

From left to right: torsion wrench, "twist-flex" torsion wrench, offset diamond pick, ball pick, half-diamond pick, short hook, medium hook, saw (or "L") rake, snake (or "C") rake. As the key slides into the lock through the keyway, the wards align with the grooves in the key's profile to allow or deny entry into the lock cylinder.Ī traditional pick set.
OBSCURE 2 LOCKPICKING SCHOOL SERIES
Additionally, a series of grooves on either side of the key's blade limit the type of lock the key can slide into.

For example, if you have a chest of drawers with a warded lock you can make a skeleton key for that type of warded lock by filing away all but the last one or two teeth or bittings on both sides of the blade. The other parts are there to distinguish between different varieties of their locks. The keys for warded locks only require the back end manipulating which is the end which opens the lock. It is generally made to conform to a generalized key shape relatively simpler than the actual key used to open the lock this simpler shape allows for internal manipulations. The warded pick, also known as a skeleton key, is used for opening warded locks. Tools Ī common set of skeleton keys used to open most types of warded padlocks. īeginning in 1997 more organized recreational lockpicking has now grown and developed a competitive aspect in " locksport", along with its own governing body, Locksport International. The tradition of student roof and tunnel hacking at MIT included lockpicking, and their guide to this was made widely available in 1991. King Louis XVI of France (1754–1793) was a keen designer, picker, and manipulator of locks, and physicist Richard Feynman picked locks for fun in the 1940s while employed on the Manhattan Project.
OBSCURE 2 LOCKPICKING SCHOOL PROFESSIONAL
Professional and recreational lock picking also has a long history. Rogues knew a good deal about lock-picking long before locksmiths discussed it among themselves. Rogues are very keen on their profession and know already much more than we can teach them respecting their several kinds of roguery. Famed locksmith Alfred Charles Hobbs said in the mid-1800s: Despite this, criminal lock picking likely started with the first locks. Locks by definition secure or fasten something with the intention that access is possible only with the matching key.
