Homemade lockpick?

Diamond Cut II

Diamond Cut II

Joined
Sep 1, 2002
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I don't know if this is the appropriate forum but I locked myself out of my room and was wondering if there's anyway to make your own lockpick out of everyday items like a paperclip. I've tried the paperclip and it doesn't fit. Would a safety pin do the trick? Can anyone tell me how many you need and how to form 'em? Thank you for your help.


-DC2
 
If the lock has pins and tumblers, you need two things a tension wrench and a pick.

The tension wrench is just a piece of wire with a hook on it that you can insert in the cylinder and apply tension on the cylinder to rotate in the ulock direction.

Then you take another slim piece of wire with a small hook or bump on it. While you maintain slight rotational pressure with the tension wrench, you can either attempt to push each pin individually up until it catches slightly (and move on to the next pin) or you can rake across all the pins back and forth and try and get them all lined up at once.

You should feel a rotational "give" that very slight when the pins start to line up.
 
I made a small set of lockpick tools at work one day this winter when I was really bored. I work at a bicycle shop. I took spokes and pounded the spoke head area flat and shaped them somewhat with a hammer on the flat part of a very old, very heavy vice. Then I used a bench grinder to shape them the rest of the way. I also made a tensions wrench the same way just by not taking off nearly as much metal. To my great surprise they actually worked when I was done and I was able to consistantly break into the cash register at work. I tried on a couple doors though and didn't have any luck, though I didn't spend too much time on it either. I'm pretty sure the register was a pretty easy lock to get open, but it was still fun.
 
Yes, you can pick a lock using two paperclips. You'd much rather have an actual pick and an actual wrench, though.

"Your room" is an awful vague description. If you give us a bit more information about the lock, we can probably help you out a little more specifically.
 
I would advise against it. My dad was a padlock designer, and he owned a complete set; I grew up seeing them daily in his home office.

One day, I asked him to teach me. He told me that picks are one of those implements where, if you're not a locksmith or a designer, the Federales can arrest you without having to prove intent.

Just having them implies you wish to bypass a secure area you do not have clearance for. It's a felony here.
 
Originally posted by Ichabod Poser
Just having them implies you wish to bypass a secure area you do not have clearance for. It's a felony here.
Click to expand...

Saying that having lockpicks implies you wish to bypass a secure area you do not have clearance for is very similar to saying that having a knife implies you wish to kill someone. I use my knives to open envelopes which are legitimately in my possession: I use my lockpicks to open locks which are legitimately in my possession.

As for the legality, I'm a bit uninformed (I've done a lot of research, but it was all on the internet), but I think the only place in the states where it's illegal to have lockpicks in your house is DC, and even there I think it's a misdemeanor. Are you out of the states? I'm honestly curious, maybe there's a law that I don't know about. I like to remain legal, so if I missed something, I'd like to know.
 
the flaw in that analogy is that knives have other utility uses

so... what else can you use a lockpick for?
 
For unlocking locks, of course. Lockpicking is a popular hobby, and it's useful when people lock themselves out of their houses, cars, lockers, etc. It might even be you who forgets the keys.

Naturally if the police answer a skulker report and find you running away from them and hiding in the bushes any lockpicks found on your person will be introduced in evidence. Even under less suspicious circumstances, if you are legally searched for some reason lockpicks could get you into trouble. If you take up lockpicking as a hobby it would be well to tell everybody you know about it; make yourself famous for helping out your neighbors and coworkers.

Even if you never carry picks but only practice your hobby at home it can be useful in letting you (and your friends and relations) know how easy it is to pick many of the locks on the market. Some can be opened about as quickly with a couple of bent paper clips as with the key -- a good thing to know when you're buying a lock.
 
Originally posted by Diamond Cut II
I don't know if this is the appropriate forum but I locked myself out of my room and was wondering if there's anyway to make your own lockpick out of everyday items like a paperclip. I've tried the paperclip and it doesn't fit. Would a safety pin do the trick? Can anyone tell me how many you need and how to form 'em? Thank you for your help.


-DC2
Click to expand...
E-mail me and i'll send you detailed instructions:D
 
I know that in the state of maine you can get in trouble for possesion "burglery tools". My friend got taken in for having a screwdriver on him (go figure). While a screwdriver is an example of mean cops and teenagers, a lockpick might get you into trouble with decent cops. But that is as far as walking around with them. I would think that in your own home you can have a set, just like owning a balisong where it isn't allowed.
-mike
 
Up here, having lock picks on you, and being searched(legally or from a crime), is giving yourself a "Possesion of B&E tools" on your record(and a few days looking at bars). Spending a couple thou and getting resitered as a locksmith makes them legal to carry though. I'd say a few years and a couple thou is better than a criminal record.
 
Originally posted by JamesA
Saying that having lockpicks implies you wish to bypass a secure area you do not have clearance for is very similar to saying that having a knife implies you wish to kill someone.
Click to expand...


The "masses" DO think that way; hence that problem.

There is no law stating that laws have to make sense. But that would make sense would it not? :D
 
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