How To Pick Locks

If you’ve read my novel, Lost Conscience, the story at the very beginning about picking a lock of the black marketers in Korea was true. (If you haven’t read it, why not? It’s a fast paced action novel with plenty of fights, sniping, and more.) I learned about locks from my dad when I was in high school, and have had locking picking sets ever since.

They came in handy helping buddies in the Army and in college who lost keys, or locked themselves out. And I rented places that had the cheaper locks that many places have, and I was able to get myself back in when locked out.

Tools You’ll Need

To open standard locks, you’ll need two tools (Something a lot of TV shows and movies get wrong): a tension wrench and an L rake. A tension wrench is a tool with a 90-degree angle that’s used to apply pressure to the lock. In the top picture above, the tension wrench is horizontal above the different rakes in the set. An L rake is designed to push the cylinder pins into the correct position to open the lock.

The second picture above is a set of warded lock picks. These will open may types of locks found on file cabinets, small lock boxes, and certain kinds of pad locks. I liked it when buddies had those kinds of padlocks as I could open them really quick and it made me look good.

Improvised Lock Picks

While I always teach that it’s better to have the right tool for the job than improvise, sometimes we have no choice. Many common items can be used to pick some locks. Things like bobby pins, hairpins, bits of wire, and paperclips can be turned into tension wrenches and picks. Two paper clips can be used to pick some of the cheaper standard locks. Straighten them out, and then bend one in a 90-degree angle to be your tension wrench. You can create waves or other configurations in the second one to be your rake.

How to Pick a Lock

Lock picking is a handy skill to have, and with a little practice, you will be able to open basic locks. While applying the circular tension with the tension wrench, you rake or lift the pins until they are in line with the shear line and the cylinder turns due to the pressure with the tension wrench. What the youtube video below for more instruction.

Is It Legal?

There is nothing illegal about owning a set of lock picks or knowing how to pick a lock. It’s what you do with the knowledge and tools that makes it legal or not. You should only pick locks on your own property or that you have permission to pick. There was nothing illegal about helping my buddies who lost their keys or locked themselves out. There was nothing illegal about getting into my own place or teaching my daughter how to pick locks. The only time I’ve ever used lock picks illegally was that incident that is not in my novel, and we don’t need to discuss that any further. Only use your tools and knowledge legally and you won’t have anything to worry about.

Video Guide to Picking Locks

Here is a video from The Art of Manliness on picking locks to help with your education.