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24 part video course on lockpicking

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abroxis

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:07 am

24 part video course on lockpicking

YouTube is hosting a 24 part course by Schuyler Towne that some of you may be interested in.

Locks: Basic operation and manipulation by SchuylerTowne

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVSL0liiWoc&list=SP66CD42F86F3A1F85

01 - Introduction to the course by SchuylerTowne
02 - What We'll Cover by SchuylerTowne
03 - What You'll Need by SchuylerTowne
04 - How Pin Tumbler Locks Work by SchuylerTowne
05 - Disassembling Your Lock by SchuylerTowne
06 - Reassembling Your Lock by SchuylerTowne
07 - How Masterkeying Works by SchuylerTowne
08 - Metal Options by SchuylerTowne
09 - Making a Basic Hook by SchuylerTowne
10 - Tension Wrenches by SchuylerTowne
11 - Finishing Your Picks by SchuylerTowne
12 - Lockpicking: The Basic Idea by SchuylerTowne
13 - Tension Options by SchuylerTowne
14 - Picking with Hooks by SchuylerTowne
15 - Picking with Rakes by SchuylerTowne
16 - Picking with Half-Diamonds by SchuylerTowne
17 - Failure Modes of Locks by SchuylerTowne
18 - Advanced Features of Locks by SchuylerTowne
19 - Picking Security Pins by SchuylerTowne
20 - Sidebars: How Medeco Locks Work by SchuylerTowne
21 - Evaluating Your Own Security by SchuylerTowne
22 - Competitive Picking by SchuylerTowne
23 - Mixed Method Speed Picking by SchuylerTowne
24 - Final Thoughts by SchuylerTowne
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xeo

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 9:50 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

You left out some chapters.

25 - Stealing from Kickstarter by SchuylerTowne
26 - Pretending to be a Professional by SchuylerTowne
27 - Regurgitating commonly found information from Google by SchuylerTowne
28 - Stealing Other People's PowerPoint Slides by SchuylerTowne
29 - How to Grow a Beard and Act like a Douche by SchuylerTowne
30 - Smearing the art of "LockSport" for a profit by SchuylerTowne
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The code is hidden in the tumblers. One position opens the lock, another position opens one of these doors...
http://www.youtube.com/xeotech1

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gnarus8429

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 10:30 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

While I agree with the disaster he caused the lock picking community with his kickstarter project, he is a good guy. If you get the chance to meet the guy he has the same love of locks we all do. He will never win any business awards or common sense ones either. The cool part of this disaster is the group of people pulling together to get him out of this hole. The videos above are well done and I use them when I teach. They are perfect for people just getting started. I lost $75 bucks to this guy too but, perhaps we should just let him fade away and not beat the guy to death.
I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.
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LocksmithArmy

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 10:41 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

Im all for ignoring the past and letting it fade... BUT i would never put his vids in any of my teachings... I did download these vids some time ago... but I suppose thats just to complete the collection... I find his picking skills to be lacking in every way... except his raking techniques... they are fine...

I do like some of his older talks... like the one on the great exhibition... very entertaining...
as long as he sticks to LOCKS and not PICKING... im a happy camper

I agree hes very passionate... and has done ALOT of research on ALOT of lock things (stuff I would not bother to research) so I enjoy his talks (to learn things i did not know I did not know)... but when it comes to picking and learning to pick I will much rather watch other members of the community for REAL insight into techniques and why/how it works or does not work.
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Squelchtone

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 10:58 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

abroxis wrote:YouTube is hosting a 24 part course by Schuyler Towne that some of you may be interested in.


Youtube isn't doing anything, I was asked by Learnables.com to do a course for them, was too busy and asked Schuyler if he was interested, he was, so he made the videos, then Learnables.com lawyers got twitchy that it was related to lockpicking and decided not to host it on Learnables because it didn't align with their normal content, so Schuyler was not going to get paid by them for all the work he did making the videos and he said screw it and uploaded them to Youtube for everyone to enjoy for free.

And yes, to xeo's point, these videos were made in the last year or so when he was supposed to be working on the Kickstarter project, I feel partly responsible since I tapped Schuyler to see if he was interested in making them, but I some how doubt that if he hadn't made these videos that the Kickstarter project would have been completed anyway.

Here's what he wrote on his blog about these video classes:
Schuyler wrote:I've made my entire 24-part intro lockpicking course available free on Youtube (I don't even have advertising turned on). I'd love for this to get some traction as I'm proud of the work, so please tell your friends and feel free to publish this content/info elsewhere.

Quick backstory: I originally produced this content for Learnable.com, but after they tripled the price of the class (I had no say) and then sent an email saying they were "changing focus" and that my content wouldn't be a part of that focus, I decided to take it elsewhere. That said? I like the Learnable folks, and at the moment I love their policy regarding content ownership (you retain all rights to your own content).


