I originally learned in a class. I carry a pair of titanium bodegas in my wallet.
The first interesting thing you'll probably learn is that the more "secure" something is marketed as being to consumers, the easier it is to pick.
Any sort of safe you buy from the likes of Walmart, Office Depot/Max, Costco and so on, can be picked in a few seconds. I have a not-cheap, mid-line Sentry fireproof safe and I can "pick" that by just sliding the rake into the lock.
Gun locks and home safe locks are usually cheap crap and probably the easiest to pick. I've picked close to a 100 different types.
If you want to learn, I suggest starting with paperclips as they're good at training you on the kind of tension you want to use. Most beginners use way too much tension. Paperclips will bend when you cross that threshold. They're also much harder to pick with than a legit set of picks.
My knowledge really improved when I re-keyed my home locks from some kits I ordered online. It really put things into perspective.
"The first interesting thing you'll probably learn is that the more "secure" something is marketed as being to consumers, the easier it is to pick."
BS! I have a medecco lock on my door that was marketed as secure. I'd love to see how much easier it is to pick for you than some run of the mill Yale lock from Home Despot.
How many gun safes have you "picked"? Most of the firearm owners I know have spent some serious coin on their safes. What gun safes specifically have you picked? And when you say home safes surely you mean home fire safes right? How many UL tool-rated safes have you picked?
Paper clips? I have never seen anyone recommend beginners start with paper clips. What do you suggest they use for the torque wrench? I think beginners should just buy one of the many introductory/beginners kits available on the net.
Medeco locks can be bumped open in a few seconds by a child with a $30 tool[1]. With the popularisation of bump key and plastic key attacks, no pin-tumbler lock should be considered more than a trivial deterrent. A "high security" pin-tumbler lock opens just as easily as cheap locks - often more easily, thanks to finer tolerances.
The only mass-market lock mechanisms with any real security are disc-detainer designs, specifically Assa Abloy's Protec. Unlike any other door lock in common use, the Protec mechanism has no known non-destructive attacks.
Not gun safes, gun locks. The kind that come with handguns and slip through the slide. Read above, again.
I've played with a Sentry gun safe, as well as a couple standup models whose models I can't recall.
And when you say home safes surely you mean home fire safes right?
Actually, I said home fire safes :)
Paper clips? I have never seen anyone recommend beginners start with paper clips. What do you suggest they use for the torque wrench? I think beginners should just buy one of the many introductory/beginners kits available on the net.
Not to argue, but most of the beginning tutorials I've read encourage people to start with paperclips, as it helps learn tensioning.
Here's a search that points to several tutorials recommending paperclips:
I have a couple of questions, maybe someone can answer.
First, do these techniques work on (modern) car doors? It'd be useful to be able to save the $30 fee if I lock my keys in the car..
Second, on Terminator II, Sarah Conner was able to unlock her straightjacket with a paperclip. I thought this was plausible enough, but I couldn't believe it would be possible to open her cell door since it appeared to be secured with a heavy bolt mechanism. Am I correct that this would be physically impossible to pick with a couple of paperclips?
I've picked my Honda door. It was trivial. By the looks of my Toyota key, it would be similarly easy. They have 2-sided teeth on the keys, but the lock is only pinned on one side.
I'm not familiar with prison locks at all, so I can't answer that.
However, the class I took taught us how to pick handcuffs with paperclips and that was trivial. BTW, the class was titled something like Urban Survival from OnPoint, run by a guy named Kelly. The class was briefly mentioned in Neil Strauss's book Emergency!.
>. I carry a pair of titanium bodegas in my wallet.
A small metal wine cellar? I was intrigued about "titanium bodegas", so I googled, and found nothing meaningful. Can you provide a link to what you mean?
" the Bogota Titans are the new "go-to" tool for operators." (serepick)
Any site that mentions "operators" is most likely a joke. Any site that pretends to cater to "operators" and does not provide GSA ordering information is definitely a joke.
The first interesting thing you'll probably learn is that the more "secure" something is marketed as being to consumers, the easier it is to pick.
Any sort of safe you buy from the likes of Walmart, Office Depot/Max, Costco and so on, can be picked in a few seconds. I have a not-cheap, mid-line Sentry fireproof safe and I can "pick" that by just sliding the rake into the lock.
Gun locks and home safe locks are usually cheap crap and probably the easiest to pick. I've picked close to a 100 different types.
If you want to learn, I suggest starting with paperclips as they're good at training you on the kind of tension you want to use. Most beginners use way too much tension. Paperclips will bend when you cross that threshold. They're also much harder to pick with than a legit set of picks.
My knowledge really improved when I re-keyed my home locks from some kits I ordered online. It really put things into perspective.