brightspark
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where there is a will there's a wayI'm a member of a forum comprised of criminals. I should have guessed
- Thread starter Reman
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Ali
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I got a couple of those from Banggood as they were only a couple of quid each. I gave one to my father in law for Christmas thinking it would keep him quiet for a few hours, lo and behold he’s had training on lock picking and had it open in seconds.
Picked this one today with a 4yr old, it was a bit too easy to be fair, now he thinks he’s a master criminal
I’d love to learn more about it, but it tends to be one of those ‘learn on the job’ things for me. On my list for retirement as I’ve no doubt they will have locked me up by then.
Reman
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where there is a will there's a way
I thought it was "Where there's a will, there's money grabbing relatives pretending to grieve"?
Reman
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I'm a member of a forum comprised of criminals. I should have guessed
Actually, In the "Locksport community*" there's a pretty strong code of ethics. Very few of them EVER place a toe off the path of being 100% law abiding when it comes to lock picking. They know that most people are suspicious as hell of the whole concept of lockpicking for fun, So they have a set of rules that they follow like a fr**gin' religion....
- They may not open a lock that is in use.
- They may only open locks that belong to them. For other locks, they need express consent of the owner.
- A lock which has been effectively abandoned by its owner and placed in a public place without securing anything (i.e., not "in use", such as a lock placed on a "lovewall") may ethically be picked by any locksporter, provided the lock is returned to its original locked position and state. Permanently removing (or relocating) the lock may be done only when lawfully and specifically sanctioned by an appropriate authority (usually the lawful landowner upon which the lock is placed, which may be a department of governance).
- The security needs of others must be preserved.
- All activities take place within boundaries of respectability, integrity and professionalism.
They're quite acerbic about people breaking these rules, And some locksport forums are apparently not above dobbing forum members in to the police if they post about something that other members think would paint them all in a bad light. For example, If someone was to post something like "Once you've got basic picking down you can get all the practice locks you want off the sheds down the allotments", at bare minimum they'd very likely find that the forums banned them, and they could end up with there details (Predominantly User name, Plus the list of IP addresses they'd logged in from), and a description of that they alleged forwarded to the police !!!
As I said, They try REALLY hard to be squeaky clean....... So I don't post anything on THOSE sorts of forum as I've got a habit of typing silly replies for fun...... And as far as I'm concerned, SNITCHES GET STITCHES, YO FEELIN' ME BLOOD ?!!!! LOL !
(* Bl00dy stupid term that they came up with to differentiate themselves from locksmiths or crooks ! LOL !)
mrsbruce
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I think they are absolutely right. It only takes one to spoil it for the rest, and having seen the grief caused on here by tools being thieved, I’d “snitch” in a heartbeat on anyone, including anyone on this forum, if I knew he was up to no good.
As to stitches, all I say is, just try it......
Alan Reynolds
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I think I'd have to join just to wind them up and get banned. I have this vision Harry Enfield type of trainspotters and model railway enthusiasts.
When you say "Pick blanks" I assume you mean the pre cut picks without the handle scales? You can also get plain stainless blanks from Law so you can make your own pick profiles from scratch.
I really rate the Law Lock tools stuff, But I've found I REALLY don't like picking with his "Lite" range (The "Lite" range is his bare one piece stainless pick without handle plates, The Pro range has these handles, but cost twice as much). The edges are too thin, So if you need to put any pressure behind them for a while they start to hurt. The handle area flexes a bit more than I'd like too. It messes with the amount of feedback I get. The Pro pick on the other hand are absolutely beautiful. Comfortable in the hand, Amazingly finished and feel very natural to use...... But we are then looking at £7.50 a pick rather than the lite's £3.50. It probabbly wouldn't be as hard a decision if they were £4.50 and £7 to be honest.
Your pick handels look really good. I'm assuming you've used epoxy to fix them on? Personally I'd probabbly have had go at the edges with a file and some wet+dry to make the stainless blade blend in with the sides of the handel plates, But despite that preference, I'd have to say that I'd still be quite proud of how they turned out if that was my handywork. Bet you can feel a hell of a difference in rigidity from before and after fitting them.
I'm really liking the look of that pick that's second from the right in your first picture. It probabbly wouldn't fit comfortably in too many locks, But I bet when it does fit you could use that to shove the driver AND key pin right up out of the plug and into the lock body, even on the locks back pin !
Yes, sorry, I do mean the pre-cut picks without the handles. It was the Law Lock Valyrian set. Completely agree that they feel a bit flimsy without a handle on them which is why I cut up the brass and bonded it on. They have now got a really nice weight to them, and a solid tactile grip. I'll be honest, I didn't put a huge amount of effort into making them look nice, but it was enough fun that I might have another bash at something a bit better looking on the rakes. The brass was 8mm width and the pick handles are 9mm width which is why they don't blend in. Still feels OK to grip though. Also might get some Starrett feeler gauge stock and have a crack at starting from scratch.
Reman
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Please don't think I was criticising mate, I really DO think they look the terriers testicals. I've always liked how polished steel and brass go so well together, It's got a kind of enduring "Classiness" that contrasts well against the quite dismal disposable plastic commodity world we now live in........ But I have to say that you're a bad influence mate !!!!
