Lockpicking for fun and profit!

[Tarsun2]

its gotten so bad that people were leaving their doors unlocked and trunks open to show the car is empty.

[CrowsFeast]

I seem to recall someone having their car window broken twice, then deciding to just leave the car unlocked. The would-be thieves didn't try the door because they broke the window again!

[punkncat]

One of our family lives up in Atlanta in an area that is common to car break ins. After rounds and rounds of having it broken into and damage done for nothing the last few times, they had a small sticker made up for the driver and passenger window that say "it is open".

[TheYoda]

I’m nobody, that knows nothing about most things. Especially lock picking. But I find this thread interesting.
That said, going back to an earlier comment about trying to create an unpick-able, or very, very difficult lock to open… it seems the world class experts learn so much from practicing on, dissecting existing locks. New locks, old locks, different types of locks. They have so much experience that not much surprises them. So, a really challenging lock would have to be a completely new concept with very little reference to known locks. The mechanisms are non-traditional, as is the “key(s)” that manipulate them. If it’s a one-off design, not mass produced, and nobody knows what’s inside or even what the key is supposed to look like it seems that would create the greatest challenge. I envision something with 2 or more unique access holes, that need to be manipulated in sequence, plus an unknown element requiring tension, pressure, gravity, or magnets(?) at the right step in the process. Not practical for the real world functional padlock (no trespass sign). Wouldn’t know how to design one, as I know nothing about anything, but it seems a compelling intellectual challenge to create a uniquely difficult locking device.

As a machinist extraordinaire, I think you may be up to this challenge. Good luck.

[Tarsun2]

stuff-made-here made a lock without looking into current models. he did very little research on "un-pick-able" locks for thhis very reason. he wanted something new and different.

sales gimmicks and word manipulation will always exist. the LPL got past a lock in record time that was labeled as "unpickable", simply because it had no key. so technically there was nothing to pick. but the lock mech was activated with essentially a paper clip.

[TheYoda]

It’s funny, cuz Doc now has me hooked watching LPL videos, and I just watched that episode. My wife looks at me like I’m crazy, doesn’t understand why this is interesting, especially since I don’t dabble in this area. I’m an Industrial Designer and have always thought of my job as problem-solving, so maybe that’s why I find it fascinating.

And every video game I play that has puzzles to solve, I always enjoyed the puzzle solving more fun than the games themselves (in most cases)

[DocsMachine]

Wouldn’t know how to design one, as I know nothing about anything, but it seems a compelling intellectual challenge to create a uniquely difficult locking device.

-That's pretty much why I think it's so interesting to me. I've done very little apart from work in my machine shop or draw my comic, for a good number of years now. I can't afford to travel (especially all the way from Alaska) the local paintball scene has been spotty at best (and is currently nonexistent) cash and time have been thin for any significant personal project, and so on.

I haven't had a proper "just for fun" hobby in well over a decade.

This is manipulating a small but deceptively simple mechanical device, which is more fun than I'd have given credit to. And, as you said, there's the challenge of making an unpickable lock- I'm admittedly going way outside the usual bounds. Anything I've come up with couldn't be fitted to a traditional door lock or padlock, but they're more like those "puzzle boxes". Where you have to move things in a specific order to get the box open.

I've got a couple things I want to try, just for gits and shiggles, but as always, it's a question of time.

Doc.

[XEMON]

Id love to check out what you come up with.

Do you still need some cores?

[DocsMachine]

There's a couple threads over on the Guild about it, including one fellow that showed us his workable, patent-in-progress pickproof design.

Personally, anything I make would be just for fun- like a 3" long, 18-pin core (unpickable simply because no one makes picks that long. ) Some of the others posted are making the pins much smaller (like half the size of a regular pin) and pack more of them into a core, making a segmented core (LPL actually has a video on one like this, a 2-part core that's like two 3-pins end to end) or unworkable ideas like roller pins or locking pins.

Doc.

[Db1060]

I have a set of his genisis picks I believe thare called. I've been picking for couple months now. My buddy has been picking for almost 2 years.

[DocsMachine]

Do you still need some cores?

-What I need is something besides Masterlocks to practice on. None of these really give me the kind of feel or feedback that it seems LPL gets out of a quality lock. I mean, I know I'm still really inexperienced, and certainly don't have a good "feel" for anything yet. But that may be part of the problem- I'm practicing crap techniques on crap locks.

