Lockpicking

[MadduckUK]

As to 'going equipped' you can be arrested for carrying a newspaper, marmite (or golden syrup) and screwdriver... all you need to break a double glazed window with little noise and no mess. True dat!

the marmite/syrup+newspaper is genius tbh

could you substitute the newspaper for one of those tiny kleenex tissue packs, the marmite for half chewed sweets and the screwdriver for a particularly hefty bunch of keys?

[a1210]

I once saw a video of some guy from toool.nl giving a talk on lock picking and he used a shim to open a padlock. It looked so easy in the video, but i couldn't get it to work on any of my padlocks..

has anyone tried using proper lockpicking tools? as in weird pieces of bent metal..
just wondering if it makes things easier than bent paper clips..

[Spud1]

has anyone tried using proper lockpicking tools? as in weird pieces of bent metal..
just wondering if it makes things easier than bent paper clips..

Yup..makes things much easier, as you can feel around inside the lock to work out whats going on and what you need to do in order to open it Paperclips are a free and fun way to start though, and you can even bend them into similar shapes to make your own macgyver picks =)

This is the set I have (just an image here, not a link to buy)

http://www.southord.com/images/fullsize/C-801.jpg

[Lowe]

I've often thought about this, seems like a great pass vtime that could actually come in useful!

[mediaboy]

Lowe is secretly planning to rob their neighbour and steal the neighbours superior computer.


Joking aside.. that last post could be taken in sooo the wrong way..

[Nick]

the marmite/syrup+newspaper is genius tbh

could you substitute the newspaper for one of those tiny kleenex tissue packs, the marmite for half chewed sweets and the screwdriver for a particularly hefty bunch of keys?

afaik, it's only used with people who have a history of burglary or are suspected of it... otherwise we'd all be rounded up when we left Tesco's after the weekly shop. (not that I buy screwdrivers on a weekly basis but...)

[CaseyV9]

And I can grab a book on this at local Bookstores?

Whey, and the woman who lived of £1 day for a year, I'll live for £0 a day for as long as possible
(That's not serious just in case)

[mediaboy]

Nick - you mean to say you don't manage to lose at least one a week? I'm amazed! I have this tendency to lose them, find replacements and then the old ones turn up leaving me with enough duplicates to start my own tool shop.

[manwithnoname]

In NY I got locked out of the apartment I was staying in, took 20 minutes of have the idea of using a credit card to force the lock - and 4 seconds to open the door with the credit card (actually it was my cash card). Lesson: Yale locks can be a bad idea, in fact if you have home contents insurance and a just a Yale lock on any entrance to the property than your insurance is probably void check the small print.

[Lucio]

I actually work in the industry, and personally, I dispise hobbyists for making our job more difficult. Yes, it's interesting to find out how things work, but really, how are suppliers supposed to tell the difference between a genuine hobbyist and a criminal wanting a quick way into a building??

The company I work for goes for the simple route, if you aren't a trained and certified locksmith (from a course that does a CRB check), you don't get tools. Unfortuantely get rich quick idiots don't share that view, and people like Spud1 get tools along with criminals.

[CaseyV9]

I actually work in the industry, and personally, I dispise hobbyists for making our job more difficult. Yes, it's interesting to find out how things work, but really, how are suppliers supposed to tell the difference between a genuine hobbyist and a criminal wanting a quick way into a building??

The company I work for goes for the simple route, if you aren't a trained and certified locksmith (from a course that does a CRB check), you don't get tools. Unfortuantely get rich quick idiots don't share that view, and people like Spud1 get tools along with criminals.

I'm a fairly paranoid bloke. I have my PC padlocked up on the case. 2 padlocks on that and it's chained to the radiator.
As someone who works in this industry, how easy would it be for someone to open the padlocks and lock em up without me knowing?

[MadduckUK]

As someone who works in this industry, how easy would it be for someone to open the padlocks and lock em up without me knowing?

i guess that comes down to how long you could use the comp for before you realise its not there anymore

[Lucio]

I'm a fairly paranoid bloke. I have my PC padlocked up on the case. 2 padlocks on that and it's chained to the radiator.
As someone who works in this industry, how easy would it be for someone to open the padlocks and lock em up without me knowing?

Depends entirely on the padlocks, however most criminals would simply cut or smash the raidiator pipe and take the PC that way.

[Spud1]

I actually work in the industry, and personally, I dispise hobbyists for making our job more difficult. Yes, it's interesting to find out how things work, but really, how are suppliers supposed to tell the difference between a genuine hobbyist and a criminal wanting a quick way into a building??

The company I work for goes for the simple route, if you aren't a trained and certified locksmith (from a course that does a CRB check), you don't get tools. Unfortuantely get rich quick idiots don't share that view, and people like Spud1 get tools along with criminals.

Thats a valid point, and to a degree I agree with you there...BUT

9/10 times its much much easier to force a lock or to simply bypass it than to pick it. It's often much quicker and simpler, and your average criminal doesn't care about leaving a trace behind them. Those that are very careful and don't want to leave any evidence are smart enough to get hold of the equipment regardless of any restrictions on how they are sold, so stopping shops selling them to unlicenced people wouldn't really help.

So really, it wouldn't make that much of a difference by restricting sale to only licenced lockies, other than frustrating people who genuinely want to get into picking from the hobby point of view, and possibly reducing the number of people who train up, qualify and become a licenced locksmith.

edit - as an aside, do you know of anywhere that sells just the springs to fit inside standard pin tumber locks? In the process of repinning one of my practice locks I've broken one of the springs (my fault for not putting one of the pings back in ) and I can't find them anywhere in the UK ;/ Admittedly there are other places to look yet but if you know of a store that would be very useful

[CaseyV9]

Depends entirely on the padlocks, however most criminals would simply cut or smash the raidiator pipe and take the PC that way.

I just mean if someone wanted to be be sly and tamper with it in the aim of the owner not knowing. This talk of lock picking makes me wonder.

[Whiternoise]

And I can grab a book on this at local Bookstores?

Whey, and the woman who lived of £1 day for a year, I'll live for £0 a day for as long as possible
(That's not serious just in case)

Please delete if this is innapropriate, but there's a very popular guide on the internet named after a prestigious US university.