Manip. methods
Oscillation:
When dialing test combos, has oscillation (rotating back and forth in the drop in area hitting the contacts) ever helped you drop into a gate that was just a little tiny bit off? It doesn't seem to help on my LaGard when I dial a number really close (1.5 off) and then oscillate. If I put the fence right on the very edge of a gate and then shake the whole lock, well sometimes it will drop in, but I'm not convinced that oscillating works.
Read w3 alone to get a gate, then w1 and w2 around:
On my lock wheel 3 reads first, and the previous S&G I did was the same way. After reading 3 I tried to read 2 alone , but I found I have often been committing a dialing error where I rotate too many times and end up reading w1 and w2 around. On both locks I got legitimate gates running w1 and w2 around after checking w3 alone. Has this happened often for you where w1 and w2 read simultaneously?
Bending the fence:
The only part about manipulation I don't enjoy is going all the way around w1 after getting numbers for w2 and w3 and the lock not opening after all that time spent. I have considered bending the fence on one of my locks so w1 reads first to save me quite a bit of time in my practice, though I appreciate this is not how most locks would read. Has anyone done this? Has it worked for you? I can see if I am not careful this could make it impossible to read the other wheels if there is too much bend, etc.
Thanks,
-LC