8 ms·

Lock Picking – A Basic Guide

252 points by hackthisuk 13y ago

herbig 13y ago
I was really into this back in high school but never got proficient in it. The concept is simple to understand but actually executing it takes a LOT of practice. Raking can open a lot of older locks pretty quickly, but that doesn't mean you're skilled. Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states.
- runjake 13y ago
  > Raking can open a lot of older locks pretty quickly, but that doesn't mean you're skilled. I disagree. Raking has opened a lot (most I've tried) of locks in my experience. So, I'd say I'm pretty skilled at picking locks.
  - corin_ 13y ago
    I've managed to open a lot of unlocked doors (most I've tried) but wouldn't consider myself "skilled" at it, since it's a pretty easy task. I think the definition of "skill" implies something that isn't easy, thus being able to do something isn't automatically proof of skill.
    - breischl 13y ago
      >>I've managed to open a lot of unlocked doors Me too! My success rate is over 90% for unlocked doors. Locked ones are harder. ;)
      - corin_ 13y ago
        Do you refer to yourself as skilled at opening unlocked doors? :)
        samstave 13y ago
        http://i.imgur.com/Kcerv5S.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Kcerv5S.jpg
  - rlt3 13y ago
    Was Michael Jordon considered good because he beat a lot of high school kids?
    - freehunter 13y ago
      If his goal was to beat high school kids and he did just that, then yes. If your goal is to pick locks and you successfully pick the locks you want to open, then you're good at picking locks. Can you be a good programmer without being the best programmer or even a world class programmer?
      - rlt3 13y ago
        Am I a great programmer if I can write a really good "Hello World" in C?
        Someone 13y ago
        No, but you may be a great "Hello world in C" writer. People can be insanely fast at solving Rubik's 3x3x3, but that doesn't imply they are good at puzzles in general or even at a 4x4x4. [by the way, "Hello World" in C is a surprising amount of work. For example, version 2.9 is over 270 lines, and saw over 40 revisions for the main file (http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hello.git/log/src/hello.c) http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hello.git/log/src/hello.c)]
      - saraid216 13y ago
        When did skill become a function of subjective goals?
        freehunter 13y ago
        When you factor in things such as "I'm a skilled programmer, but I don't know Ada." Are you still a skilled programmer? Sure, you're quite good at Ruby and Javascript. But you don't know Ada. Why not? Because your goal was never to learn every programming language. If you want to pick every lock available to you and you can do so quickly and successfully, you're a skilled lock picker. Buying harder locks just to show you can pick them is an academic feat, not necessarily a real-world skill. Skill is just aptitude in doing something successfully.
- chongli 13y ago
  Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states. Which is just completely silly. Who is going to pick the lock on somebody's house to break in? The idea of the highly-skilled locksmith cat-burglar is complete fiction.
  - markdown 13y ago
    > Who is going to pick the lock on somebody's house to break in? Wait, why wouldn't this be better than smashing a window to get in?
    - pavpanchekha 13y ago
      Because it takes forever. Front door locks are admittedly not so strong, but it could still take a good pick-lock several minutes, while a window could be broken through in seconds. As for being stealthier… Windows can be cut stealthily, and crouching by a door for five minutes looks rather suspicious by itself.
      - thirdsight 13y ago
        Actually when my friend was burgled, they stuck a Hi-Lift jack[1] on the frame horizontally and cranked it until the frame came off. The police reckoned the door was open in under 20 seconds and their place was emptied of valuable stuff in under 4 minutes. They got spooked and left the jack on the street but they managed to nick everything. [1] http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/index.html http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/index.html
      - caprad 13y ago
        A lot of doors are hidden from view by trees or fences. And then you have side and back doors. And the advantage to not make any noise or carrying around expensive tools (simple lock pick tools can be very cheap), make it not completely unreasonable. Still, banning tools is not the greatest idea.
- legohead 13y ago
  I decided to try it out since I have fidgety hands and I figured I could practice while I read articles and such. I was disappointed at how easy it ended up being. Every lock I purchased I could pick within a few seconds with a rake, or maybe 60 seconds with a hook, so I just gave it up. I splurged once and got one of the top brands meant for homes. It took more concentration and you couldn't just rake it, but I still got to where I could open it in under a minute. I'm talking about maybe 20 hours total spent on developing this skill. A complete novice, only understanding how to use the tools, can open any wally world bought padlock with a rake in seconds.
  - deleted 13y ago
    [deleted]
- analog31 13y ago
  >>> Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states. Yes, there is a provision in state laws against possession of "thieves tools."
jheriko 13y ago
A much cheaper and easier approach that works for most locks is to get a coke bottle and tear a strip out of it, then use it to do the 'hollywood credit card trick'. unlike a credit card it doesn't snap or break very easily - the type of plastic will become softer when placed under pressure and is very flexible but strong - if you continue to force it in the right area it will work its way around hard corners and into tiny gaps until there is enough pressure to pop the bolt. when the bolt has an edge that is sloped towards you it will pop on the first push (the way i see most 'yale style' locks fitted on doors that open inwards - i.e. most front doors) it takes an exceptionally tightly fitted door frame to prohibit this (e.g. one with brushes or hermetic seals) the one time i couldn't break into my own home doing this was because there was a brush fitted down the side of the door - fortunately there was not one fitted in the letter box, so i found a long spanner at a nearby construction site and then spent the next four hours of my life whacking the mechanism from through the letterbox blindly until i caught the handle the right way and the door popped open...
- sillysaurus2 13y ago
  You opened your door by putting something through your letterbox? That's awesome. Did you catch the doorknob or the lock turner? Was the door handle flat instead of round, or...? Hard to imagine the logistics.
  - jheriko 13y ago
