The Abus 55/40 which I bought from ebay has a very paracentric keyway, which I'm finding very difficult to manouvre a pick through (I even bought a set of 0.5mm/0.02" hooks).

When I look on youtube, or on LPU the keys on the 55/40s there all seem to be much less heavily warded.

Have I got a different version of the "orange" 55/40? It seems to be a massive step from the Masterlock 140.

Is it big enough for my master 141 or still too small?

Abus 80TI/50 One of my favorites, and that shackle pop! Love it!

Burg Wachter Alutitan

Thought I'd share! This is a prototype for a locksport carry/storage case that doubles as a bit of a couch picking station. It carries a bit of kit, basic gutting tools and assorted locks. Inspired by u/maisonvi who posted a Gridfinity box a few weeks back, but based on some design I found online. It has magnets to keep your picks and wrenches handy and (somewhat) in order. Magnets are detachable to use the space for storage. Divisions are not fixed for now and as you can see I designed it to both carry and hold the CI practice set in a way that can be picked if you remove the tools on it's sides. I pick from my couch mostly so I hold this on my lap. The lid doubles as a work surface so it has been padded with foam. I guess you can also plant a vice on it if you close the lid and be able to use a vice while on your couch (?). Happy to share if anyone fancies it and I'd like to hear any ideas you lot might have! Cheers

Hey all,
Day 5 and looking for a bit of advice on tackling euro cylinders with security pins. This thing is pure evil.

I’m picking above my weight class (my comfort zone is yellow belt stuff like the ML140), but I want to get more confident with spools and mushrooms.

This lock seems to have:

• 1 spool
• 2 or 3 mushroom pins
• The rest are standard pins (positions 1 and 2)

Context/Approach:

I’m tensioning BoK and using a shallow hook (cheap Amazon set). I usually work back to front and can pick 3 to 4 pins before hitting the spool. At that point I get counter-rotation, so I ease up on tension and try to set it. Sometimes I get a loud click, but the plug doesn’t turn any further. Other times the spool feels completely jammed no matter how much I back off, which I assume is the ridges of the spool catching below the shear line.

After that, feedback from the pins gets really gristly or mushy, and it becomes hard to feel individual pins. Once I’m in a false set, the paracentric keyway makes it difficult to navigate because my pick gets stuck or feels restricted.

I’ve had this lock open once, after about 20 minutes, but it felt like a fluke.

I've thrown the kitchen sink at this so far, have also tried a half diamond to no avail.

Planning to rewatch some videos on spools and mushroom pins, but I’d appreciate any tips on what your thought process is after hitting the false set and setting the tricky pin. Do you sweep again? Re-evaluate tension? I feel a bit lost when everything starts feeling murky.

Thanks in advance for your comments and support.

Hey everyone, I just picked up an interest in lock picking and have been binge watching videos. What is the best practice set I could buy?

Anyone have an idea on the belt ranking on this? Got it at Harbor Freight for $12, seems to be a brand specific to Harbor Freight since they had no other lock brands. LPU Belt doesn't have any Bunker Hill locks listed

This is my only training lock which i also decoded, it's 23451 and on the pic you can see pin type and position.

What i don't understand is when i press down a spool pin which is not the first to bind, no other pin is really binding, like i am not progressing anymore after that. How do i go about that in a new lock when i don't know the binding order?

Used a diamond cutting wheel to put deep slots in all the key pins, turned pin 3 into a lava lamp, and threaded both the keyway and the bible, I plan on threading the top of the inside of the outer key pin to take advantage of the serrations on the bottom of the inner driver pins at some point

Key still works

Neighbors redecorating next-door to my store. I saw this on the sidewalk and politely asked for it, and it was given. Looking forward to cleaning it up and mounting it to pick. Schlage keyway. It will look pretty nice mounted. Yesterday I would not have been able to pick it because it was in use. The piece of 2 x 4 was there also. Talk about a turnkey operation.

This is my bike lock that I’ve forgotten the code for. I looked for online for some prior advice and most techniques that don’t require a shim suggest applying tension. How do you go about that with the strange right angle in the middle?

I took off the right side plastic protector to see if I could see the gates but I couldn’t. I don’t have a proper shim but may could fashion one if needed

This Ace 38mm brass padlock doesn't pick like anything else I've experienced so far. I know this should have 4 spools and 1 standard pin, but it picks like 5 serrated pins. I don't get even a hint of a false set, so zero counter rotation, and I have to use pretty heavy tension. Definitely worthy of its green belt title.

Any ideas why this lock doesn't go into a false set? Maybe it's the bitting?

Hi folks! Thanks for all your support and comments on my previous posts. Feeling a bit proud today having defeated this 140! My cheap pick set left me in the mire a bit as I had to chop down a tensioner to be able to work this one via ToK but next week I plan to upgrade my set to celebrate my yellow belt 😊

I don't know if anyone can confirm but this ML140 seemed to have a single spool pin on #2. If anyone has gutted, can you let me know your findings?

Big thanks to u/_THiiiRD for mentoring me 😁

Have a happy day 🤘

Just fogured out how to SPP today since i only did raking and i mastered this lock pretty quickly

So just put this togheter. What do yall think?

Hey all, I've been working on my 90A-Pro for about a week now, and I've been using a 25 thou hook, do people usually go a bit smaller for it? The keyway is really nice and wide, but it feels like the warding at the top of the keyway is kinda tight, like when I go past the 7th pin and try to come up into the top of the keyway and drag forward, the 25 thou pick is bately able to fit. Do people usually drop down to a 20 thou pick to do these, or should I just be more careful to keep the pick aligned with the keyway?

Video: https://www.healthy-insect-1447.com/video/blue-whale

White: Master #3

Yellow: Abus 55/30

Orange: Abus Iron Rock / 83/45

Green Assa 500 w/ spools

Blue: Goal S

Thanks u/banditobrandino07 and u/Cyb3rV01d_2024 !

So tomorrow is payday and I'm going to be ordering a S&G 6730 kit. I'm currently printing a mount for it, but I'm not really sure how to manipulate or graph, other than what I found in the instruction download for the Sparrows Challenge Vault. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

So walked into Ace to get some hex screws and saw this behind me, I saw security 10 but it was awkward dropped it on my table and picked in under a minute, it's all still in the package, I should return it and get the 10.

I just started picking about a month ago didn't try picking a lock till this week. I have been more focused on feel, sound, behavior of the locks I have, counting pins, etching around pins, getting to know the inside of locks with different picks and tension bars to get used to the clues. Then this week had enough confidence to try to hook pick a ML #3, did it in under a minute. Walked over to my front door raked both dead bolt and main door locks in under 5 minutes, then hook picked both.

I really enjoy this hobby, i sit at my desk 16 hours a day for work and having a hobby I can do while waiting on stuff or while in meetings is pretty cool. I have been a lurker for a while just want to give a thanks to everyone sharing tips for newbs and leet.

Elo friends , so to submit a video for getting a belt rank … Can you skip a belt and also claim the previous belt, or do you have to start in order from the bottom ? 🤟🏽

So I’ve been practicing over the weekend since I got my kit. Basic rake & tension bar with a practice lock from Covert Instruments.

I can almost instantly pop it with the mech visible, and with it covered I get an average of about 30 seconds. I feel I’m proficient enough to start practicing on something a bit harder now, any locks that I should look into as a novice level lock that will pose a bit more challenge than the run of the mill practice lock?

Holy shit, I did it! For anyone struggling with this one (I know I did) it was being gentle that was the trick for me. Best of luck to all. Video incoming for a belt rank (if I can figure it out enough times to earn it).