Just wanted to thank everyone for their advice and tell you that I actually managed to pick my first door lock this evening. I dug out the old lock that I had mentioned before, The one that I pulled apart and diagramed the pins. I liked Steve Paris's suggestion of the WD-40 but I took it a step further and sprayed it with some Kroil that I use in my guns. Kroil is similar to the WD-40 but a better lube and is supposed to penetrate spaces as small as 1 millionth of an inch. Anyway the feel was night and day. Sat in front of the TV for a couple of hours with it on my lap just easing those pins into place and all of a sudden, click. The cylinder rotated. Tried it again for another half hour and couldn't do it again. But now that I did it once, I know that it can be done. I think I'm still putting too much torque on it. And I think I need to figure out a better way to hold the tools. But thanks for the advice, I learned a lot this evening. OK, the nextdoor neighbors are going on vacation over Christmas and just got a new widescreen TV. (just kidding) I'm thrilled I actually managed to make this work, I appreciate all the advice.
- posted
20 years ago