    it was one of those ellipsoid shaped twisty things. and there was no deadbolt on the door. (i.e. there was one bolt, no separate lock to doorknob) it took a lot of effort, my intent was to hit the far side of the spinny thing and hope that the momentum would be enough to get through the catch and click it - i did this by extending my arm through the letterbox as far as possible then angling the spanner back and twisting my wrist to provide the impacts - feeling through the spanner if i was hitting anything and trying to guess from the response if it was the right thing. i found the right thing quickly by feeling around it and working out that it wobbled and made little clicks in the right ways. the biggest problem was that the spanner was quite fantastically heavy when wielded this way - although the impact that knocked it open was not especially hard or directed I was quite tired by that point and it was a pleasant surprise when it popped open so i can't honestly say it was the technique that worked more than the determination. my arm was struggling to continue raising the spanner and i was probably 20 minutes at most away from complete exhaustion and giving up... my arm was quite fantastically stiff and painful the next day - both the elbow and the wrist, and lingered a couple more days after that as a mild irritation. I had no expectation that it would actually work it was just desperation... but it was 2am and nobody inside would answer their phone... I was not in a good enough situation to afford an expensive locksmith and similarly breaking the door in was not an option.
logfromblammo 13y ago
A good place to start is office furniture locks. They usually aren't very well made, and therefore easy to pick. The nearby office supplies can be used as your tools. You can use the large wire from one side of a binder clip as-is as your torque wrench, and a bent paper clip as your rake pick. First, straighten the clip, then bend the middle into a triangle shape. Bend the ends outward for better control over depth and angle. Insert the binder clip wire, apply some torque, and scrub the pointy end of the triangle on your former paper clip against the pins. The lock will turn in seconds. You may need to adjust the shape of the triangle somewhat to achieve best results. Popping open your first lock with entirely improvised materials is a powerful reminder that cheap locks are little deterrent to anyone but the most casual and unmotivated intruders, just like privacy locks in bathrooms.
- runjake 13y ago
  Also Sentry brand safe locks are awful(ly easy to pick), as well as handgun locks, sadly.
- jheriko 13y ago
  actually i find that 'mechanically' opening these kinds of things is usually easier - I remember getting into one of those lockable little cashboxes (that every office seems to have) when I lost a key for it by prying the lid open and bending the case just enough to get one of my fingers far enough in to unhook the catch from the inside with it - pointless little boxes really.
  - na85 13y ago
    They're not designed to be thief-proof. For that you need a bank vault or safe. Those little boxes are designed to prevent me from swiping your $50 bill in your drawer when your back is turned or you step out of the room for 30 seconds.
- moron4hire 13y ago
  My friends and I got free games of pool in our dorm's common room because of the crappiness of cheap locks. I was able to get the lock for the panel that covered the ball return to open with the can opener end of my Swiss Army knife.
GuiA 13y ago
I taught myself how to pick locks my final year of high school - in France, high school students have to take the "baccalauréat", a set of exams that cover everything you've studied in high school, in all subjects. It spans the course of 2 weeks or so, and you get 1 week to prepare before it. I hadn't been doing so hot in high school (writing assembly for my TI-83's z80 was more fun than reading Shakespeare and doing derivatives), so my parents locked my laptop in the attic for me to focus on revising during that week. Of course, I spent a few hours reading at the local library on lock picking, and managed to get my laptop from the attic on the first day (the lock was a fairly old model too, which helps). I spent the rest of the revision week writing C and hanging out in IRC :') For the record, I did pretty well on the baccalauréat :)
- agumonkey 13y ago
  A lot less glorious but in junior high school, some old ATX computer cases had a keylock connected to the motherboard, with BIOS support it would stop before bootloading. Being locked out of the computer being the best motivation, I dared to open and disconnect the wires and ran the computer innocently, after all, I never took the keys so it looked an error on my parents side.
- entropy_ 13y ago
  Similar thing happened with my when I was ~14, except it was the family desktop -- laptops were way too expensive for us back then -- and they had a lock on a power switch that led up to the computer. Learned to pick locks and got extensively lectured about why I shouldn't do things just because I can. My parents eventually gave up on trying to lock my out of the PC(after trying BIOS passwords, OS-level passwords and combination locks). Funnily enough, I learned C when I was supposed to be studying for the baccalauréat. I'd learned programming in BASIC for a casio calculator(mainly for making games and a few solvers for things that we were supposed to solve manually in exams but that were too tedious). A friend of mine linked me to http://siteduzero.com/ http://siteduzero.com/ (apparently it's changed to http://fr.openclassrooms.com/ http://fr.openclassrooms.com/ recently) and I ended up not studying. That really hurt me in History, Geography and Biology(which require a lot of memorization) but otherwise I breezed through everything else. PS: I'm not in France but in a country where the french baccalauréat is considered equivalent to the state-mandated exams(Lebanon, used to be under French mandate).
mynoseknows 13y ago
This is why my deadbolt uses an Abloy Protec2 cylinder (custom ordered from Bay Area Locks: http://www.bayarealocks.com http://www.bayarealocks.com). It's drill resistant, and it's disk-based so it's bump and rake proof. Abloy also claims it's pick proof. Whether that will remain true in the future I'm not sure, but I do know that at the very least it has yet to be successfully picked. If someone did figure out a way it would likely be extremely difficult to do in practice. After watching some videos that showed just how easy it is to simply kick a door in, another thing I did was replace my strike plate with a heavier duty one, and replace the worthless 3/4" screws that "hold" most strike plates in with 4" screws that actually go into the 2x4's of the house frame.
- jheriko 13y ago
  > After watching some videos that showed just how easy it is to simply kick a door in, another thing I did was replace my strike plate with a heavier duty one, and replace the worthless 3/4" screws that "hold" most strike plates in with 4" screws that actually go into the 2x4's of the house frame. This is good advice. I did this on my own door frame after being broken into on the first day where the door had simply been kicked in. I can not kick the door in now - I tried. Although the quality of the door is important too - mine bends really quite far before breaking. :) If you are really security conscious and you don't have them already - I suggest brushes at the door frame edge and the letterbox to prevent approaches other than picking.
  - mynoseknows 13y ago
    If you have a door that's not very strong and you can't afford to replace it with one that is, they do make metal plates that wrap around the deadbolt and optionally the door handle, which apparently makes it much more difficult to break the door itself. They look something like this: http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/FH11JAU_DOOSEC_02.JPG http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/FH11JAU_DO...
- pirateking 13y ago
  What about your windows?
lowglow 13y ago
