lockpicking

I picked my first lock today. It was a cylinder from a Yale deadbolt that I lost the keys to. I'm so pumped. I sat there for over an hour and finally watched a video to learn the pins are little pistons in Yales. I modified the pressure and approach and bam. It just clicked. Cylinder is now repinned to match my current Yale key. Wish I could cut my own keys. Then I'd be a full turkey service (ha... get it). I told my 12 year old who was making fun of me while I was doing it and she actually looked happy for me when I ran in and told her. She even let me show her how a cylinder and key are pinned.

Took some time to find an angle/twist that worked but after getting it nailed down it was easy.

Hi all,

I'm new to the hobby, but already know that this is something I can really get into.

I have purchased a cheap (but good) Chinese set, and want to "upgrade" to something nicer + aquire some more single picks.

I am ready to throw in around €140 (+/-) for a better quality set, but I'm having a really hard time with finding any EU shops that sell picks that are well-reviewed by the community.

I hear Peterson picks are some of the best. Also Sparrows I feel like I hear a lot of people talk about.

That said, I'm not against purchasing outside the EU, but do know that everything will have added + 25% VAT + (usually) expensive shipping + If I exceed ~€150 for the set (not including shipping) I will have to pay 12% of the total amount (shipping included)

I will listen to all types advise, including being pointed to other forums

Almost all of my own padlocks have been picked, save for just two, the ABUS 64TI/40 and the Master lock LOTO. Still relatively new to the tubular lock game, so the yellow Urban bike disk brake lock as also eluded me.

I found getting the two cut away locks helped immensely - the American helped me really hone in on how over setting pins feel, and the Sparrow (after disassembling and putting in some of their advanced driver pins) showed how I was accidentally picking more than one pin with my older/bad technique.

If anyone has suggestions for the Titanium or LOTO locks, I'm all ears!

This is the part that I mentioned in the previous post.

Looked inside and I think it's only missing a little pin or "key" to stop part of it from over tightening. Will post another picture of what I mean.

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Been having trouble with this loto.

About to throw it at the wall....

This lock is a bit interesting. I keep trying to replicate the same process I took to unlock it and I guess you just push the tension wrench slightly as lots of tension didn't seem to affect it, and just continue picking it even if it goes down. It's a bit annoying if I'm gonna be honest here. The pins keep coming back down so I guess I just tried pushing it up over and over until it gets "stuck"? Any advice for approaching this?

Hello lockpickers, one of my friends bought a Covert Intruments Genesis set recently and I decided to play with it. Turns out I very much enjoyed it and managed to pick the beginner clear lock in 7 seconds after a couple days. So I did some research to find out what to buy for myself to get started on this journey.

So far I'm eyeing Sparrow's The Spirit set but found this reddit thread in the process. So I might go with the hooker set and get a tuxedo case separately.

As for locks to practice with, I'm considering getting all the sparrows clear locks as they seem to have a good variety and seems to be beginner friendly to practice with.

Let me know your suggestions below, I'll be glad to learn from your experiences.

I have an antique desk which has three locks and a single key.

My key continues to work for one of the locks, but when inserted into the other two lock key ways, the key will not turn in either direction (will basically wiggle a millimeter or so in either direction, but does not start to actually turn).

I am a very amateurish lock picker—I can rake a basic lock or use a snap gun, but this lever/mortise lock is very different from anything I have tried to pick before.

I should mention that I used the working lock to confirm that the key fully inserts into the other two locks before attempting to turn the key.

I’ve tried looking up tools for picking this lock and watched some YouTube videos.

I am curious if anyone with experience picking this sort of lock might offer some advice on tools to get or improvise.

I’m including a photo of the key to help identify what might be needed.

Any advice is appreciated.

Under this post you can exchange about the Abus X-Plus core.

Here is some information to start:

• its a disk detainer
• older version where front tensioned
• newer versions use real tension
• 6 disks
• each disk has 6 possible positions for the true gate
• they have false gates
• anti drill disk in the front

Its said that the X-plus core is more easy to pick then the older plus core.

Cheap disk detainer picks wont work because the tip is to big. Sparrows disk detainer pick works but needs modification to the tension forks (file it down).

There is no electric picking aid for it (for now).

Its ben said the bind from the rear. A strong bind indicates a false gate. A bind with some wiggle indicates a true gate. Multiple false gates per disk are possible.

In theory a pure brute force try out would be possible (like with a save cracking machine with one more axis) but at 40k+ possible combinations this will take a while.

Feel free to share your encounters with the X-Plus core in the comments below.

Tiny Dom and Kaba Micro

This was very fun

Took me a while to get the tension right. Very light!

This was a very fun pick! Red belt lock.

Any tips on getting more consistent, and fitting both wrench and pick into tighter keyholes? Or is the latter just a matter of getting a more diverse set of wrenches and picks?

This one took me about 6 hours!

Son got me a small forge for dad day. Thinking about melting down some of the old keys I have and casting something. Any ideas? Sorry for the mess, I have too many hobbies.