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i've always been the type of person that would pick instead of bump.no matter what i do, i suck at bumping. my home brew ones look kinda deformed. thats most likely the case. but i've only sucessfully bumped 1 lock....a kwikset titan. any other lock is much better. even the original 5 pin kwikset is impossible for me. any tips? oh, and what should i use as a bump hammer?

thanks for the publicity usmc
that wrench is pretty handy... makes it a lot easier to bump with...
one of the best things ive come up with... you make a lot of cool things when your bored...

but yeah bumping isnt my thing. it isnt hard for me, i just prefer picking... anyone who cant bump most likely is having the trouble with pressure... either your hitting the key too hard, or not hard enough... or your turning the key too hard or not hard enough... the wrench helps with the turning... but remember while hitting, you do not want to pound the key into the lock... you want to shock it in...

you deffinately do not want to follow-thru

The best bump hammer ive ever had is my trusty screw driver (plastic-handle) A good bumping technique is the swing and clip method

i have to agree, bumping isnt about smashing the key, it's all about shocking it.
if you hit it with lets say a hammer for instance, it would send way to much force down the key and before long you lock is going to be in one hell of a mess.
If you use somethig light and plastic however, it's transfers all the energy from strike smoothly so as long as your tension and key is good then you should have a successful bump.

hope that helps you out.

Lew

thanks guys. but now i'm starting to think that it's my key. i file it down to the lowest point, but i file them flat down after most of the work is done. so it looks like the key cuts are flat. but i will try anyway. thanks guys

if the peaks of the key are all rufly the same sice and the right spacing then the problem is that you've filed them down to far. a lot of keys wont work at the 999 cut. quite a few of my keys (especially ABUS) are different depths.

with some keys you can cut them so low that the pins dont even come in contact with the key. Most of my abus bump keys are either 6 cut or 8.

When your making your own keys it's really a metter of trial and error.

We will help you all we can.

Lew

Well if your having problems go ready my small tutorial on how to bump.

true that bumping styles is different from everyone. I can bump better without the use of the rubber washer. Once I use one, it is almost impossible to bump a lock...

I finally realized this bumping thing is not a fad. I've been filing them for a few days now. I've been bypassing and picking for about 15 yrs. Decided to add bump keys to the menu.I knew how they worked. I filed the keys to proper depth and space, them just kept running them into the keyway till they felt"right". I made a bump hammer "temp" out of a pine ruler and two pine mousetrap bases electrical taped to it. I file the keys till they open every time. I realize different locks may act differently ,but I have alot to work with, so I'm pretty confident. I learned the technique as I made the keys. It's a light quick snap. I like this BUMPING thingy.

bumping is my main thing, i can open most locks in under 30 seconds, if i could offer you any tips on bumping, its the lightness of tension on the key, almost nothing at all, a lot less than turning a key in a fitted lock to let yourself in, secondly the strike with a bump hammer, start light and gradually increase how hard you are striking the key, but dont hit the key too hard, a combination of hitting the key too hard and turning the key too hard will snap the key and give you a bald patch on the back of your head, so gently goes, i get the best results with keys on an 8 cut, i actually listed all the locks ive bumped and the 8 cut comes out way in front, as for washers, springs or non, i think thats what you get used to, i have always used washers and i can now set the washers before i have got to the lock, normally bump fitted locks in a few hits, its rare to not have a lock open in a minute, even the better locks like banham and ruko, however getting a key for some of these is the bigger problem, if your making your own keys with a file, i tend to file the key down just above, say 1mm to 2mm above the lowest cut and try it in a few locks, if i dont have much success i shave another 1mm roughly off and try again, seems to work well, the lishi handcutters make this job a lot easier, you can knock a bump key up or copy a house key in not time with a little practice,as already stated many use screwdrivers for a bump hammer,a rubber handled file is also good and a wooden spoon does a great job too, but a good bump hammer makes all the differance to me.

Don't be scared to hit you thumb.

Looks like wardar is a necromancer... spooky... LOL!

LMAO...I think I got it...oh wait.............oh yea. I got it...

When I was learning to bump, the most difficult thing I found was keeping the tension down to almost nothing. Too much tension and the pins will bind and jam. Also I made a copy of a commercial bump hammer and after a lot of practice decided that it was far too heavy to do the job and follow through was the end result, which again stops the lock opening. In the end I reduced the thickness of the head by 50% and now it feels just right ... for me. Every time I practice I usually fluff the first few strikes ... always for the same reason .... over tensioning. Once I get that under control, the lock opens on most strikes. Here is a picture of my home made bump hammer but to be truthful, after awhile you will find that you can bump with almost any object .