I'm trying to prototype something called The Hacker Pen and wanted to get some community feedback. It's basically a nice heavy pen, with lock picks on the inside. It will also include a USB key with a digital penetration testing suite on it. What are your thoughts?
- jamesbritt 13y ago
  Nice idea. Depending on where you sell this from you may want to check the laws about providing such a tool and if you need to verify anything about the customer before allowing a sale. For example in some parts of the USA one has to show proof of either being a licensed locksmith or a member of some law enforcemnt group.
  - portmanteaufu 13y ago
    Here's a good starting reference on the legality of owning lockpicks from state to state: http://toool.us/laws.html http://toool.us/laws.html It doesn't cover sale / purchase, just ownership by state.
    - sitkack 13y ago
      Wow, two different colors of green. That person must hate the color blind with a passion.
    - lowglow 13y ago
      Sweet! Good find. :)
emhart 13y ago
Pardon the self-promotion, but this hits a bit close to my area. If you'd like a much more comprehensive guide: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66CD42F86F3A1F85&feature=plcp http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66CD42F86F3A1F85&feat... I also cover disc detainers, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm shooting a new series on lock forensics presently, just got a great microscope that can take my DSLR for high def microscopy.
- erock 13y ago
  check out picked locks under an electron microscope. http://pumpingstationone.org/2013/12/lock-picking-and-sem/ http://pumpingstationone.org/2013/12/lock-picking-and-sem/ you can actually tell which ones were picked.
  - emhart 13y ago
    <3 PS1. In Ollie's seminal "Impressioning" he also used SEM to look at keys as they were impressioning locks.
    - erock 13y ago
      oohh i'm going to have to dig to find the one on impressioning
      - gknoy 13y ago
        I'm not sure if this is what he was talking about, but it seems like this is related: DEFCON 19: "Key Impressioning" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QnG5RHyq8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QnG5RHyq8
        emhart 13y ago
        Definitely related, and datagram & I covered the basics the year prior as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PqzkoQQ7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PqzkoQQ7s
- 13y ago
codezero 13y ago
Can anyone explain how the pins getting "set" works? I understand there is torque applied to the entire cylinder, but once you push a pin up, why does it stay there, is it just the torque? How can you push many pins up when the torque required for each pin to become set is presumably variable?
- lewaldman 13y ago
  It stay stuck on the outer frame because in the process to drill the holes on the lock frame, the alignment of them is never 100% accurate. The torque is not variable, the order that you press the pins is.
  - codezero 13y ago
    Ah OK, still a bit mysterious, but I think I get what you're saying.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- emhart 13y ago
  It catches on the shelf of the pin chamber. Every time you set a pin, the plug actually rotates ever so slightly, misaligning the upper and lower pin chambers of whatever pin you were working on. The driver pin can't return to the lower chamber, and now you are putting pressure on another pin. Find that one, lift up, plug rotates, it sits on the shelf, next pin binds, and so on and so forth.
  - codezero 13y ago
    So does this mean that you have to set pins sequentially? It seems like if the plug rotates slightly, it does it for the entire length of the lock, so doesn't this affect whether or not other pins are able to be set?
    - emhart 13y ago
lewaldman 13y ago
One thing that I did when I was learning it, was to prepare a set of training locks. I bought two locks, diassembled then and reassembled leaving aside a number of pins out. So I had a lock with only one pin, one with two, one with 4 and one with all the 5 pins. It helped a lot because you learn to feel when the pin stucks on the open position and also to learn about how much pressure you need to put on the tensor. Too much and it will prevent the pins to go down. Too little and the pins will not stuck on the outer frame. Ahh, and ofcourse, see the lock diassembled over my desk, and reassemble it gave a lot more insight on how it works than to just watch some animations.
Aloha 13y ago
As a field engineer, I often use the universal key (screwdriver) to open doors - sometimes you don't even need to pick the lock - just move the hasp out of the way.
- vacri 13y ago
  I met a guy who used to check fire extinguishers for a living. Frequently in places that weren't staffed. Rather than wait, he said he'd sometimes just pick the lock (with prior permission), check the extinguisher and go on his way.
justinzollars 13y ago
I feel like Lock Picking is an obligatory subject for hackers. Defcon hosts these events, hackernews features these posts. I don't find it interesting to break into something mechanical
smilliken 13y ago
The MIT Guide to Lockpicking[1] is the classic resource for getting started. It's an exceptionally good tutorial because it teaches you how locks work so you have a solid mental model you can refer to. [1] http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/ http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/
- shocks 13y ago
  I came here to say this. My father provided me with a printed copy of this book and a few locks from the garage and I learnt a lot. A very rewarding experience for a young mind.
smiro2000 13y ago
cached page => http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.hackthis.co.uk/articles/picking-locks-a-basic-guide http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...
obtino 13y ago
The MIT guide to lock picking is rather good as well: www.lysator.liu.se/mit-guide/MITLockGuide.pdf‎
kriro 13y ago
It's fun and relaxing but most locks are too easy to pick. For me it's kind of similar to knitting as a relaxing exercise :D I still remember a fun talk I heard about the safety of gun safes (or lack thereof). They cracked it and told the manufacturers how easy it was and got a reply along the lines of "well maybe it's easy for a specialist like you with good equipment but it's safe enough for normal folks". Next slide contained a video of a 6 year old kid (highly trained security specialist) cracking the thing with a straw (specialized security equipment).
samstave 13y ago
I have been locksporting by myself for some time, and I make my own picks from street sweeper blades. If you're at all interested in picking, do yourself a favor and get this practice lock for ~$40 it is amazing: http://learnlockpicking.com/ http://learnlockpicking.com/ Also, I highly recommend getting on the TOOOL email list for your area. in the SF bay it is tooosf@googlegroups.com - great group and good list, although I mostly lurk. Here are some of my picks.... ignore the lame embellishments; I am not very artistic :) http://imgur.com/a/ug2wI#0 http://imgur.com/a/ug2wI#0
- emhart 13y ago
  I love your pinning tray! Absolutely gorgeous. Nice work rolling your own, few things in this world are as satisfying as opening a lock with tools you made yourself.
cmiller1 13y ago
With the inexpensiveness of electronics today, why haven't we moved from a mechanical "password" (the height of the pins) to a simple electronic code programmed into the key?
- Schweigi 13y ago
  My key to the office building has a chip inside. So i guess they are slowy coming.
