Can't SPP much of anything

[mister sour]

So what do I do to conquer tough bittings without oversetting pins, losing track of what's going on in the keyway, or a nasty combination of both?

use different hooks to reach under low cuts and to access high cuts. also, sometomes u just have to overset pins and let them fall again. every(mostly) lock is different. just takes a persistant and patient picker to open em.

[ecksdee]

Little step forward:

So what do I do to conquer tough bittings without oversetting pins, losing track of what's going on in the keyway, or a nasty combination of both?

use different hooks to reach under low cuts and to access high cuts. also, sometomes u just have to overset pins and let them fall again. every(mostly) lock is different. just takes a persistant and patient picker to open em.

Wait WHAT? Overset pins deliberately, then let them fall again? How do I let them fall again without allowing my properly set pins to fall too? I loosen up tension, but the pins that fall don't seem to have any relation to the actual binding order of pins in the lock, they seem to be random. Or am I missing a pattern that is, in fact, evident?

[Aedalas]

Wait WHAT? Overset pins deliberately, then let them fall again? How do I let them fall again without allowing my properly set pins to fall too? I loosen up tension, but the pins that fall don't seem to have any relation to the actual binding order of pins in the lock, they seem to be random. Or am I missing a pattern that is, in fact, evident?

THIS (and the cool factor for collection) is about the only thing I would recommend a cutaway for. Progressive pinning is another good way to practice too, go with 2-3 stacks and really learn the binding order. Overset one and correctly set another. Then you can practice "bouncing" tension to drop the overset without losing your correctly set pin.

This is one of the hardest things to do that I've encountered so far. Like anything else though: practice, practice, practice. The main issue though is you need to set up conditions where you know EXACTLY what is going on in there.

[ecksdee]

Amen to that- I can get myself a cutaway soon.


On another subject... I posted something a while back about expanding my lock collection, seeing as right now, all I have is... well, a bunch of rubbish.

I just found this lot on Ebay. This seems like a freaking awesome opportunity to expand my lock collection, albeit with locks that I stand very little chance of SPPing at the moment, but they would be hella fun rakes!

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-48-Best-Fal ... 500wt_1413

Should I grab these?

[Aedalas]

If you can get it, get it. But I'd be willing to bet that in about 1 day and 10.5 hours that price is going to get WAY higher.

A little tip there, if you can get back there when that auction is ending then bid when it has ~30-45 seconds left. If you bid right now then whoever has the current bid is going to get an email letting him know he was outbid. Waiting until the very last second has paid off very well for me quite a few times.

[ecksdee]

I thought it was a "buy it now" oh dear. That's very embarrassing. I guess I'll need to look elsewhere for a bargain.

[xeo]

Purposefully oversetting pins and letting them fall back down has never worked for me.

[Aedalas]

Purposefully oversetting pins and letting them fall back down has never worked for me.

Extremely limited success for me. I should clarify. I didn't mean it should be practiced as a viable method of picking, I meant that it can be practiced so that in case of an accidental overset you might be able to overcome it instead of just starting over.