Picking Tumblers: Part I

We are going to start with tumbler locks. They aren't the easiest lock to pick and their not the hardest - they are the most common. But in order to pick the lock, we have to understand how the lock works. It's like old school hacking: we are bypassing security by taking advantage of internal weaknesses in how the system works. Tumbler locks are made up of only a few parts: the key goes in the keyway (the keyhole) so that it can turn the cylinder which is called the plug (Right? The key turns. Got it.). The plug is housed in the main casing.

Next part, the plug has a holes drilled in it and these continue up into the casing. Each of thise holes has a spring in it. The spring pushes two little pins down into the plug. The top pins (which are between the spring and bottom pin) are called drivingpins and they are all the same length. They push the lower pins (called the keypins) down. These keypins are all different lengths. They rest on a little ledge called a ward. Pull your keys out of your pocket and look at one. It has that little canal that runs all the way from the tip to the handle of the key. The ward slides in the canal. The point of the ward is to be a ledge that the keypins rest on when there is no key in the keyway.

So that's all the pieces of the lock. Now how does it work. I said that all the keypins were different lengths. Why? Well, what else are different heights? Answer: the teeth of the key.

So here is how it works. The key goes into the keyway. The notches and teeth push the pins up to exactly the right height so that each and every one of the top drivingpins is lifted (by the keypins) to the same height (exactly to the same height as the separation between the casing and the plug). This is the most important part to understand. When the key is inserted the gap between each and every keypin and drivingpin lines up with the gap between the hull casing and the plug. This separation is called the shear line. Once they are all lined up the key can turn and unlock the door. Tada! The mechanism of a tumbler lock explained!


Check out these wikis if you want to read about the mechanism of tumbler locks again. (Let's be honest. It's where I got the images)
Wikivisual
Wikipedia
Wapedia
BambooWeb Dictionary
BookRags

Let this settle for a day or so and then I'll post a How-To tutorial for picking tumbler locks.

Learning From the Best

Last night I taught a group of 3 friends how to pick locks. By the end of the night, each and every one of them had picked every lock I owned. I was really impressed.

After that victory, I thought I'd try to teach my friend's very young brother this afternoon. Even though I didn't think he would be able to, he eventually got one of the padlocks. I was even more impressed. He then proceeded to break the pick on the next lock I gave him. opps. Oh well I suppose.

This all reminds me: I haven't given a How-To about lock picking on my blog yet. I'll create one for the next post.

Hotel Hospitality

I mentioned that I'm visiting Pittsburgh right now. I brought my lock-pick set and some pad-locks with me for relaxation and fun. When I got to my hotel room, I found the little lock on the minibar. Oh ya, baby.

I had alot of trouble at first. A painful amount of trouble. I couldn't figure out what was so hard about this pitiful little lock. Was it some other kind of locking mechanism than any I had seen so far, something that looks like a tumbler but isn't? The pins were really standard looking and feeling.

The answer was no: It was a regular lock but the key turned the other way than I expected. Oh well. Once I knew that, the lock was super easy. I raked it in seconds and picked it very quickly.

I still have to present to you all how to lock-pick yourselves and I do promise to do that very soon.

Who Watches...?

I saw the Watchmen film today. My comment on the matter?

Rorschach uses the same lock-picking set as I do! It's the case that I noticed. He uses it when he and Dan are in Veidt's office. Watch for it in the film.


In other news, the day wasn't so bad. I was tired but I've been more drowsy and it will only get worse tonight and tomorrow.

Bike Lock and Coffee

Thank goodness that I now use coffee strategically instead of drinking a cup a day (here and here). During busy times (like now) coffee becomes a valuable ally in my war on... time.

That being said I have been able to pick a few locks when I catch a free moment. I can pick an old bike lock in under a minute. It's was no problem - probably because it was so old and has a lot of give. It is definitely the easiest one yet.

The brand new pad lock I was telling you about, is terribly frustrating. I got it that first time very quickly but have not gotten it again since! My front door still takes time but I can consistently get it.

What I need now are more old locks that I can practice on.

Does anybody have any ideas about that? I don't want to go buy 10 brand new ones because a) they're harder and b) buying 10 locks for no purpose except to pick them seems more than little wasteful.

PS You really should be keeping up to date with the_dark_cat's Welcome to Wayne Manor.