Schweigi 13y ago
It looks like most lock picking videos focus on the easy locks. How hard would it be to pick a lock with side pins or however they are called? For example the Kaba locks use them and most houses e.g. in Switzerland do have one of them. http://www.kaba.sg/media/470570/v4/resized650x-1/mechanical-locks-kaba-star-schluessel.jpg http://www.kaba.sg/media/470570/v4/resized650x-1/mechanical-...
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
timeecho 13y ago
Wont always work thoughwith every lock. What does work is a drill. All cylinders must be made of soft non-corrosive metal like brass.Just send a big enuf drill down the cylinder and twist it with a screwdriver, quiker;)
DonateKarma 13y ago
Growing up as the middle of 7 children - 5 of them girls - I taught myself how to open padlocks with their bobby pins. It started for the usual mischief, opening their secret young girl things, and then moved onto more rewarding achievements. My technique was to break the pin into two, using the wavy pin as the tension pick, and the straight pin to rotate the barrel. This hasn't failed me on any padlock I've come across, and with practice will take only a few seconds.
kazagistar 13y ago
The fatal flaw with physical keys is that the image IS the key. As 3d fabrication and photography become ubiquitous, it becomes more and more absurd to use these locks to protect anything. In essence, anyone who has seen a key gains the permanent irrevocable ability to bypass that lock, until the lock is replaced.
- emhart 13y ago
  So - don't let anyone see your key.
sussman 13y ago
A couple years ago I bought this book, read it in a few days, and was on my way. Highly recommended. Super fun. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Lock-Picking-Physical-Penetration-ebook/dp/B008S8I77E http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Lock-Picking-Physical-Penetr...
jgg 13y ago
I may or may not have learned at a boring job with filing cabinets and other locks...I promise if you hire me, I won't do that, though. Anyway, this is a crazy hard skill to master, simply because of the feel required to actually push each pin in place, and the fact that you're doing it blindly and often without so much as audible feedback from the lock. You definitely need to practice to get good, and there are all types of funky locks outside of your home country
blunte 13y ago
I don't know if this affects everyone as it does me, but light text on black background is really, really tiring for me to read. It leaves white and black horizontal stripes in my vision for many minutes. On sites like this I have to open my developer view and fix the CSS.
gcb0 13y ago
How I and the ocasional lock smith uses lock pick "practicaly": 1. get any torque wrench (L-shapped metal that goes in the keyhole) 2. get any triangular pick (any thin metal that goes in the hole, saw a triangular tip) 3. insert the pick as far as it goes, apply some tension to the torque wrench, pull the pick out it pressing against the lock pins. 4. repeat #3 until lock is open. you will usually ram the lock like there is no tomorrow, so some graphite or other kind of lubricant may help.
vincentbarr 13y ago
Helpful animations on how locks work: http://toool.us/deviant/ http://toool.us/deviant/ Good presentation on types of locks and approaches to picking: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe-08/Deviant_Ollam/Presentation/bh-eu-08-deviant_ollam.pdf http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe-08/Deviant_O... And a guy who knows a ton about picking: http://deviating.net/lockpicking/slides.html http://deviating.net/lockpicking/slides.html
xmus 13y ago
am gonna go on a lock-picking rampage!
yason 13y ago
Finland is nearly completely fitted with Abloy rotating disk locks for anything worth locking down, and this was a nerdly disappointment when I was a teenager and got interested in how to pick locks. There weren't meaningful, pickable locks to play with. The older Abloy locks from 60's/70's can apparently be picked if you're really skillful but it takes a lot of time and effort, and this was never common knowledge. I read about hackers who were picking locks in the USA, or just outside of Scandinavia, and how pin tumbler locks work, and realized that those would indeed be plausibly pickable but I never had access to them in practice. I think probably could've found some if I really, really wanted to but nobody was using them for anything serious so learning to pick something considered as toy locks wasn't very motivating.
nulluk 13y ago
Trained as a locksmith out of college, dad and sibling still trade mainly on "warrant runs" for the large energy providers when they need to get access to house to cut people off. It's really cool seeing people take an interest in picking, but just wanted to point out that professional & hobbyist picking is completely different. A professional’s first priority normally is to get into the property, damage generally not being a huge issue so the approach changes dramatically. First you try all the doors, as you would be surprised by how many people just simply don't lock their doors whilst making a judgment what will be the easiest entrance. Then you target the door with the worst lock, normally a UPVC door with a euro cylinder and use an electric pick gun to give it a quick blast. This gets you in within 5 minutes 90% of the time. [1] If the pick gun doesn't work you snap the cylinder in the door and replace the lock for a total cost of about £5 [2] The hardest part of the whole job is when you have to identify a mortice lock in order to bypass it and knowing if it's worth an attempt at a pick. (Simple 3 lever locks are worth a pick first before a drill) Once the lock has been identified though it's easy to drill, you get your template out [3], mark up the holes and drill out the stump There are also other methods and the general gist of the story is you use the method which takes the least amount of time with doesn't leave an unreasonable amount of cost! Some other methods/products to look at which are interesting and commonly used: - Mica, a specifically made plastic for slipping rim latches, most commonly referred to as "yale locks": http://uklockpickers.co.uk/mica-shim.html http://uklockpickers.co.uk/mica-shim.html - Letterbox tool, very basic (its just posh string on a stick) but also very effective at knocking off deadbolts or opening a latch that won't slip: http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/bypass-tools/letterbox-tools?product_id=161 http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/bypass-tools/letterbox-too... - Try out keys for mortice locks with a low number of levers: http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/mortice-picks-tools/try-out-keys?product_id=121 http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/mortice-picks-tools/try-ou... - Plug spinner for when you pick the lock the wrong way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUmCUj44BPg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUmCUj44BPg [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mTtk9QtcoPc#t=190 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mTt... [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqhhXyROxQM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqhhXyROxQM [3] http://www.eltonlockservices.co.uk/drill%20template%20new%20front.jpg http://www.eltonlockservices.co.uk/drill%20template%20new%20...
crsmith 13y ago
Does anyone have a lock recommendation for making an apartment/house more secure?

