Learn how to pick a lock

“That night, as I impatiently waited for my utensils to be delivered, with a freshly opened, Chinese manufactured, Hyper Tough (HT2-42001), I attempted my first pick with a binder clip as a tension wrench and a paper clip as a pick. Honestly I could not believe the lock opened. I understood the mechanics of how to pick the lock, but I never thought it would really be that easy, for someone of my non-experience, with makeshift tools… The following day, my set of picks arrived and I truly began my endeavor in the art of lockpicking. As I worked through multiple padlocks, I had very little idea or feel for what I was doing. Sure, I knew academically what I was supposed to do, and often I was rewarded with an open, but I was just jamming different tools into the lock and hoping for the best. I could not keep track of which pin I was working, I did not know if I was oversetting a pin, and I could not control the tension wrench with any level of consistency. But each time a lock opened, as the cylinder rotated with the release of pressure on the tension wrench, and that spectacular chink of the shackle popped, my insatiable appetite intensified.”

“I managed to pick both locks several times in the picking kit using a variety of different picks – the first attempt only took a few minutes. I found the practice locks fairly straight-forward. These locks have the obvious advantage that they are transparent, allowing you to see the individual pins as you pick them. This makes it far easier, but after a short-while, I found I was able to pick them without looking at the pins. It’s really exciting when you manage to pick your first lock, but the effect quickly wears off when you realise the lock you have picked a lock that is designed to be picked. My next step was to buy a real lock. As someone who has only picked a couple of practice locks, there’s no way I could pick a lock which “prevents picking”, right? Wrong! The M5 lock is certainly a lot more difficult to pick and I need to give it some more practice, but I was relieved that I was able to successfully pick this despite the (rather inaccurate) product description. Picking a real lock gives far more satisfaction than picking a practice lock.”