Lock Picking Tools

This section describes the design and construction of lock picking tools.

1. Pick Shapes

Picks copme in several shapes and sizes. Figure A.1 shows the most common shapes. The handle and tang of a pick are the same for all picks. The handle must be comfortable and the tang must be thin enough to avoid bumping pins unnecessarily. If the tang is too thin, then it will act like a spring and you will loose the feel of the tip interacting with the pins. The shape of the tip determines how easily the pick passes over the pins and what kind of feedback you get from each pin.

The design of a tip is a compromise between the ease of insertion, ease of withdrawal and feel of the interaction. The half diamond tip with shallow angles is easy to insert and remove, so you can apply pressure when the pick is moving in either direction. It can quickly pick a lock that has little variation in the lengths of the key pins. If the lock requires a key that has a deep cut between two shallow cuts, the pick may not be able to push the middle pin down far enough. The half diamond pick with steep angles could deal with such a lock, and in general steep angles give you better feedback about the pins. Unfortunately, the steep angles make it harder to move the pick in the lock. A tip that has a shallow front angle and a steep back angle works well for Yale locks.

The half round tip works well in a disk tumbler lock. See section 9.13. The full diamond and full round tips are useful for locks that have pins at the top and bottom of the keyway. 

The rake tip is designed for picking pins one by one. It can also be used to rake over the pins, but the pressure can only be applied as the pick is withdrawn. The rake tip allows you to carefully feel each pin and apply varying amounts of pressure. Some rake tips are flat or dented on the top to make it easier to align the pick on the pin. The primary benefit of picking pins one at a time is that you avoide scratching the pins. Scrubbing scratches the tips of the pins and the keyway, and it spreads metal dust throughout the lock. If you want to avoid leaving traces, you must avoid scrubbing.

The snake tip can be used for scrubbing or picking. when scurbbing, the multiple bumps generate more action than a regular pick. The snake tip is particularly good at opening five pin household locks. When a snake tip is used for picking, it can set two or three pins at once. Basically, the snake pick acts like a segment of a key which can be adjusted by lifting and lowering the tip, by tilting it back and forth, and by using either the top or bottom of the tip. You should use moderate to heavy torque with a snake pick to allow several pins to bind at the same time. This style of picking is faster than using a rake and it leaves as little evidence.

2. Street Cleaner Bristles

The spring steel bristles used on stret cleaners make excellent tools for lock picking. The bristles have the right thickness and width, and they are easy to grind into the desired shape. The resulting tools are springy and strong. Section A.3 describes how to make tools that are less springy.

The first step in making tools is to sand off any rust on the bristles. Course grit sand paper works fine as does steel wool cleaning pad (not copper wool). If the edges or tip of the bristle are worn down, use a file to make them square.

A torque wrench has a head and a handle as shown in figure A.2. the head is usuaully 1/2 to 3/4 if an inch long and the handle varies from 2 to 4 inches long. The head and the handle are separated by a bend that is about 80 degrees. The head must be long enough to reach over any  protrusions (such as a grip-proof collar) and firmly engage the plug. A long handle alows delicate control over torque, but if it is too long, it will bump against the doorframe. The handle, head and bend angle can be made quite small if you want to make tools that are easy to conceal (e.g., in a pen, flashlight or belt buckle). Some torque wrenches have a 90 degree twist in the handle. The twist makes it easy to control the torque by controlling how far the handle has been deflected from its rest position. The handle acts as a spring which sets the torque. The disadvantage of this method of setting the torque is that you get less feedback about the rotation of the plug. To pick difficult locks you will need to learn how to apply a steady torque via a stiff handled torque wrench.

The width of the head of a torque wrench determines how well it will fit the keyway. Locks with narrow keyways (e.g. desk locks) need torque wrenches with narrow heads. Before bending the bristle, file the head to the desired width. A general purpose wrench can be made by narrowing the tip (about 1/4 inch) of the head. The tip fits small keyways while the rest of the head is wide enough to grab a normal keyway.

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