252 points by hackthisuk 13y ago

I was really into this back in high school but never got proficient in it. The concept is simple to understand but actually executing it takes a LOT of practice. Raking can open a lot of older locks pretty quickly, but that doesn't mean you're skilled. Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states.

runjake 13y ago
> Raking can open a lot of older locks pretty quickly, but that doesn't mean you're skilled. I disagree. Raking has opened a lot (most I've tried) of locks in my experience. So, I'd say I'm pretty skilled at picking locks.
- corin_ 13y ago
  I've managed to open a lot of unlocked doors (most I've tried) but wouldn't consider myself "skilled" at it, since it's a pretty easy task. I think the definition of "skill" implies something that isn't easy, thus being able to do something isn't automatically proof of skill.
  - breischl 13y ago
    >>I've managed to open a lot of unlocked doors Me too! My success rate is over 90% for unlocked doors. Locked ones are harder. ;)
    - corin_ 13y ago
      Do you refer to yourself as skilled at opening unlocked doors? :)
      - samstave 13y ago
        http://i.imgur.com/Kcerv5S.jpg http://i.imgur.com/Kcerv5S.jpg
- rlt3 13y ago
  Was Michael Jordon considered good because he beat a lot of high school kids?
  - freehunter 13y ago
    If his goal was to beat high school kids and he did just that, then yes. If your goal is to pick locks and you successfully pick the locks you want to open, then you're good at picking locks. Can you be a good programmer without being the best programmer or even a world class programmer?
    - rlt3 13y ago
      Am I a great programmer if I can write a really good "Hello World" in C?
      - Someone 13y ago
        No, but you may be a great "Hello world in C" writer. People can be insanely fast at solving Rubik's 3x3x3, but that doesn't imply they are good at puzzles in general or even at a 4x4x4. [by the way, "Hello World" in C is a surprising amount of work. For example, version 2.9 is over 270 lines, and saw over 40 revisions for the main file (http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hello.git/log/src/hello.c) http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/hello.git/log/src/hello.c)]
    - saraid216 13y ago
      When did skill become a function of subjective goals?
      - freehunter 13y ago
        When you factor in things such as "I'm a skilled programmer, but I don't know Ada." Are you still a skilled programmer? Sure, you're quite good at Ruby and Javascript. But you don't know Ada. Why not? Because your goal was never to learn every programming language. If you want to pick every lock available to you and you can do so quickly and successfully, you're a skilled lock picker. Buying harder locks just to show you can pick them is an academic feat, not necessarily a real-world skill. Skill is just aptitude in doing something successfully.
chongli 13y ago
Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states. Which is just completely silly. Who is going to pick the lock on somebody's house to break in? The idea of the highly-skilled locksmith cat-burglar is complete fiction.
- markdown 13y ago
  > Who is going to pick the lock on somebody's house to break in? Wait, why wouldn't this be better than smashing a window to get in?
  - pavpanchekha 13y ago
    Because it takes forever. Front door locks are admittedly not so strong, but it could still take a good pick-lock several minutes, while a window could be broken through in seconds. As for being stealthier… Windows can be cut stealthily, and crouching by a door for five minutes looks rather suspicious by itself.
    - thirdsight 13y ago
      Actually when my friend was burgled, they stuck a Hi-Lift jack[1] on the frame horizontally and cranked it until the frame came off. The police reckoned the door was open in under 20 seconds and their place was emptied of valuable stuff in under 4 minutes. They got spooked and left the jack on the street but they managed to nick everything. [1] http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/index.html http://www.hi-lift.com/hi-lift-jacks/index.html
    - caprad 13y ago
      A lot of doors are hidden from view by trees or fences. And then you have side and back doors. And the advantage to not make any noise or carrying around expensive tools (simple lock pick tools can be very cheap), make it not completely unreasonable. Still, banning tools is not the greatest idea.
legohead 13y ago
I decided to try it out since I have fidgety hands and I figured I could practice while I read articles and such. I was disappointed at how easy it ended up being. Every lock I purchased I could pick within a few seconds with a rake, or maybe 60 seconds with a hook, so I just gave it up. I splurged once and got one of the top brands meant for homes. It took more concentration and you couldn't just rake it, but I still got to where I could open it in under a minute. I'm talking about maybe 20 hours total spent on developing this skill. A complete novice, only understanding how to use the tools, can open any wally world bought padlock with a rake in seconds.
- deleted 13y ago
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analog31 13y ago
>>> Also, just owning the tools is illegal in some states. Yes, there is a provision in state laws against possession of "thieves tools."

jheriko 13y ago

A much cheaper and easier approach that works for most locks is to get a coke bottle and tear a strip out of it, then use it to do the 'hollywood credit card trick'. unlike a credit card it doesn't snap or break very easily - the type of plastic will become softer when placed under pressure and is very flexible but strong - if you continue to force it in the right area it will work its way around hard corners and into tiny gaps until there is enough pressure to pop the bolt. when the bolt has an edge that is sloped towards you it will pop on the first push (the way i see most 'yale style' locks fitted on doors that open inwards - i.e. most front doors) it takes an exceptionally tightly fitted door frame to prohibit this (e.g. one with brushes or hermetic seals) the one time i couldn't break into my own home doing this was because there was a brush fitted down the side of the door - fortunately there was not one fitted in the letter box, so i found a long spanner at a nearby construction site and then spent the next four hours of my life whacking the mechanism from through the letterbox blindly until i caught the handle the right way and the door popped open...

sillysaurus2 13y ago
You opened your door by putting something through your letterbox? That's awesome. Did you catch the doorknob or the lock turner? Was the door handle flat instead of round, or...? Hard to imagine the logistics.
- jheriko 13y ago
  it was one of those ellipsoid shaped twisty things. and there was no deadbolt on the door. (i.e. there was one bolt, no separate lock to doorknob) it took a lot of effort, my intent was to hit the far side of the spinny thing and hope that the momentum would be enough to get through the catch and click it - i did this by extending my arm through the letterbox as far as possible then angling the spanner back and twisting my wrist to provide the impacts - feeling through the spanner if i was hitting anything and trying to guess from the response if it was the right thing. i found the right thing quickly by feeling around it and working out that it wobbled and made little clicks in the right ways. the biggest problem was that the spanner was quite fantastically heavy when wielded this way - although the impact that knocked it open was not especially hard or directed I was quite tired by that point and it was a pleasant surprise when it popped open so i can't honestly say it was the technique that worked more than the determination. my arm was struggling to continue raising the spanner and i was probably 20 minutes at most away from complete exhaustion and giving up... my arm was quite fantastically stiff and painful the next day - both the elbow and the wrist, and lingered a couple more days after that as a mild irritation. I had no expectation that it would actually work it was just desperation... but it was 2am and nobody inside would answer their phone... I was not in a good enough situation to afford an expensive locksmith and similarly breaking the door in was not an option.

