[188] My Approach to Lock Picking Tension

this is the lock-picking lawyer and today I wanted to talk about lock-picking tension now let me start out by saying that skillful tension is in my opinion more important than skillful picking particularly when it comes to the more advanced locks it's also far more difficult to master and it's probably because we tend not to pay as much attention to it as we should I think that's a big mistake tension it seems to be glossed over in most picking instructional materials and when it is mentioned the advice is always this use the lightest tension possible and that's a piece of advice that I disagree with now I want to talk about two general topics today first we're going to talk about tension tool selection and placement in the key way and then after that I'll give you some substantive thoughts on how to tension locks on the first topic this might seem basic but bear with me for a moment to be able to select the best tension tool for an application for any particular lock you first need to understand what a tension tool should do and shouldn't do it has two main purposes it has to turn the core and it has to transmit feedback to the picker on the flip side what should it do well it shouldn't get in the way of the pic there's other do's and don'ts but for now we're going to stick with those three main items and we'll take them one by one first the tool needs to turn the core okay every tool is capable of that so there isn't much to say here second the tool needs to provide feedback now this is no small thing most of the feedback from a lock comes to you through the tension tool so it's really important the tools that provide the best feedback are inevitably the thickest and the stiffest that's why you always see me using tools like this that's the 50,000th pry bar and it's about the thickest and stiffest tool that I have now it's also why you almost never see me using a tool like this tool is designed to flex and to be springy which is the exact opposite of what we want you ask a mechanical engineer and you ask them what's the best way to dampen the transmittal of vibration and they'll tell you mounted on a spring so why would you want to put a spring in between the lock and the picker when you want to feel every subtle bit of movement and vibration this tool also appreciably I mean and it degrades the transmittal of feedback so much that frankly I'm not sure why they're so popular instead when circumstances call for the use of a wiper insert I usually use tools like this and that is because they're tensioned and you tension them in the sideways direction and it's much much stiffer and it transmits feedback much much better now you also can't select a tension tool unless you know where you're going to put it now if you've watched my videos for long you know that I usually prefer top of the keyway tension but there's nothing dogmatic about that my goal is to put the tension wrench in a position that complements my picking in other words I need to keep the tension tool out of the way of my pick on top of the keyway tension does that beautifully let's take a look at this lock okay this is a master lock key way most of you are probably familiar with it now this is where you're going to stick your pick all the time right down here that's where you're going to maneuver it in the bottom of the key way so I don't understand why you would want to put a tension tool down there when that's going to take up most of your picking room what you should do or what I do at least is I put it at the top of the key way and then that leaves that whole bottom of the key way still open for picking also I guess while we're looking at this another benefit of top of the key way tension is that there is no possibility of binding the core now look at where we put this tension tool it's right on the bottom and this tool can drag on the lock body if it drags there it can bind the core up and that is a big problem for your picking you obviously don't want that now there are circumstances in which I use bottom of the key way the most significant is when I use the tension tool as a platform off of which to pick and this a bist Italian is a good example of that I mean this is a huge key way if we just stick a pic in there I mean it's almost too low in the key way and what I did when I was picking this is I put my tension tool right there and what that did is created a nice little platform for me to to lever my pic off of and they could pick very very nicely through that key way now there's also locks where it just doesn't matter where you put it and the quick-set kw1 is a great example of that I mean most of the time when you're picking these you're placing your pic right here and so it doesn't matter if you use top of the keyway tension or maybe if you put your attention right there in either case it's totally out of the way and four locks like this I generally use top of the key way anyway just because it's what I'm accustomed to now sometimes top of the key way tension is very difficult because the key way is very very tight and this evil lock is an example of that and take a look at this key way I mean absolutely no room for for a tension tool up there at least anything of normal size and you also need on this lock the bottom of the key way for picking and that's why it's important to always have a good selection this is something from the peterson flat 5 and it's a little springier than I would like but in the case of this lock its what fits the bill and you really can't pick it without something like that okay okay on to our my thoughts on tension one of my largest frustrations with the lock sport community is that we don't pay enough attention to tension and if the instructional videos out there are any indication our understanding of how to use tension is pretty bad and I think this needs to change so my hope for this video even if you disagree with my advice is that we start to pay more attention to our tension strategy and start to discuss it now before I get into the substituted vise let me start by saying that I'm only getting in a given overview here I may make videos on different or more advanced tensioning topics in the future but for now that's beyond the scope of this video and this video is probably going to be long enough as it is so the accepted and most common advice out there regarding tensioning locks is that a picker should use the minimum tension required to pick the lock and that may work best for some people but definitely not for me this advice is always kind of struck me as one of those emperor has no clothes situations it seems like everyone is saying one thing when the exact opposite is my experience my method attention can be summed up as follows use the heaviest tension possible for each particular lock notice that I didn't say use heavy tension I said use the heaviest tension possible I'll explain what that means in a moment but let's first talk about why I favor heavy heavier tension and there's quite a few benefits of heavier tension that are seldom discussed first and most importantly it massively amplifies our feedback it turns what might be a subtle little clique into something that can be heard across the room so it makes pin setting more distinct the more feedback you get the easier the lock will be to pick second there's no question about which pins are binding because the heavier tension causes them to bind so much more firmly now for some locks particularly with those with with better tolerances and there we go the sergeant's a good example the pins in there when you're putting small amounts of tension on it for lack of a better term everything's mushy inside it's really hard to tell what's binding what's binding the hardest but if you crank that tension up all that goes away when I was first beginning I was having real trouble with sergeant locks but once I learned to increase the tension these locks instantly went from being difficult for me to pick too easily and quickly pickable and it was literally an overnight transformation third it allows faster picking because you'll likely bind multiple pins here we all know that most of the time spent picking is spent hunting for the pin that needs the work when you bind multiple pins at once this wasted time is decreased fourth it helps prevent over sets and this isn't this isn't just because of the feel and sound of the pin setting and that being more distinct but it's actually physically harder to over set the key pin even if you're trying to over set it fifth have your tension keeps pins from moving when you maneuver your pick through the lock that's especially helpful on tight little key ways here's one this abus ici 75 look at that tight tight tight little dimple key way this lock is darn near impossible to pick unless you use heavy tension when you're moving your pick through there because it's you can't avoid helping that you can't help but to hit pins and you're going to move them without wanting to so with heavier tension you bind the pins up harder and you can keep them from moving finally it allows for sound picking up serrated pins in other words you can listen for the difference between the click of a serration and that really sharp shear line click once you get the hang of this it really takes a lot of the mystery out of serrated pins if you're interested check out my video number 97 I talk about this a little more now let's move on to the practical application of of heavier tension now recall that I previously said I use the heaviest tension possible I didn't say use heavy tension and let me explain what that means first you have to know that your tension can't be so heavy that you bind the pins and keep them from moving but this means something different for different kind of locks for a lock with standard pins I keep my tension very high when I find a binding pin I loosen up just enough to allow the pin to move once I set it I crank that tension back up and move on to the next pin now obviously this means that you're going to have to use more picking force and it's a little harder on your picks but I think those side effects are more than worth the benefits now how about security pins well use the heaviest tension possible means something entirely different there with these types of pins variation of tension becomes even more important and I'm sorry to say more complex even when I vary the tension however I use the heaviest tension possible for each stage of picking the lock now I can't do this for every kind of pin but let's break it down for spools the most common security pin what's the tension advice that everyone uses for spools use light tension well yes and no the truth of the matter is that it's a heck of a lot more complicated math let me take you through my process first while moving from pin to pin and while centering your pick on the pin that you intend to pick I use heavy tension this keeps you from moving pins you don't intend to move then I lighten up just a bit when I'm first attempting to detect the spool now you need to keep the tension pretty high to ensure you don't accidentally move the pin I'll still still allowing enough give to detect the feedback if you think the pin is a spool use slightly lighter tension and confirm it once you detect the spool you need to set it here you're going to have to back way off tension to allow the counter rotation the exact amount of tension can depend on the strength and thickness of the pick you're using the stronger the pick that fits your key way the heavier the appropriate tension and picking force but here the tension and picking force are very high but in balance and in doing this I keep complete control over that pin finally and this is very important at or near the apex of counter rotation but before the spool sets I increase the tension and this does two things first it prevents you from over setting the pin and second it helps other pins it helps prevent other pins from dropping when you set the spool now with practice this entire process happens in a couple of moments from those descriptions I hope to have conveyed two things to you first tension is not static it needs to be varied particularly when you're dealing with security pins but also with standard pins and second that I'm using the heaviest tension possible for each stage of the pick in some cases the heaviest tension possible might be relatively light like when you're allowing for counter rotation but then we crank the tension right back up as soon as we can so we don't lose all the benefits that we just talked about okay I think that's enough for now this video is getting really long over 15 minutes what I'd really like for each of you to start thinking about is how you're using tension pay close attention to what you're doing it's probably second nature to most of the advanced Pickers out there so they don't even consciously realize what they're doing but once you take note of exactly what you're doing share it with others because if we're going to advance the knowledge of our community we really need an informed discussion of tension strategy my way of picking may not be the best but we'll never know until we take note of what we do and start comparing our methods that's all I have for you today if you stuck with me this far thank you very much if you have any questions or comments please put them below if you like this video and would like to see more like it please subscribe and as always have a nice day thank you

