My Journey to Lock Picking
Apparently, I’m able to pick locks now. I’m not a professional, and frankly, even “amateur lock picker” would be a generous title, but in seconds, I’m able to open padlocks from my nearby hardware store.
My journey to lock picking
I found Bosnianbill’s YouTube channel and was very intrigued by how he was able to open locks so easily without a key. Sure, he was a professional, but if he could do it, then how hard could it really be? I decided to find out.
I found this lock picking training set from Amazon.co.uk
It cost me 16.95 GBP and included 15 picks and one transparent practice lock. I didn’t expect it to be a high-quality set, but it’s probably good enough to get some feel on what this mysterious lockpicking ability really is.
First impressions with my new toy
My excitement was through the roof when I first placed my tension wrench into the lock and chose the right tool for picking. I didn’t know what I was doing, and was mostly copying what I had seen Bosnianbill do in his videos.
The excitement faded pretty fast when I discovered that not much skill was needed to open the training lock. It only took me a few seconds to open it. It didn’t even matter what kind of pick I jammed into the keyhole; whatever I used, the lock just popped open. My fears were confirmed — the training lock was a piece of crap.
I needed to find something more challenging, but the only other thing with a lock I found around me was this black box.
I was pretty sure that this box also had a terrible lock on it, but at least it had pins (things inside the lock that you need to align to the correct height to open a lock) on both sides of the key. So, I tried to wiggle it open.
I quickly realized that the second lock was also a piece of junk. Time to buy some real locks…
FXA cost me 6,55 EUR and PROF 8,95 EUR. I bought these from K-rauta, a leading hardware store throughout Scandinavia, Baltic countries and Russia. I didn’t expect these locks to be high security, but they were the most common ones at that shop by far, so I hoped that they would be good for a bit of practice.
I was able to open the first one, the FXA lock, in about 2 minutes, and the second PROF lock in about 4 minutes. My following attempts took only seconds, once I knew how to do it.
I am seriously surprised how easy it is to pick locks. I do understand that these locks are probably quite crappy, but the fact remains that with only a few minutes of practice, I was able to open some commonly used locks around me. Quite a disconcerting thought, isn’t it?
Puzzle Factor is Still High
I didn’t start lock picking to get access anywhere that I don’t belong, but I do find this activity quite an interesting brain teaser. That being said, next time you consider buying Hanayama brainteaser puzzles, consider taking a dip into the lockpicking world. You might find some interesting lockpicking brainteasers from Abloy or Abus!
