was opening every lock there with the racking technique. I even learned how to open the gold master combination locks with a hook like pick. After I figured out that lockpicking was fairly easy I started to read about other people learning about it. They said it took them up to 2-5 years to learn the technique. Why? Its so easy. Or is it. Did i just pick up the method amazingly quick or is it really not hard?

A friend made some tools and gave them to me as a gift. My friend told me about the MIT Guide to Lockpicking and I watched him open a lock. It did not take long to rake various locks open, and I enjoyed the puzzle aspect of lockpicking.

I've even had "lock picking parties" where I invite a few close friends over to my place. I provide my guests with tools and locks for such parties. We watch movies and practice on various locks while we watch movies and share ideas on CompSec as well as techniques which seem to work with certain locks.

As for speed in picking up how to make it work, some people seem to be "naturals" and are able to learn application of this skill quickly, while others are not so fast the learn. The most time I ever spent in helping someone to be able to rake a lock was 25 minutes. There was one time where I was defeated for over an hour by a a cheap-piece-of-crap-excuse-for-a-lock because I had been working on high security locks for weeks prior. Why? Not enough force on the tension wrench. Doh! (The sad part, is that this same lock took me less than 30 seconds when I was learning. )

This should be obvious, but I will state it anyway:
Lockpicking is one of those things where is is much easier to pick-up if you have someone to show you the basics to help you to know enough concept to learn more on your own, than it is if you do not have anyone to show you basic techniques.

Now, as for people who spend years practicing on Lockpicking, I have seen this, and I still occasionally will pick up a lock and play with it. Raking is easy on many locks, but on some, picking is better. Older locks are often easier to pick or rake than newer locks. Higher quality locks are often less easy to rake and really beg for picking. Locks with pins that have serated edges, mushroom pins, or interlocking pins are progressively more difficult to rake and pick. Even more advanced locks exist which thwart common attempts. Then there are tubular locks (so called ace locks in some circles) which are best picked with special tools, and of course there are others beyond these.

Basic skills in picking seem to take most people from 15 seconds to about 25 minutes for "virgins" t the sport. (Yes. After showing some people the basic techniques where I was opening locks, I have had complete beginners opening cheaper locks in less than 15 seconds, and under a few minutes for slightly less cheap locks.)

[[MasTaH[FlaNk]]

I was at a gun show in Knoxville, Tn and a man was displaying his lockpicks for sell. This was the first time I was introduced to lockpicking. He picked up some locks and showed me the basic technique. I racked a few master locks and some pad locks. Honest to god after 5 mins of practice i was opening every lock there with the racking technique. I even learned how to open the gold master combination locks with a hook like pick. After I figured out that lockpicking was fairly easy I started to read about other people learning about it. They said it took them up to 2-5 years to learn the technique. Why? Its so easy. Or is it. Did i just pick up the method amazingly quick or is it really not hard?