Since seeing your work I've decided that I HAVE to make some handle scales for my Law Lock "Lite" picks. Thing is, I've got a perfectly adequate sheet of 2mm aluminium here that I could use....... But I'm now trying to convince myself that if I DON'T do them in brass I'll regret it. That's your doing that is ! LOL !
Mine have the more ornate style handles like THIS, So it's going to be a more involved job making them to fit right (I'm just after following the outside profile though, I'm not the sort of metalworking masochist who'd try to exactly mirror those holes in it as well !!!
), so chances are that as I'd only really want to do them these once, brass will probably win out.Please don't think I was criticising mate, I really DO think they look the terriers testicals. I've always liked how polished steel and brass go so well together, It's got a kind of enduring "Classiness" that contrasts well against the quite dismal disposable plastic commodity world we now live in........ But I have to say that you're a bad influence mate !!!!
Since seeing your work I've decided that I HAVE to make some handle scales for my Law Lock "Lite" picks. Thing is, I've got a perfectly adequate sheet of 2mm aluminium here that I could use....... But I'm now trying to convince myself that if I DON'T do them in brass I'll regret it. That's your doing that is ! LOL !
Mine have the more ornate style handles like THIS, So it's going to be a more involved job making them to fit right (I'm just after following the outside profile though, I'm not the sort of metalworking masochist who'd try to exactly mirror those holes in it as well !!!
Love it!!!!
Reman
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Love it!!!!
As I said.......
You're a bad influence.......
I think it turned out reasonably well. It could do with a bit more sanding on the edges and a little more time with the wire wool, But it's a tool, And what I've done was 75% to make it more functional, and only 25% for the aesthetics, So I don't think it's going to get any more prettying ! LOL !
Cutting some blank handles, Gluing them on, and hand filing them to the shape of the pick only took about 30 minutes total (Not including the cure time of the epoxy), But I think I might only do one of the others like this, then just buy from Law's Pro range from now on. It would probably have been quicker if I'd used power tools, But I'm taking Naproxen for my joint pain and they fuzz my head right up, so I still don't trust myself to turn things off before trying to adjust spinning things.
As I said.......
You're a bad influence.......
I think it turned out reasonably well. It could do with a bit more sanding on the edges and a little more time with the wire wool, But it's a tool, And what I've done was 75% to make it more functional, and only 25% for the aesthetics, So I don't think it's going to get any more prettying ! LOL !
Cutting some blank handles, Gluing them on, and hand filing them to the shape of the pick only took about 30 minutes total (Not including the cure time of the epoxy), But I think I might only do one of the others like this, then just buy from Law's Pro range from now on. It would probably have been quicker if I'd used power tools, But I'm taking Naproxen for my joint pain and they fuzz my head right up, so I still don't trust myself to turn things off before trying to adjust spinning things.
That looks spot on
Who is the bad influence now? Did you bond the brass on then shape it afterwards? Seems obvious now but that didn’t occur to me. Doh.
Reman
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Yeah. The 1.5mm brass sheet turned up this morning, So I made the scales about 2 or 3mm over sized, Scuffed everything and epoxied them on, Then clamped it all up for about 3 hours till it set fully (I think my 10 minute epoxy might be getting old now.
). Once they were properly glued on I just went at them with a file until I could just see the original picks handle all the way around.I'm thinking that if I do another one I might as well do 3 or 4 of them at the same time, But with a brass single rivet through each pick. That way I could glue them up without the rivets, clamp them all together with a bolt through all the rivet holes, Then rough profile sand all of them in one go with a large sanding drum spinning on my lathe. I reckon I could shape all of them in about 10 to 15 minutes that way. We'll see (As I said, I'm trying to steer clear of the risk power tools might pose to me at the minute).
Migmac
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Oldest son was given a set of picks for Christmas. Came with one of those plastic locks, very easy to open. I’ve got security padlocks that I use at work to lock gates, to keep people out or on the odd occasion keep people in! Youngest son seems to be able to feel things moving inside the lock and open them fairly easily. I on the other hand don’t feel very much moving but I have opened one of the locks( makes me wonder how tough these security padlocks are)
Who are the guys to watch on YouTube?
Who are the guys to watch on YouTube?
Migmac
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Will go have a gander. Just picked one of our security locks four times now.
Reman
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If you're just starting you want to get yourself a couple of new "Smith & Locke" padlocks. They're cheap as chips at B&Q, and the drillings in them are SOOOOOOO sloppy that they're only slightly harder to pick than those transparent training locks.
They usualy have a few pretty badly machined security pins in them too, so you get to feel how spool pins react to being picked without being stuck on a lock thats too hard for a beginner to learn from.
Don't mess with Yale euro locks until you've got some experiance. You can get these open by chance when you're still inexperienced, But you'll more likely get disillusioned with it all because you can't get it open, and you wont know why.
They usualy have a few pretty badly machined security pins in them too, so you get to feel how spool pins react to being picked without being stuck on a lock thats too hard for a beginner to learn from.
Don't mess with Yale euro locks until you've got some experiance. You can get these open by chance when you're still inexperienced, But you'll more likely get disillusioned with it all because you can't get it open, and you wont know why.
MattF
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Ladies too pure, are they?
mrsbruce
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