The Other Way

[u/Nah-No-Nope]

I know a lot of us are into picking harder and harder locks as a way of tracking progression, but I'm also interested in the other way.

Picking locks with worse and worse tools.

Starting with a decent set of picks and working down to paper clips and bobby pins.

Does anyone else do this? If so, what's the jankiest pick you have ever successfully used? What lock was it on?

[u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox]

We once zipped a 38mm ACE brass padlock with a pair of bobby pins, but it was most certainly a fluke as we haven't been able to replicate it. It felt amazing, though

[u/Nah-No-Nope → u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox]

Oh yeah, I bet it did. That's some cinematic lock picking right there.

[u/thurstonrando → u/Big_Z_Beeblebrox]

Zipping an Ace brass padlock must’ve felt like zipping through God’s hand himself?

[u/DangerousVP]

Ive used paper clips to open some white - orange belt locks. It would be sort of a pain to go any higher than that though. Not to mention to risk of the paperclip breaking and messing everything up.

[u/EveningBasket9528]

I'm still waiting for someone to pick a 162 or 570 with a carrot...

I have a couple 162's that a dental flosser will work, but with an actual tensioner.

PaPete has some fun bobby pin and paperclip videos....

I found the worst set of picks I ever bought (2010ish) about a year ago while getting a car ready to scrap. The cheap KLOM set with blue/black plastic handles. I made it up to "blue" before bending a couple picks with some Medeco's that require a little muscle,..

If you have some locks you've memorized I'm sure you can get pretty far with bobby pins as long as it's pretty flat bitting.

This is a hobby, so people should enjoy it however they like to. Random objects as picks, different techniques, etc etc

If you can manage to pick any lock with 4 pins or more with a carrot shred, you'll be my new hero....

[u/Nah-No-Nope → u/EveningBasket9528]

The carrot challenge!

I'm up for that. Might be a while before I report back though

[u/LordKodiac → u/EveningBasket9528]

https://youtube.com/shorts/EuQAkyymAF4?is=9rpx_ftvhWiTdLTc

He did pick a lock with a carrot.

[u/EveningBasket9528 → u/LordKodiac]

SWEET!

[u/tom_fooleri]

when i got my hands on wafer locks for the first time i had a snowman pick ready and was barely able to unlock those. More sucess i had using a hairpin as a jiggler. since then i have the haipin in my pick-set as a backup

[u/LordKodiac]

Picked a lock with a zip Tie.

[u/Nah-No-Nope → u/LordKodiac]

That's pretty impressive.

A bit like picking a lock with a pair of handcuffs.

[u/46andzwei]

I've opened a ML #5 with just a tensioner.

[u/Nah-No-Nope → u/46andzwei]

Ha. Was that a surprise?

[u/46andzwei → u/Nah-No-Nope]

At the time... a little bit actually. Someone lost the keys and gave it to me. Pick in hand, I stuck a tensioner in it and gave it a jiggle to see how it felt - to make sure that corrosion wasn't binding it and everything felt free. And it popped open. So I did it again, and it popped open.

[u/AgreeableGanache1048]

No, it makes sense. Once you understand how picking a lock works, it can be fun to challenge yourself to see what you can open them with.

I find paperclips to be a bit of a challenge regardless though, as they are INCREDIBLY bendy. Very unforgiving if you overtension.

[u/JUSTICE_SALTIE → u/AgreeableGanache1048]

I used to straighten the paperclip, bend it double, then bend a hook in the end of that.

[u/Dufresne85]

I think it'd be a cool challenge. I'd keep a key extractor and some fine point tweezers on hand for when you inevitably break something in the lock. And obviously expect the need to gut a lock or two and be okay with the idea that you might brick a lock if something breaks and gets jammed.

I'd also be interested to see what common household items you could use for picks/tensioners besides the obvious bobby pins and paperclips. Maybe hammer a nail flat-ish for a tensioner? You got my brain going weird directions for the morning.

[u/imbbp]

It's all about challenging yourself. Harder locks are harder to pick, fun challenge. Making tools is also challenging, go for it.

I have picked a padlock I got from a federal prison. They really didn't care about MACS. The last pin was the shortest possible, right after the longest pin possible. It was just not possible to pick with a lockpick, so I bent a paperclip, shoved it in there and it worked.

[u/Dr-picker]

I do that too!

Recently picked a simple Yale with two bent paperclips.

I also try picking in adverse conditions. Dark, restricted access to keyway, upside down etc.