HT4s Practice Lock Collection

[HT4]

As a hobby picker, my "collection" is focused on practice locks... Almost all used locks purchased cheap from eBay. Nothing terribly valuable, but many, many hours of picking enjoyment (and frustration) is represented here. Pretty much everything pictured has been picked several times. The exceptions include the medecos, sobos, AL747, and a few that are too corroded to pick. I'll be branching into some higher security stuff soon, which is part of the reason I'm getting involved in this forum now... I'm sure I'll be asking for help.

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[muddassarusa]

Nice collection

[farmall]

Nice collection.

[jeffmoss26]

Wow!!

[escapenrv]

Very nice. Now I see who has been out bidding me on the "bay". Welcome to the group, glad to have you.
Steve

[HT4]

Very nice. Now I see who has been out bidding me on the "bay". Welcome to the group, glad to have you.
Steve

And now I see who has been driving the prices up.

[Papa Gleb]

superb collection mate. Glad to have you here. Show how you store the padlocks.

[HT4]

superb collection mate. Glad to have you here. Show how you store the padlocks.

Thanks. Sorry to disappoint, but I've been storing them in a canvas bag. Not exactly impressive. If I ever get around to moving my picking operation to the basement, I was thinking to hang the carabiners from an iron pipe or a stretched chain... But that hasn't happened yet.

[escher7]

If by "high security" you mean spools and serrated then there is nothing better out there than Mr. Wizard's practice lock. Brand new cylinder with potential up to 7 pins. Each is accessible via a set screw on top and you can load 1 to 7 pins with any combination of plain, serrated and spool pins - working your way up as you learn. I received mine a few weeks ago and the quality is impressive.

Like many folks out there, I peaked at 5 or 6 pin non-security configurations and needed a way to progress without blindly fumbling around trying to get the feel for spools etc., not knowing for sure which pin was which. With this cylinder, you know exactly how the pins are set. Of course Medicos, Primus etc. are another matter, but getting comfortable with regular cylinders is a necessary 1st step even there.

Highly recommended - just p.m. Mr. Wizard

[HT4]

If by "high security" you mean spools and serrated then there is nothing better out there than Mr. Wizard's practice lock. Brand new cylinder with potential up to 7 pins. Each is accessible via a set screw on top and you can load 1 to 7 pins with any combination of plain, serrated and spool pins - working your way up as you learn. I received mine a few weeks ago and the quality is impressive.

Like many folks out there, I peaked at 5 or 6 pin non-security configurations and needed a way to progress without blindly fumbling around trying to get the feel for spools etc., not knowing for sure which pin was which. With this cylinder, you know exactly how the pins are set. Of course Medicos, Primus etc. are another matter, but getting comfortable with regular cylinders is a necessary 1st step even there.

Highly recommended - just p.m. Mr. Wizard

No, that's not what I meant... I'm pretty good with spools and serrated pins. I've spent many, many hours working on American padlocks (which are full of serrated key pins and serrated/serrated spool drivers), and many (a third to half) of the KiK locks pictured have been pinned up by me with commercially available security pins (spools, serrated and t pins). My tentative plans for the near future include dimple locks w/ security pins (which I have not tried at all yet) and Primus locks (which strike me as the easiest of the sidebar locks since there are no security driver pins or false gates in the finger pins). I also need to devote some time to working on padlocks with heavy spring tension on the cores (see the pictured AL747 and Abus34/55's)... I'm not nearly as fast on those as I should be. Of course, all of that is dependent on me having the time to devote.

Also, for what it's worth, I'm not a huge fan of picking the same practice lock over and over again... even if I constantly re-pin it. I started out that way, and got really good at picking that particular lock (because I know the binding order, the types of pins, the bitting, quirks, etc.). I was still, however, worthless on other locks. I also found it boring. My preferred strategy is to get several of the same kind of lock and pick one after the other in sequence... then mix them up and start again. That way, its less likely that I will remember the quirks of any particular lock. In doing this, I try to make my practice replicate encountering an unknown lock in the wild. Just my $.02.

[Mitchell s]

It sounds like you should start trading challenge locks with other members. I haven't done much of that owning to distance but from what I gather a lot of the guys from the states are constantly rotating bags of challenge locks amongst themselves

[escher7]

HT4 - I accept your logic for advanced pickers, but for those just learning high security pins, trying unknown cylinders can be frustrating. The beauty of Wiz's product is getting the feel of tougher pins knowing their order, before moving on to unknown combinations. You are clearly beyond that point but I know I hit a wall with security pins and got tired of failing to get the positive feedback of opening the damned things.

[HT4]

HT4 - I accept your logic for advanced pickers, but for those just learning high security pins, trying unknown cylinders can be frustrating. The beauty of Wiz's product is getting the feel of tougher pins knowing their order, before moving on to unknown combinations. You are clearly beyond that point but I know I hit a wall with security pins and got tired of failing to get the positive feedback of opening the damned things.

I will not disagree with you, mainly because I feel that the learning experience with picking is something very personal. I'm self taught, as I suspect most of us are. One of the advantages of that is that we are free to blaze our own trail and decide what works best for us.

Here’s where I’m coming from: When I started on security pins, I had a mixed experience. Picking spools came easily to me, but I found serrated pins to be very, very difficult. I would eventually open the lock with enough time (sometimes, several hours), and I would quickly get better at that lock until I could regularly open it in a couple minutes. That was an awesome feeling, and I really thought that I was making progress. But I was not. The issue was that I was not learning the “feel” of the serrated pins… I was learning how to count clicks and memorize binding orders. I was probably getting something out of the process, but it felt like I was starting from square one every time I picked up a new lock. That's why I modified my approach to that described above.

I’m but no means an expert, nor do I think I have all the answers (or even one answer). What didn’t work for me may be great for others, and vice versa. So as I said in my last post, take it “for what it's worth.”

[HT4]

It sounds like you should start trading challenge locks with other members. I haven't done much of that owning to distance but from what I gather a lot of the guys from the states are constantly rotating bags of challenge locks amongst themselves

Already have a couple on the way!

EDIT - Fixed my quotation of the wrong person.