Lockpicking

A Beginner's Guide To Lockpicking

It doesn't take much to get started in lockpicking. The first lock I picked was a 5 pin Kwikset lock that I picked up at the local Home Depot. No special tools are needed (however they help a lot). Since, I didn't have any tools at the time, the Kwikset lock was picked with an alen wrench as the tension bar, and a modified bobby pin as the pick. Watch the video below to see how it was done.




Learning to pick a lock like the one above can take some effort for a beginner, but not too much. Lockpicking101.com has a lot of information that will more than get you through the procedure of picking your first lock. Specifically, this page will be of great help for a beginner: http://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?t=10715. You will need to register to access the information, but it is free, so go for it.

Even though you now have the information you need to pick your first lock, I'll give a quick outline of what I did to be able to pick my first lock in under an hour (you'll see what I mean):

• Dimantle the lock, pretty self explanatory for the Kwikset
• Take the pins out except for the first one, but make sure to keep track of what pin goes where and don't lose any springs.
• Now just practice picking the lock with one pin (won't take long)
• Keep adding a pin and picking until you work your way up to all the pins.

Again, this is just an outline of the information at lockpicking101, so credit goes to them.

Ok, well that was fun, another cool lockpicking technique is called bumping. Bumping a lock consists of using a specially modified key and hitting it in the lock. I made a bumpkey for my Kwikset lock without too much effort. However, I did use a Dremel tool, but a hand file could be used as well. I found this site: http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/24/the-lockdown-locked-but-not-secure-part-i/ which shows a picture of a Kwickset bumpkey. I just looked at the picture and ground mine accordingly until it worked. Here is a video of the bumpkey in action:



I recently bought a lock pick set from Southord. The set was around $25 including shipping, which I didn't think was too bad. I ordered some extra vinyl grips (they are worth getting), and the set is pretty nice. Having real lockpicks does make a big difference in how easily things can be picked. The major difference is a good tension bar (unlike the alen wrench used in my first endeavor). Well, that's about it.