It's unfortunate what happened with Kickstarter, and I make no excuses for Schuyler's poor execution of it, but I hope we can all learn from it for future locksport projects.

Squelchtone
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the lockpickkid

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 1:29 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

Let this guy just fade already, he is a crook, a con and several other things. If i want to watch videos to gain info i will watch those of trusted people who actually help the image of locksport, those members who are here on keypicking and lp101 who are honest.
I have been in the souls of many women, but I always end up on the soles of there shoes.
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jeffmoss26

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 2:51 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

#29 has intrigued me, put where's the section on Mohawks?!
femurat: They're called restricted for a reason...
Innerpicked: The more keys you carry, the more important you look
GWiens2001: Great video! Learned a lot about what fun can be had with a forklift and a chainsaw.
pmaxey83: but i first have to submit the proper forms for a new hobby to my wife
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piotr

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:02 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

Squelchtone wrote:And yes, to xeo's point, these videos were made in the last year or so when he was supposed to be working on the Kickstarter project, I feel partly responsible since I tapped Schuyler to see if he was interested in making them, but I some how doubt that if he hadn't made these videos that the Kickstarter project would have been completed anyway.


That is just one of several things he was doing instead of working on the Kickstarter project whilst drawing on the Kickstarter funds he raised.

Further, he has tried to use mental illness as an exculpatory factor regarding the project failure but the problem there is that he clearly wasn't debilitated and his capacity for work was intact. He was doing other work not no work.

It's unfortunate what happened with Kickstarter, and I make no excuses for Schuyler's poor execution of it, but I hope we can all learn from it for future locksport projects.


Natural disasters are an example of something unfortunate. I don't think Schuyler's behaviour falls under the rubric of Unfortunate Events. He -- and to a lesser extent his enablers -- are culpable. Culpability and fortune are largely mutually exclusive categories.

Schuyler was/is a darling of lp101 and lp101 was Schuyler's main forum for communicating (even when he was supposed to be working on his Kickstarter project but wasn't). There is a strong current of groupthink on lp101 and this makes any criticism -- however warranted -- very (socially) costly and hence unlikely. The ownership and management of lp101 has the most to learn from the monumental fuck-up that is "Open Locksport" and Schuyler Towne. For that reason I find your post platitudinous and offensive. The plain truth is that if I went on lp101 to chastise Schuyler Towne I likely would have my post deleted and account closed (I don't value my lp101 account, I created one just so that I could send a PM to Legion303). Why isn't a parallel discussion on this very topic occuring on lp101? The scale of Schuyler's shafting of the community was so large that he should be formally deemed to be of bad reputation. Has he been so deemed on lp101? If not, why not?
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piotr

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Post Tue Dec 25, 2012 11:14 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

gnarus8429 wrote:perhaps we should just let him fade away and not beat the guy to death.


He won't fade away, he has a very good template for how to fuck people over repeatedly via lp101 from Romstar. Schuyler Towne will eventually come back to lp101 -- apparently contrite -- and repeat the whole scam on a smaller scale. Wait and see. That is my prediction.
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mech

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 7:01 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

clown lol
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magician59

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:02 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

I'm not one of his injured parties: But if he really wants to make things good, he should consider refunding every investor, to show in good faith he didn't intend to squander their contributions.
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piotr

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 10:26 am

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

magician59 wrote:I'm not one of his injured parties: But if he really wants to make things good, he should consider refunding every investor, to show in good faith he didn't intend to squander their contributions.


A third-party (namely Jason Scott and friends) has partially performed that task. Towne spent a good chunk of the money on himself, he paid his rent and other bills with the funds that he raised. When the 3rd party stepped in Towne had no money left. Literally none. He didn't even set some aside to ship the locks he had purchased so a refund was not even an option. Rather than refund everyone the 3rd party is aiming to produce the picks. My understanding is that those that were fed up with waiting were refunded their contribution. Towne is now working in a coffee shop to pay his bills and he is apparently contributing a portion of his meagre wage to the fund that he pillaged. The picks may eventually be produced but that would be largely due to the generosity, initiative, sanity and ethics of the 3rd party NOT those of Schuyler Towne.
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Squelchtone

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 12:14 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

piotr wrote:Schuyler was/is a darling of lp101 and lp101 was Schuyler's main forum for communicating (even when he was supposed to be working on his Kickstarter project but wasn't). There is a strong current of groupthink on lp101 and this makes any criticism -- however warranted -- very (socially) costly and hence unlikely. The ownership and management of lp101 has the most to learn from the monumental fuck-up that is "Open Locksport" and Schuyler Towne. For that reason I find your post platitudinous and offensive. The plain truth is that if I went on lp101 to chastise Schuyler Towne I likely would have my post deleted and account closed (I don't value my lp101 account, I created one just so that I could send a PM to Legion303). Why isn't a parallel discussion on this very topic occuring on lp101? The scale of Schuyler's shafting of the community was so large that he should be formally deemed to be of bad reputation. Has he been so deemed on lp101? If not, why not?