Fluke

Tonight night while watching an episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold I picked a padlock. It was pretty cool. It took me just under 7 minutes BUT I think that was a fluke since I couldn't repeat it in the duration of the show. We'll see if I can repeat it again tomorrow.

Bruce Picks Away

Here's a few pics of me picking the deadbolt of my door.

Making Mr. Miracle

Someone broke into my house yesterday.

ME, BITCHES!

It took an half of an hour. Not more or less an half hour like less than an hour or more than a few minutes but exactly 30 minutes. That's as long as a TV show or it takes to make a decent supper or... well I'm sure you all know how long an half hour is but, but, but I'm just excited. This was my first time sitting down with them. I think I've found my calling - maybe I shouldn't be practicing to become Batman but rather should be trying to make myself an illusionist like Mr. Miracle.

Picks in the Post

I got my lock-pick set this morning. It's gorgeous. It's a 20 piece lock-pick set of from LockPickShop.com although that was my mistake - since ordering it, I found out that the maker, SouthOrd sells the exact same set for $10 cheaper than LockPickShop.

The MPXS-20 is a set of 14 picks and five torsion wrenches (there's also a key extractor - also known as tweezers). The picks come in a case which I like because it has a zipper rather than a button which most seem to have. These picks are called Slim, meaning that they are for narrow U.S. locks or European and Japanese locks. Narrower seemed like a better choice than wider to me.

The only other set that I really considered purchasing was the PXS-14 but it wasn't on sale when I ordered.

Suspicion

I stopped by a local locksmith's today to see if I could buy a set of picks locally instead of over the Internet. The lady who was working the shop came around from the other side of the shop. Because I'm fairly young, I made sure to use all the lingo that I knew when asking her if she had any. I asked if she had an torsion wrenches and picks for keyless entry. I was shocked at how quickly her attitude changed.

She told me, "We don't carry that kind of thing here" and when I asked her if she knew someone who might, she said "No" and returned to the other side of the store leaving me standing alone in her shop - a surprising thing to do to someone you suspect is a thieving criminal.

I've read in the Visual Guide to Lock Picking that picking a lock is not exactly the best method of fast, keyless entry. Drilling sounds easy or acid or if it's a pad lock simply cutting the BAR. That being said, I'm sure that there's a lot of superstitious cowardly thugs who could think of all kinds of crimes to commit.

Hopefully I'll tell you about bumping, shimming, skeleton keys and other keyless entry techniques beyond picking - the right tool for the job, they say.

Batman and Ropin'

Today is day ten of the push-up regiment. That means it's the last day of Round 1. I still feel good about it although I have to admit, I'm a little bit stiff. After a two day break I'll see how many push-ups I can do consecutively. Before I started I could do about 45ish. I hope to double that on Tuesday.

I received two books that I ordered for this Building Batman project in the mail today.

Book 1: The Knot Book by Budworth and Compton. Batman knows knots. Trust me. Climbing up and down building... oh ya he knows knots. Tying up baddies for Gordon to pick up. Some fun with Catwoman. Mooring the Batboat.

Book 2: Visual Guide to Lock Picking by McCloud. That's right, not only am I learning from a friend but also on my own. It will probably take me quite some time to understand lock-picking well enough to explain anything but sooner or later we'll cover this stuff.

So here's the plan. Over the next few weeks I'll introduce you to a knot or so a day as I learn and practice them. As that happens I'll learn as much as I can about lock picking. Learning these couple of skills will be big step in becoming Batman.

Home Made Equipment

My lock picking friend came in this morning with an old lock, a homemade Torque Wrench, a make shift Slim Jim and a WR3 bump key.

Of course, I'll explain what all those things are in blog posts as I learn to use them.

Batman: Lock-pick Extraordinaire

I haven't mentioned it yet but I've been looking into lock-picking a bit. It's not quite next on the list of Batman's Skills for me to learn but it's pretty high up there. So you have something to look forward to for after Christmas now.

I was talking to a friend of mine about being interested in lock-picking and it turns out he has some experience from his days in a hardware shop. It turns out that this shop acted as a minor locksmith's and part of his job was to pick the locks that came in without keys.

Anyway, he offered to teach me how to make a pick set. If all goes according to plan not only will he teach me how to pick locks but also how to create makeshift picks and fashion more sturdy long term picks. Great coincidence that I plan to take full advantage of.