Good Beginner cutaway?

[verz]

I have been playing with a small pile of padlocks so now I am looking for some new stuff to practice and learn with. I have been looking at "cutaways" and was thinking of getting a 5pin that I could also put security pins in to try to get a feel for them and to keep the lock challenging.

Their seems to be a small verity of them floating around on ebay So I am wondering what a good brand of 5pin cutaway would be for my proposes?
and any other advice that might be helpful in this realm?

[cyrano138]

Since you asked for 'other advice' that might be helpful, I'd say that unless you're really banging your head against the wall with your locks, you'd be better off skipping the cutaways. They're neat, but not really all that useful for learning to pick.

[PickForge]

I agree with cyrano138, cutaways are more of a teaching tool then a learning tool. they are awesome for showing some one how a lock works but once you have that concept down there isn't much more to gain from it.

on the other hand though there are some really nice cutaways of nice locks that would be cool to have from a collectors side of things

[verz]

I got the padlocks down pretty well, to where I am board with them. The one thing that made me think of the cutaways is for learning to pick the security pins, I don't know how hard that would be to learn blind.

Thanks for the advice guys, I don't want to spend the extra money on a cutaway if it isn't really going to help me.

Got any other suggestions on beginner locks? Not to expensive but might entertain and educate me for a bit

[cyrano138]

For super beginner security pins, you can get some brinks deadbolts with a "spool" pin or two for 15 bucks at Walmart if you're willing to throw some of your money at them.

For more sophisticated security pins that are still not too bad, get hold of some Abus 83/45's from someone on the forum if you can. They're all spools but pretty good.

For a real challenge (but unfortunately one that doesn't translate too well to other high security locks), try some of the older American padlocks (1100 or 5200). Again, get them here if you can.

[verz]

Thanks for the small list cyrano138,
I am going to toss the cutaway idea and just collect some of these and some of those. I guess in realty a single cutaway would get pretty boring fast. I will have a little money in my paypal next week and might also run by Walmart to look for the brinks and get some new locks to strew all over the coffee table.

[cyrano138]

Just don't spend too much on Brinks's. They can get boring really fast. If you want something you're going to spend a lot of time on, get an Abus or two (can usually be found for 7 or 8 bucks each) and a couple of Americans (can also usually be had for 7 or 8 bucks apiece). It's worth waiting for some better locks and not winding up with a pile of el cheapos you can't trade for beans. When you're sick of an Abus or American you can always find someone who wants one.

[verz]

Good advice. I was hoping to collect some stuff I could trade or sell when I get board with them. I hate having clutter and unused stuff, I just put a bunch of stuff from an old hobby(straight razors) on ebay because I haven't used it in 2 years so I can turn it into new stuff.

[OneManClan]

i might be a noob, but i totally dissagree about cutaway locks. i think you should definately start off with a cutaway. the main reasons i think is to get the visual feedback of what pins are doing. especially feeling the difference when your lifting 2 pins, or a single pin, or when you over picked a pin. also learning to gage the distance a pick is in the lock, and knowing what pin you are under by how far the pick is in... also when you been at the lock for like 5 minutes, and you swear you picked every pin correctly.. now you can look and see where you messed up. not to mention whats going on when you graduate to secutrity or serated pins.

come on, bro!

[piotr]

i might be a noob, but i totally dissagree about cutaway locks. i think you should definately start off with a cutaway. the main reasons i think is to get the visual feedback of what pins are doing. especially feeling the difference when your lifting 2 pins, or a single pin, or when you over picked a pin. also learning to gage the distance a pick is in the lock, and knowing what pin you are under by how far the pick is in... also when you been at the lock for like 5 minutes, and you swear you picked every pin correctly.. now you can look and see where you messed up. not to mention whats going on when you graduate to secutrity or serated pins.

come on, bro!

I agree. For those of us that don't have extraordinary manual dexterity and/or tactile perception the visual feedback from a cutaway can help to "calibrate" that tactile sense. Once you have visually confirmed that you are performing the correct/incorrect action you can then disregard the visual information and focus on how the correct/incorrect action feels and sounds. A cutaway is just another learning aid. You should use a cutaway only initially because the aim is to develop the required tactile sensory acuity and sense of location in space. Once you have that for a given lock design and pick combination you should move to progressive pinning of intact lock cylinders.

[piotr]

Regarding where to get a good cutaway, at this point in time I think that would be ebay. There are no forum members that I know that are currently producing cutaways ("moto" (?) has posted some images of some cool homebrews but I don't think those were for sale -- correct me if I am wrong). Some of the members here have made and sold some great cutaways (eg. James' handmade Medeco cutaways, Chemical Robot's cutaways) but their production comes in patches.

I am in the market for a Medeco cutaway that also has grub screws on the pin chambers so if you see one for sale please let me know.

PS:- Schuyler Towne fucked me on the sale of a cutaway lock. The prick took my money but it's almost a year now and no lock even though he promised he was only selling locks that are already made and ready to ship. I purchased from him because (a) he had fucked up the Kickstarter project and burnt all the money and said he need some working capital and I thought this would be a good way to help him; and (b) he promised that he wasn't taking pre-orders and was only taking orders for the sale of existing inventory. It seems that he was lying in regards to (b).

[OneManClan]

indeed. i am concidering getting onto making some cutaways... but only genuine locks probably. dont think id mess with grub screws though, cuz they alter the origional tension of the springs, due to having to be screwed in .

as far as that Schuyler Towne dude... i watched like 3 of his videos and could no longer. dude is anoying.
i like the stuff from komoko, wizwazle, locksmitharmy, and others.