lock picking set

If you want to learn the locksmithing trade, hire on as an apprentice.

If you are picking ordinay half inch plug cylinders, two tools should suffice - a pick to lift the pins and a tension tool to apply turning pressure to the plug. You need to talk to the cylinder very nicely just like a successful gardner talks to his plants.

Owning umpty ump picks is not going to help you pick locks if you have not mastered the skills. Moreover traditional picks are cheaper than a pick gun and in the hands of a skilled picklock are quicker than the gun and less likely to damage the cylinder.

Of course pickng lever tumbler payphone locks requires a different pair of tools, but the principle is similar, with the more recent lever tumbler locks having a baffle plate between the levers to reduce the space available to manipuate the levers.

or... you could do what i did.

enter "lock picking" into google.

read as much as you can.

download the movie files and watch them.

download lots of documents and read them.

download some lock pick templates and make your own picks.

purchase a padlock and attempt to pick it.

ask questions on alt.locksmithing and get spurned because they think that any newbie asking questions is a criminal. (joke! :-)

go to

register and be prepared to show you've done some homework.

let me give you some advice... don't just turn up and say something along the lines of, "lock picking set. How many should I get to start learning the trade ? what is a good one to start ? Thank you".

you will, quite rightly, be sent on your way with a flea in your ear.

Thanks for all the info guys... I will do my home work and I will let you know how I'm doing. I hope I can learn more trick in this forum. Thanks again. Marcilio.

i never cease to be unimpressed with people talking about how much quicker they can pick a lock using hand picks rather than the gun . I have been - for 15 years, doing it with a gun,. normaly in about 3 seconds or less, .- 2 clicks ! Just because you havent mastered using the gun, ( and there are plenty of you) even our college teachers used to tell us that the pick gun was a chance tool. I used to say that there is a pretty fucken good chance that you will get it real quick with it. I agree you will wreck the pins and spring tension if you are learning, and belting away at it for 30 seconds or more , but once u master it you will go for the gun first time every time. hand picks second, lubraction and pick gun third , then hand picks again. And that is a real rare scenario for me for it to take that long. And i am talking 20 secs max for the pick gun first. Can be 2 clicks and your in. I love the " why did I bother going to university, I should have become a locksmith " $95 for 2 seconds work. comments that i always get.

Speaking only for myself, my policy is that I don't teach picking techniques unless I've personally known the person for two years.

You can find many forums on the web, but that's out of my control.

When I was new at locksmithing, I was completely fascinated by picking. Now, after 20+ years in the trade, it's an important part of the job, but not totally fascinating. There is so much more to the job.

The reasons I don't teach picking are several.

1) There is no way to know who is the person asking. Most people asking (or lurking and reading the posts) are decent people, but a few are not. So, I've decided simply not to say anything to anyone.

2) Picking locks is a "trade secret" like many other trades which have their techniques and systems.

3) A very small part of the security of locks is that so few people know how to pick them. So, by teaching lock picking, I make all locks less secure for the world. Not what I want to do.

4) Purely selfishly, I learned lock picking the hard way, with lots of practice, and you can do the same.

I wish you well. Hope this doesn't sound unkind, but the world isn't a nice place sometimes.

Semantical background knowledge accquired from reading is good but it is not all that you will need to be able to work with locks...

There is a difference between "watching/witnessing" and actually doing it yourself...

See reply above under reading...

Heh, why on earth you would want to do that, unless purchasing such instruments is unlawful in your area... You are foolish if you believe that you as an *hobbyist* can produce lock picks better than a company who produces and quality controls 1000's of such tools a day...

Ah, yes, there are ONLY padlocks out in the real world... I would learn under a seasoned professionals guidance, and not go at it on your own... There are many things you would never even dream of that a professional would know and understand...

That isn't the best locksmithing website out there, but the good ones require some form of proof that you are in the business of lcoksmithing...

Evan, ~~ formerly a maintenance man, now a college student

i know.

i know. which is why, after i watched the video that showed you how to make lock picks, i made my own.

cost? i have hacksaw blades, a grinder and a template.

did i ever claim that? the picks may not be professionally produced but they work and that's good enough for me.

sarcasm! awesome!

you've got to start somewhere and i started with a padlock, okay?

"stormin' mormon" seems to have done all right... "he learned lock picking the hard way, with lots of practice, and you can do the same".

maybe not but at least they are willing to help a beginner.

being a *hobbyist*, how could i provide that?

are/were you a professional locksmith?

A legitimate locksmith can always keep a few picks in the wallet for emergencies, but is less likely to want to carry round a pick gun the whole time.

That would be a rather long, flat wallet.

I do use a pick gun, but only after hand picking has failed. I like to keep myself in practice when possible.

Never. Cease. Un. Triple negative. Wow, I seldom see triple negatives.

Agreed. I remember that our electrical engineering professor (a Rhode Scholar with a very distinguished career) always carried round a couple of six inch slide rules in his jacket pockets so he was never caught flat footed (this was in the days before pocket scientific calculators).

I used to carry a slide rule in my shirt pocket. Much the same reason.

Went to a TI-55, for a couple years. I'm a bit more techno challenged now.