Channel: LockPickingLawyer

Views: 1,479,713

Keywords: Lock Picking, How to Pick Locks, How to Pick Tension Tools, How to Pick Tension Wrenches, How to Tension a Lock, Lock Picking Tension, Instructional Video, Heavy Tension

Id: 9O-CJEwcQnY

Length: 16min 20sec (980 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 18 2016

Reddit Comments

[u/squizr]

The lockpickingLawyer explaining tension and he comes with a lot of helpful knowledge.

[u/[deleted]]

I like this video. Transmittal seemed like an odd word choice there.

[u/tumbl3r]

I tend to agree with just about every one of his points. The difference between "lightest tension possible" and "heaviest tension possible" is, at least to me, much about semantics. There is something of a tension "window" that can be used. Some prefer to be on the upper thresholds of that window, while others like to be on the lower. I tend to prefer the mid to upper range of that window.

I COMPLETELY echo his points about tension tool selection, but we should not discount some of the really talented pickers - I'm lookin' at you wizwazzle - who are able to use wild, strange and exotic contraptions of springiness with great efficacy. Springy tension tools don't work for me, but there is no doubt that they do for some.

With serrated pins, I'm not sure I've ever picked them by "sound". I tend to look for a Goldie Lox tension that allows the pins to click up past their serrations, but not overset past the sheer line. These pins will almost always require quite a lot more upward pressure to overset compared with what they need to move through the serrations. This makes me think I should start listening more to see what it brings me.

With he most advanced locks you just have to give the lock what it needs. That can be anything from a feather sitting on the end of your wrench to mad hatter-style XEO tension that bends a 0.050 PryBar.

Those are my thoughts anyhow... I tend to take very much the same approach as LockPickingLawyer does, but I think it's important not to discount the different approaches that really do work for some folks. I believe "use light tension" gets repeated so much because almost all beginners use a heavy hand, and getting them to back off a bit is a worthy goal :)