There are many reasons for this: loose tolerances, imprecisely shaped pins, rounded edges on the pins and core, pins of near-equal length, and worn out holes in the lock body. ![]() In some locks, like the one you are using, the chances are very good that the pins can find the shear line and allow the lock to open. Every time you rake the pins you’re giving them a chance to set themselves at the shear line. None of us paid attention in school during that boring statistics class, but what you’re doing is statistics in action. Whenever you rake a lock’s pins you are really playing a game of chance. Move it slowly and you can hear the pins clicking up and down against their spring pressure. While maintaining light pressure on the tension wrench, move your rake slowly in and out “raking” the pick against the lock’s pins. Don’t worry though, before long it’ll feel completely natural and you won’t even think about it. It is normal for this to feel weird, after all you’re learning a new skill that requires dexterity and coordination with strange, new tools. OK, now that you’ve mastered the tension tool, choose one of your rakes and insert it into the keyway with the “teeth” pointing towards the pins. When the pins are bound up by applying too much pressure on the tension wrench, they can’t move when you touch them with your pick, so light tension is your friend. If you apply too much tension you’ll inadvertently pinch the pins in the shear line. Just apply enough to hold it in place and keep it from falling out. Now, here’s one of the objectives of this lesson: don’t put too much tension on the tension wrench. When the pins are aligned with the shear line, the tension your are putting on the core will turn it, exactly like the key. The tension tool will keep rotational pressure on the core, just like a turning key would. Seriously, holding the padlock in your hand, insert your tension tool into the bottom of the keyway and rest your finger on the tension tool with just enough pressure to keep it from falling out. Your goal in this module is to rake open the lock without stabbing yourself in the hand or breaking your pick. While playing with the tools you’ll learn how to hold your rake while using bottom of the keyway (BOK) tension. If you have a beginner kit, you’ll probably have a Bogota or S-Rake. You can use any of your rakes, your choice. Since picking is about having fun as well as developing your skills, let’s begin by learning how to quickly rake a lock open. These locks have no anti-picking features so you can focus on developing basic techniques. Their tolerances are sloppy so they’re forgiving if your tension isn’t perfect. In general, any lock costing around $5 US or 7 Euros will not contain security pins and is exactly what you need. ![]() The easiest way to find a simple lock without security pins is price. You do NOT want a lock with security pins! If the lock packaging says “security pins” or “anti-picking” pins, put it back. Warning: Raking open locks is more addictive than cocaine and probably the most fun you can have while wearing pants. Simply count the number of “V” cuts in the key and that will tell you how many pins the lock has. They all contain only four pins, all of them standard, but how can you verify that? Easy, just look at the key and you’ll see “cuts” or “Vs” that are equally spaced along the key. If you live in Europe you can use the cheapest laminated body Abus padlock or any of the 40-50mm Chinese-made versions. In the picture above from left to right: Master #3, #5, #1, Brinks 40mm, Generic 40mm, and two Chinese 40mm laminated locks. There are a number of other Master Lock models (and clones) that’ll work as well since the innards (lock core) are all the same. The ideal lock to begin learning on is the Master Lock #3, and it’s the cheapest training lock that you can find in North America, and is very common almost everywhere. If you don’t already have some of these locks in your garage, you can probably find all the locks you’ll need for this course at your local hardware store or, failing that, on eBay. No problem, that’s what this course is all about. For new pickers that might seem a little difficult, since you don’t yet know anything about security pins, or any other pins for that matter. ![]() For this module you’ll need a lock that contains four non-security pins.
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