logfromblammo 13y ago

A good place to start is office furniture locks. They usually aren't very well made, and therefore easy to pick. The nearby office supplies can be used as your tools. You can use the large wire from one side of a binder clip as-is as your torque wrench, and a bent paper clip as your rake pick. First, straighten the clip, then bend the middle into a triangle shape. Bend the ends outward for better control over depth and angle. Insert the binder clip wire, apply some torque, and scrub the pointy end of the triangle on your former paper clip against the pins. The lock will turn in seconds. You may need to adjust the shape of the triangle somewhat to achieve best results. Popping open your first lock with entirely improvised materials is a powerful reminder that cheap locks are little deterrent to anyone but the most casual and unmotivated intruders, just like privacy locks in bathrooms.

runjake 13y ago
Also Sentry brand safe locks are awful(ly easy to pick), as well as handgun locks, sadly.
jheriko 13y ago
actually i find that 'mechanically' opening these kinds of things is usually easier - I remember getting into one of those lockable little cashboxes (that every office seems to have) when I lost a key for it by prying the lid open and bending the case just enough to get one of my fingers far enough in to unhook the catch from the inside with it - pointless little boxes really.
- na85 13y ago
  They're not designed to be thief-proof. For that you need a bank vault or safe. Those little boxes are designed to prevent me from swiping your $50 bill in your drawer when your back is turned or you step out of the room for 30 seconds.
moron4hire 13y ago
My friends and I got free games of pool in our dorm's common room because of the crappiness of cheap locks. I was able to get the lock for the panel that covered the ball return to open with the can opener end of my Swiss Army knife.

GuiA 13y ago

I taught myself how to pick locks my final year of high school - in France, high school students have to take the "baccalauréat", a set of exams that cover everything you've studied in high school, in all subjects. It spans the course of 2 weeks or so, and you get 1 week to prepare before it. I hadn't been doing so hot in high school (writing assembly for my TI-83's z80 was more fun than reading Shakespeare and doing derivatives), so my parents locked my laptop in the attic for me to focus on revising during that week. Of course, I spent a few hours reading at the local library on lock picking, and managed to get my laptop from the attic on the first day (the lock was a fairly old model too, which helps). I spent the rest of the revision week writing C and hanging out in IRC :') For the record, I did pretty well on the baccalauréat :)

agumonkey 13y ago
A lot less glorious but in junior high school, some old ATX computer cases had a keylock connected to the motherboard, with BIOS support it would stop before bootloading. Being locked out of the computer being the best motivation, I dared to open and disconnect the wires and ran the computer innocently, after all, I never took the keys so it looked an error on my parents side.
entropy_ 13y ago
Similar thing happened with my when I was ~14, except it was the family desktop -- laptops were way too expensive for us back then -- and they had a lock on a power switch that led up to the computer. Learned to pick locks and got extensively lectured about why I shouldn't do things just because I can. My parents eventually gave up on trying to lock my out of the PC(after trying BIOS passwords, OS-level passwords and combination locks). Funnily enough, I learned C when I was supposed to be studying for the baccalauréat. I'd learned programming in BASIC for a casio calculator(mainly for making games and a few solvers for things that we were supposed to solve manually in exams but that were too tedious). A friend of mine linked me to http://siteduzero.com/ http://siteduzero.com/ (apparently it's changed to http://fr.openclassrooms.com/ http://fr.openclassrooms.com/ recently) and I ended up not studying. That really hurt me in History, Geography and Biology(which require a lot of memorization) but otherwise I breezed through everything else. PS: I'm not in France but in a country where the french baccalauréat is considered equivalent to the state-mandated exams(Lebanon, used to be under French mandate).

mynoseknows 13y ago

This is why my deadbolt uses an Abloy Protec2 cylinder (custom ordered from Bay Area Locks: http://www.bayarealocks.com http://www.bayarealocks.com). It's drill resistant, and it's disk-based so it's bump and rake proof. Abloy also claims it's pick proof. Whether that will remain true in the future I'm not sure, but I do know that at the very least it has yet to be successfully picked. If someone did figure out a way it would likely be extremely difficult to do in practice. After watching some videos that showed just how easy it is to simply kick a door in, another thing I did was replace my strike plate with a heavier duty one, and replace the worthless 3/4" screws that "hold" most strike plates in with 4" screws that actually go into the 2x4's of the house frame.

jheriko 13y ago
> After watching some videos that showed just how easy it is to simply kick a door in, another thing I did was replace my strike plate with a heavier duty one, and replace the worthless 3/4" screws that "hold" most strike plates in with 4" screws that actually go into the 2x4's of the house frame. This is good advice. I did this on my own door frame after being broken into on the first day where the door had simply been kicked in. I can not kick the door in now - I tried. Although the quality of the door is important too - mine bends really quite far before breaking. :) If you are really security conscious and you don't have them already - I suggest brushes at the door frame edge and the letterbox to prevent approaches other than picking.
- mynoseknows 13y ago
  If you have a door that's not very strong and you can't afford to replace it with one that is, they do make metal plates that wrap around the deadbolt and optionally the door handle, which apparently makes it much more difficult to break the door itself. They look something like this: http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/FH11JAU_DOOSEC_02.JPG http://hostedmedia.reimanpub.com/TFH/Step-By-Step/FH11JAU_DO...
pirateking 13y ago
What about your windows?

lowglow 13y ago

I'm trying to prototype something called The Hacker Pen and wanted to get some community feedback. It's basically a nice heavy pen, with lock picks on the inside. It will also include a USB key with a digital penetration testing suite on it. What are your thoughts?

