Got a lock with a forgotten key, or just a chest with a lock that won’t open? Rather than shelling out the dough for the professional services of a locksmith, a beginner lock pick set may be well worth the investment instead. Here’s what you need to know.
How Most Locks Work
Except in rare cases, most commercially available locks encountered on a daily basis use what is called a “pin tumbler” lock mechanism. These constitute the majority of door locks and readily available padlocks.
Locks have internal cylinders, and inside of those cylinders are a series of pairs of pins. The pairs consist of a key pin and driver pin which are held in place with springs.
When a matching key is inserted into the lock, the teeth on the key depress each pin pair so that the gap between the key pin and driver pin aligns with a point known as a shear line.
When all of the pin pairs are aligned with the shear line, the lock cylinder can rotate to open the lock. If they are not aligned with the shear line, either one or more of the pins will prevent the cylinder from rotating.
What a Lock Pick Set Does
In the absence of a matching key, a lock pick set uses a series of tools called rakes and hooks to align the pin pairs with the shear line so that the lock cylinder can freely turn within the lock.
Let’s start with the rake; the rake is a tool with a series of bumps that is designed to engage as many pin pairs as usual in a lock.
Hooks are pointed lock picking tools that are used to engage one lock pin at a time, and require more skill to use than lock rakes.
Lock pick sets will usually also contain a tool known as a tension wrench which is used to apply torque to the lock to keep the pins in position as you work; most of the time, without a tension wrench, the lock cannot be picked.
Raking a Lock
Apply tension with the tension wrench that came with the lock pick set to get one of the lock pins to bind in place. Insert the rake into the keyway and push it all the way back, then slide it back and forth relatively rapidly using different amounts of tension to get the lock pins to bind in place along the shear line.
If this doesn’t work after 10 to 20 seconds of trying, remove the rake, remove the tension wrench, and try again. Sometimes it takes several attempts before this method is successful.
Using Hooks
Using lock pick hooks requires a little more skill than using a rake but it is also more targeted and precise.
To use the lock pick hooks that came with the set, create tension with your tension wrench, then insert the hook into the keyway all the way towards the back.
Find the rearmost pin, then test it, working your way forward. You want to find the one that is binding slightly more than the others, then raise that to the shear line before repeating the process till all the pins have been raised and the lock can be opened.
Here for a Lock Pick Set?
In the market for a lock pick set for your collection of prepper supplies? Visit BUDK. They carry a ton of useful gear and lock pick sets are just one example of the cool stuff they carry. Check out their website and get in touch with them if you have any questions.
