i'll be back for tall kitchen bags (part 2)

a few weeks ago, for some unknown reason, i took an interest in finding out how locks worked (not to burgle, of course). i read up and learned what makes it possible to pick them and the idea seemed pretty simple, so i figured i'd see if it was really possible.

i went to the hardware store and found the section with all of the door and pad locks. i wanted to start simple, so i picked out two padlocks, a master model 140 and a master model 5.

i knew nothing about either of these locks, i just picked them out because the 140 looked small and i figured it would be easy to learn on, and the 5 because it looked big and heavy and i thought it would be hard to pick.

since i had no picking tools, i made some out of a very thin allen wrench set i had in my toolbox, ground them down a bit with a dremel, and bent them accordingly with some pliers. they didn't work very well because i couldn't get the bends right without snapping them in two, and they were a bit uncomfortable to hold.

so, i ordered a small, inexpensive set of picks and tension wrenches from southord which arrived on friday. with proper tools in hand, i set about trying to pick the smaller master 140 lock.

after about 30 minutes, i had each pin set and the locked opened. i tried the second, larger master 5 lock and picked it in about an hour.

i practiced a bit more and was able to pick both locks with more accuracy and speed. on saturday morning, i recorded this short video to demonstrate picking the bigger master 5 lock in 4 seconds and the smaller master 140 lock in 1 second (i'm counting from the time the pick goes into the cylinder until the tension wrench can turn it to open the lock). the master 140 practically falls open when the rake tool is inserted at a certain angle and depth.