jamesbritt 13y ago
Nice idea. Depending on where you sell this from you may want to check the laws about providing such a tool and if you need to verify anything about the customer before allowing a sale. For example in some parts of the USA one has to show proof of either being a licensed locksmith or a member of some law enforcemnt group.
- portmanteaufu 13y ago
  Here's a good starting reference on the legality of owning lockpicks from state to state: http://toool.us/laws.html http://toool.us/laws.html It doesn't cover sale / purchase, just ownership by state.
  - sitkack 13y ago
    Wow, two different colors of green. That person must hate the color blind with a passion.
  - lowglow 13y ago
    Sweet! Good find. :)

emhart 13y ago

Pardon the self-promotion, but this hits a bit close to my area. If you'd like a much more comprehensive guide: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66CD42F86F3A1F85&feature=plcp http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66CD42F86F3A1F85&feat... I also cover disc detainers, and a bunch of other stuff. I'm shooting a new series on lock forensics presently, just got a great microscope that can take my DSLR for high def microscopy.

erock 13y ago
check out picked locks under an electron microscope. http://pumpingstationone.org/2013/12/lock-picking-and-sem/ http://pumpingstationone.org/2013/12/lock-picking-and-sem/ you can actually tell which ones were picked.
- emhart 13y ago
  <3 PS1. In Ollie's seminal "Impressioning" he also used SEM to look at keys as they were impressioning locks.
  - erock 13y ago
    oohh i'm going to have to dig to find the one on impressioning
    - gknoy 13y ago
      I'm not sure if this is what he was talking about, but it seems like this is related: DEFCON 19: "Key Impressioning" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QnG5RHyq8 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8QnG5RHyq8
      - emhart 13y ago
        Definitely related, and datagram & I covered the basics the year prior as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PqzkoQQ7s http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-PqzkoQQ7s
13y ago

codezero 13y ago

Can anyone explain how the pins getting "set" works? I understand there is torque applied to the entire cylinder, but once you push a pin up, why does it stay there, is it just the torque? How can you push many pins up when the torque required for each pin to become set is presumably variable?

lewaldman 13y ago
It stay stuck on the outer frame because in the process to drill the holes on the lock frame, the alignment of them is never 100% accurate. The torque is not variable, the order that you press the pins is.
- codezero 13y ago
  Ah OK, still a bit mysterious, but I think I get what you're saying.
deleted 13y ago
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emhart 13y ago
It catches on the shelf of the pin chamber. Every time you set a pin, the plug actually rotates ever so slightly, misaligning the upper and lower pin chambers of whatever pin you were working on. The driver pin can't return to the lower chamber, and now you are putting pressure on another pin. Find that one, lift up, plug rotates, it sits on the shelf, next pin binds, and so on and so forth.
- codezero 13y ago
  So does this mean that you have to set pins sequentially? It seems like if the plug rotates slightly, it does it for the entire length of the lock, so doesn't this affect whether or not other pins are able to be set?
  - emhart 13y ago

lewaldman 13y ago

One thing that I did when I was learning it, was to prepare a set of training locks. I bought two locks, diassembled then and reassembled leaving aside a number of pins out. So I had a lock with only one pin, one with two, one with 4 and one with all the 5 pins. It helped a lot because you learn to feel when the pin stucks on the open position and also to learn about how much pressure you need to put on the tensor. Too much and it will prevent the pins to go down. Too little and the pins will not stuck on the outer frame. Ahh, and ofcourse, see the lock diassembled over my desk, and reassemble it gave a lot more insight on how it works than to just watch some animations.

Aloha 13y ago

As a field engineer, I often use the universal key (screwdriver) to open doors - sometimes you don't even need to pick the lock - just move the hasp out of the way.

vacri 13y ago
I met a guy who used to check fire extinguishers for a living. Frequently in places that weren't staffed. Rather than wait, he said he'd sometimes just pick the lock (with prior permission), check the extinguisher and go on his way.

justinzollars 13y ago

I feel like Lock Picking is an obligatory subject for hackers. Defcon hosts these events, hackernews features these posts. I don't find it interesting to break into something mechanical

smilliken 13y ago

The MIT Guide to Lockpicking[1] is the classic resource for getting started. It's an exceptionally good tutorial because it teaches you how locks work so you have a solid mental model you can refer to. [1] http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/ http://www.capricorn.org/~akira/home/lockpick/

shocks 13y ago
I came here to say this. My father provided me with a printed copy of this book and a few locks from the garage and I learnt a lot. A very rewarding experience for a young mind.

smiro2000 13y ago

cached page => http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https://www.hackthis.co.uk/articles/picking-locks-a-basic-guide http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:https:/...

obtino 13y ago

The MIT guide to lock picking is rather good as well: www.lysator.liu.se/mit-guide/MITLockGuide.pdf‎

kriro 13y ago

It's fun and relaxing but most locks are too easy to pick. For me it's kind of similar to knitting as a relaxing exercise :D I still remember a fun talk I heard about the safety of gun safes (or lack thereof). They cracked it and told the manufacturers how easy it was and got a reply along the lines of "well maybe it's easy for a specialist like you with good equipment but it's safe enough for normal folks". Next slide contained a video of a 6 year old kid (highly trained security specialist) cracking the thing with a straw (specialized security equipment).

samstave 13y ago

I have been locksporting by myself for some time, and I make my own picks from street sweeper blades. If you're at all interested in picking, do yourself a favor and get this practice lock for ~$40 it is amazing: http://learnlockpicking.com/ http://learnlockpicking.com/ Also, I highly recommend getting on the TOOOL email list for your area. in the SF bay it is tooosf@googlegroups.com - great group and good list, although I mostly lurk. Here are some of my picks.... ignore the lame embellishments; I am not very artistic :) http://imgur.com/a/ug2wI#0 http://imgur.com/a/ug2wI#0

emhart 13y ago
I love your pinning tray! Absolutely gorgeous. Nice work rolling your own, few things in this world are as satisfying as opening a lock with tools you made yourself.

cmiller1 13y ago

With the inexpensiveness of electronics today, why haven't we moved from a mechanical "password" (the height of the pins) to a simple electronic code programmed into the key?

Schweigi 13y ago
My key to the office building has a chip inside. So i guess they are slowy coming.