The latest LPL video shows him picking bare lock cores- eventually I should probably pick up a handful of something like that (why spend the money on a complete, functional padlock?) but I don't know who sells those, or what style to get, particularly the keyway.

But, I'm sort on time at the moment, to chase anything down. I might hit you up later for some advice.

Doc.

[Redragoon]

Some lockpick training cores I found

https://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/products/practice-lock-core-trainer

https://www.lockpickshop.com/GSR-lock-picking-practice.html

The cheapest option might be to search scrap yards for used locks, but then you don't know what to pick or how.

[XEMON]

-What I need is something besides Masterlocks to practice on. None of these really give me the kind of feel or feedback that it seems LPL gets out of a quality lock. I mean, I know I'm still really inexperienced, and certainly don't have a good "feel" for anything yet. But that may be part of the problem- I'm practicing crap techniques on crap locks.

The latest LPL video shows him picking bare lock cores- eventually I should probably pick up a handful of something like that (why spend the money on a complete, functional padlock?) but I don't know who sells those, or what style to get, particularly the keyway.

But, I'm sort on time at the moment, to chase anything down. I might hit you up later for some advice.

Doc.

Quickset and Schlage are pretty common, start with quickset (not the smart key system, thats a whole different game ...)
Ebay is a great place to pickup a lot, not all gonna work or be good ... but keep in mind old locks are very different, mushy and squish goo ...

If you have a locksmith in town, they may have "scrap/construction" locks they may sell for cheap or give away; restore can be good too.

If you cant find anything, ill send you a handful to practice on 👍

[DocsMachine]

I picked up a couple bare cores with keys off eBay, and made myself a little clamp to hold them.

And I have yet to be able to open either one. I was hoping the better quality- and new- core would give me better feedback than the old, cruddy Masterlocks, but I'm still not getting a solid "click", I still can't tell if or when I overset a pin, and even cheating a bit by looking at the key to see a rough height of the pins doesn't seem to be doing me any good.

It did kind of confirm for me that trying to keep "practicing" with these Masters was simply reinforcing bad habits, though.

I have a book by Deviant Ollam on the way, but it's coming overseas and probably something like Media Mail, so it'll probably still be another week or two 'til it gets here. I need to do some proper learning before I go any further.

Doc.

[XEMON]

I would recommend "progressive pinning" where you remove some of the pins in the lock to get a feel for it and slowly add one pin at a time.
The locks with key you got off eBay, what brand and keyway are they?
(If you don't know, can you post a picture of the lock and key)
I'll guide you on how to go it without damaging the lock 👍

[punkncat]

In relation to locking keys in car, I got a "slim-jim" years ago and kept it wedged in the frame under my car. That particular car was super easy to get into in many ways. Most modern cars have a plate that made the slim-jim obsolete, which is why you see the wedge thing now.

Where it comes to the old VW bugs, the easiest way to get into one of those is to place your hands in a wide diamond and apply a quick even strike to the rear-side window. The seal will pop to the inside of the car and rarely does damage. Easily replaced with some jute string as a guide to pull the rubber back onto the metal ledge. I know this from years of practice with the little German nightmares.

[FullContactUSA]

My original pick set was alittle pocket kit from South Ord and I got pretty ok at using it.then I opened a lock for a teammate, he borrowed my set, and I never got it back. So for the time being I am reduced to my halligan and hammer, which are faster, but everyone knows where I've been.

[XEMON]

Where are you at DocsMachine ?
any new lock open?

Also, because I need to bragg about it here is my latest open 😅

[Alexndl]

Good job!
I have not tried a dimple core yet.

[XEMON]

I have a few suggestions for you if you want to get into dimples ...
This one has 9 pins coming from 3 different directions, each pins are mushrooms pins and both the core and bible are counte-milled on every pins 🤯
Next on the list is the 18 pins variant ...

[DocsMachine]

My stuff is in a box next to my desk, where it's been, mostly untouched, for a month.

Which I knew was going to happen- we're rapidly coming up on Spring up here, and our summer is only about 27 minutes long. I have a ton of stuff to get done, and a very limited amount of time to do it. I'll undoubtedly spend a little more time here and there, but I kind of figured from the start this was going to be a wintertime hobby.

Doc.

[XEMON]

Mail day 😁

[OpusX]

American Locks rule!