Notes on Picking Pin Tumbler Locks

Using the five or six pin lock, find a pick that lets you locate and lift each pin across its full range of motion without disturbing adjacent pins too much. The selection of the torque tool is just as important as that of the pick, but, again, commercial pick kits often fail to include a sufficient range of sizes and designs to allow good control and feel across the range of common locks. The number of balls used in pool range from one to fifteen depending on the game type. In pool the most popular game is the eight-ball. There are also many types of pool games played across the world; eight ball, straight ball, nine ball, bottle pool e.t.c. This is used in the eight-ball, straight pool and several other pool games. The merchandise used in the pool game differs from that used in carom billiards. This group tried to change the name of the game constantly, but no efforts bore fruits as the name permanently stuck. The table size of the pool game is three and a half feet by seven feet.

The three hook picks in this kit are sufficient to manipulate the vast majority of pin tumbler locks found in the US. Go back to the "Arrow AR1" keyway lock board and find the one pin lock. Continue with the AR1 lock board. Again, continue with the AR1 locks. Note that these locks have been deliberately pinned with a short pin behind a long one. As you progress, you should know the state of the lock at all times: which pins are set, which aren't, which one is binding. Now (as long as you continue to apply torque) the other pin should be binding. While continuing to apply torque, slowly push the binding pin up. They allow very precise control over torque, especially when employing advanced picking techniques that involve a slight reversing of the rotation of the keyway. Apply very light torque while energetically moving the sawtooth rake in and out of the keyway. Sawtooth rakes, such as the Peterson "Ripple" and the Falle-Safe rakes, have 5 or more very acute peaks along the length of the pick's edge. The multiple peaks allow several, or even all, pin stacks to set simultaneously. First, apply light torque (as you practiced in the previous exercises) to the two pin cylinder and gently feel each pin.

Another style of torque tool has two "prongs" that fit in the top and bottom of the keyway, with a cutout between them for the pick. Because there are two independent shear lines, there is no way to control, or even tell, at which shear line a given pin stack sets. See Figure 2. The plug will be blocked from rotating if any pin stack is lifted either not far enough (with the cut still in the plug below the shear line) or too far (with the cut pushed above the shear line and into the shell); to rotate, all pin stacks must have a cut at the shear line. You may hear a faint "click." This is because you've pushed the cut (between the bottom and the top pin) up to exactly the shear line. If the wafer is set too low by the key, it blocks rotation by extending out through the bottom of the plug, while if it is set too high, it extends out the top. In particular note that because the pins are slightly out of alignment, as the plug is turned gently, only the pin stack that is most out of alignment actually prevents further rotation.

If you tried to rotate the plug of such a lock without a key in the keyway, the top pin segment of each pin stack would block the plug at exactly the same number of degrees of rotation; each pin stack would contribute equally to preventing the plug from turning. Left: Cylinder face, the lock's "user interface." Note the keyway, which is cut into the plug, which in turn sits inside the shell. It's possible that the plug will turn as soon as you set the first pin; if this happens, what is billiards it's because you inadvertently lifted the other pin with the shaft of your pick while you were working on the first one. Do not assume that the next pin will be adjacent to the one you just set. The rest is just technique -- locating and recognizing the state of each pin stack, manipulating the pins, applying torque to the plug.