Schweigi 13y ago

It looks like most lock picking videos focus on the easy locks. How hard would it be to pick a lock with side pins or however they are called? For example the Kaba locks use them and most houses e.g. in Switzerland do have one of them. http://www.kaba.sg/media/470570/v4/resized650x-1/mechanical-locks-kaba-star-schluessel.jpg http://www.kaba.sg/media/470570/v4/resized650x-1/mechanical-...

deleted 13y ago
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timeecho 13y ago

Wont always work thoughwith every lock. What does work is a drill. All cylinders must be made of soft non-corrosive metal like brass.Just send a big enuf drill down the cylinder and twist it with a screwdriver, quiker;)

DonateKarma 13y ago

Growing up as the middle of 7 children - 5 of them girls - I taught myself how to open padlocks with their bobby pins. It started for the usual mischief, opening their secret young girl things, and then moved onto more rewarding achievements. My technique was to break the pin into two, using the wavy pin as the tension pick, and the straight pin to rotate the barrel. This hasn't failed me on any padlock I've come across, and with practice will take only a few seconds.

kazagistar 13y ago

The fatal flaw with physical keys is that the image IS the key. As 3d fabrication and photography become ubiquitous, it becomes more and more absurd to use these locks to protect anything. In essence, anyone who has seen a key gains the permanent irrevocable ability to bypass that lock, until the lock is replaced.

emhart 13y ago
So - don't let anyone see your key.

sussman 13y ago

A couple years ago I bought this book, read it in a few days, and was on my way. Highly recommended. Super fun. http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Lock-Picking-Physical-Penetration-ebook/dp/B008S8I77E http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Lock-Picking-Physical-Penetr...

jgg 13y ago

I may or may not have learned at a boring job with filing cabinets and other locks...I promise if you hire me, I won't do that, though. Anyway, this is a crazy hard skill to master, simply because of the feel required to actually push each pin in place, and the fact that you're doing it blindly and often without so much as audible feedback from the lock. You definitely need to practice to get good, and there are all types of funky locks outside of your home country

blunte 13y ago

I don't know if this affects everyone as it does me, but light text on black background is really, really tiring for me to read. It leaves white and black horizontal stripes in my vision for many minutes. On sites like this I have to open my developer view and fix the CSS.

gcb0 13y ago

How I and the ocasional lock smith uses lock pick "practicaly": 1. get any torque wrench (L-shapped metal that goes in the keyhole) 2. get any triangular pick (any thin metal that goes in the hole, saw a triangular tip) 3. insert the pick as far as it goes, apply some tension to the torque wrench, pull the pick out it pressing against the lock pins. 4. repeat #3 until lock is open. you will usually ram the lock like there is no tomorrow, so some graphite or other kind of lubricant may help.

vincentbarr 13y ago

Helpful animations on how locks work: http://toool.us/deviant/ http://toool.us/deviant/ Good presentation on types of locks and approaches to picking: http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe-08/Deviant_Ollam/Presentation/bh-eu-08-deviant_ollam.pdf http://www.blackhat.com/presentations/bh-europe-08/Deviant_O... And a guy who knows a ton about picking: http://deviating.net/lockpicking/slides.html http://deviating.net/lockpicking/slides.html

xmus 13y ago

am gonna go on a lock-picking rampage!

yason 13y ago

Finland is nearly completely fitted with Abloy rotating disk locks for anything worth locking down, and this was a nerdly disappointment when I was a teenager and got interested in how to pick locks. There weren't meaningful, pickable locks to play with. The older Abloy locks from 60's/70's can apparently be picked if you're really skillful but it takes a lot of time and effort, and this was never common knowledge. I read about hackers who were picking locks in the USA, or just outside of Scandinavia, and how pin tumbler locks work, and realized that those would indeed be plausibly pickable but I never had access to them in practice. I think probably could've found some if I really, really wanted to but nobody was using them for anything serious so learning to pick something considered as toy locks wasn't very motivating.

nulluk 13y ago

Trained as a locksmith out of college, dad and sibling still trade mainly on "warrant runs" for the large energy providers when they need to get access to house to cut people off. It's really cool seeing people take an interest in picking, but just wanted to point out that professional & hobbyist picking is completely different. A professional’s first priority normally is to get into the property, damage generally not being a huge issue so the approach changes dramatically. First you try all the doors, as you would be surprised by how many people just simply don't lock their doors whilst making a judgment what will be the easiest entrance. Then you target the door with the worst lock, normally a UPVC door with a euro cylinder and use an electric pick gun to give it a quick blast. This gets you in within 5 minutes 90% of the time. [1] If the pick gun doesn't work you snap the cylinder in the door and replace the lock for a total cost of about £5 [2] The hardest part of the whole job is when you have to identify a mortice lock in order to bypass it and knowing if it's worth an attempt at a pick. (Simple 3 lever locks are worth a pick first before a drill) Once the lock has been identified though it's easy to drill, you get your template out [3], mark up the holes and drill out the stump There are also other methods and the general gist of the story is you use the method which takes the least amount of time with doesn't leave an unreasonable amount of cost! Some other methods/products to look at which are interesting and commonly used: - Mica, a specifically made plastic for slipping rim latches, most commonly referred to as "yale locks": http://uklockpickers.co.uk/mica-shim.html http://uklockpickers.co.uk/mica-shim.html - Letterbox tool, very basic (its just posh string on a stick) but also very effective at knocking off deadbolts or opening a latch that won't slip: http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/bypass-tools/letterbox-tools?product_id=161 http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/bypass-tools/letterbox-too... - Try out keys for mortice locks with a low number of levers: http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/mortice-picks-tools/try-out-keys?product_id=121 http://www.walkerlocksmiths.co.uk/mortice-picks-tools/try-ou... - Plug spinner for when you pick the lock the wrong way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUmCUj44BPg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUmCUj44BPg [1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mTtk9QtcoPc#t=190 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=mTt... [2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqhhXyROxQM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqhhXyROxQM [3] http://www.eltonlockservices.co.uk/drill%20template%20new%20front.jpg http://www.eltonlockservices.co.uk/drill%20template%20new%20...

crsmith 13y ago

Does anyone have a lock recommendation for making an apartment/house more secure?