The basics are actually rather easy to grasp. This tutorial is for the standard pin-and-tumbler-lock which most people have on their front doors or almost anywhere really.
Those locks are made of a turnable cylinder inside a larger metal structure. There are a variable number of pins that are of variable length mounted on springs. These pins are made of two parts that can detach from one another and are held inside the cylinder by the springs. Now if you use the correct, the pins are pushed outwards just so that one of the two parts of the pin outside and the other one is inside, allowing the cylinder to turn.
Your goal when lock picking is to get those pins into the right position and then jamming them there, so you can turn the cylinder and unlock the lock.
Tools:
You will need a lock pick (which can be made from all sorts of things: bobby pins, paper clips or just actual lock picks bought from a store.) and a torque wrench (Again, you can buy those, but a normal flat-head screwdriver does the trick as well.)
The lock pick should be a long metal needle with a ninety-degree angle on the tip.
The process
Okay, so how does this work? You begin by applying the torque wrench on the lowest (or highest, depending on how the lock was built into the door. In some countries, they build them upside down) part of the keyhole and carefully apply torque to it in the direction you want to open the lock eventually. You will have to hold that torque for the entire picking process. And it will take a bunch of minutes.
Then you insert the pick into the lock and start fiddling with the pins. When pushing a pin outwards (again, either up or down, depending on where you live), you will feel the spring's resistance. Now, while applying torque, push the first pin and vary the torque, until you manage to jam only the outer part of the pin. You will know it worked, when you can push the pin outwards without any resistance. That's when you go for the next pin. You can't release the pressure on the torque wrench even by a bit now, or you will have to start over.
usually, the pins are built in a way, that they jam in a specific order. So if you jammed the pin that's furthest inside the lock and find that you simply can't move the other pins at all, start again on the other side.
This is really a matter of practise, so I encourage you to buy a lock and practise.
And now for the inevitable disclaimer:
Only pick locks that belong to you or you have permission to pick by the owner. Inform youself about the legal status of lock picks. They are not illegal to own in the UK, as far as I know, but you can get busted for carrying them on your person, if the cops find you suspicious enough.
Sun Dec 16, 2012 12:39 pm