piotr,

You seem like such a bitter curmudgeon all the time, for such a well written person, I expect more manners from you than being such an lp101 hater and for stringing your conspiracy theories together so poorly as to suggest lp101 management are somehow covering for Schuyler. May I remind you that before keypicking, ezpicking, or any other forum, lp101 was the first and only place other than alt.locksmithing for people in our community to get together, exchange ideas, learn, buy and sell? Like any community, there will be people like Romstar, who I may assure you we all hate at lp101, and Schuyler is nobody's favorite either. I'm happy to be here as a guest and I am open to being friendly with everyone, because I feel our community is too small for infighting and factions.

I invite you to post any constructive criticisms about him under your current name on lp101, and I guarantee that it wont get censored or pulled or edited or deleted by any of the mods or admins, unless it breaks the rule of becoming a personal attack on another forum member. (Example: Appropriate: "I feel Schuyler ran things very poorly, and I don't trust him anymore" Inappropriate personal attack: "Schuyler stole my money on purpose, he's a crook, and lp101 admins are covering for him" A lot of us are very pissed at Schuyler, very disappointed, and most of us have written him off. I don't honestly buy the mental illness line, to me its more of a 25 year old kid with a ton of cash suddenly who uses it to pay rent and groceries and fix his car, and then ran into a bunch of bad luck and bad personal decisions. He also suffered from trying to be a perfectionist instead of just getting some sort of picks to the people who backed the project.

You seem to be very highly opinionated, and talk as if you have it all figured out, and I sir, am offended by your reply to my post here. Where do you get off being such a prick to me? Would you say this shit in person if we were having a beer at a bar, or is it only something you do while hiding behind your keyboard? Did you even invest in the kickstarter project? and if so, may I ask how much did you pay to feel that you have every right to shit on Schuyler and for some reason on lp101? Was it $20 dollars worth? $75? And if you're going to formulate opinions of how lp101 is run or who we endorse or don't endorse, what did the forum ever do to you? I will not have you badmouthing lp101, unless you actually become a member and give it a chance. lp101 admins, mods, or management does not control the actions or business plans of members, be it Romstar or Schuyler, so I feel it's totally unfair for you to suggest we have any responsibility for their actions, or that we are in any way covering for them. I could care less what you say about Schuyler, short of suggesting his plan all along was to steal $89,000 from investors, which I do not believe to be the case, please also know that when Schuyler had his NDE magazine, at the time, I was a member on lp101, not a mod or admin, and the management didn't allow him to post any links at all to his magazine. So much for him being an lp101 darling, believe me he's just another member. A well known member, but just another member.

I have no beef with you, but you seem to have a chip on your shoulder. try being a nice person for a chance, and give others a chance.

Squelchtone
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GWiens2001

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 12:50 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

We have all made mistakes in our lives to greater or lesser degrees. We all have people who like or dislike us for various reasons. Hopefully, all of us can learn from our own mistakes, and even from the mistakes of others. Then we can all grow in maturity and integrity, allowing us all to be better people. If nobody ever gave anybody a chance to repent and become better, where would be the incentive to do so?
Just when you think you've learned it all, that is when you find you haven't learned anything yet.
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piotr

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Post Wed Dec 26, 2012 1:59 pm

Re: 24 part video course on lockpicking

Squelchtone wrote:You seem like such a bitter curmudgeon all the time, for such a well written person, I expect more manners from you than being such an lp101 hater and for stringing your conspiracy theories together so poorly as to suggest lp101 management are somehow covering for Schuyler.


It's called criticism and I can understand why you don't recognise it. This must be a novel exercise for you: you are being compelled to actually try and formulate and present arguments in defence of lp101. You are breaking new ground.

May I remind you that before keypicking, ezpicking, or any other forum, lp101 was the first and only place other than alt.locksmithing for people in our community to get together, exchange ideas, learn, buy and sell?


So what? The significance of being "the first and only place other than alt.locksmithing" is what exactly? The first place that 14 year-olds post pictures of their crudely ground hacksaw blades?

I invite you to post any constructive criticisms about him under your current name on lp101, and I guarantee that it wont get censored or pulled or edited or deleted by any of the mods or admins, unless it breaks the rule of becoming a personal attack on another forum member.


I wouldn't waste my keystrokes. I wouldn't post anything on lp101 unless I was granted freedom to post whatever I wanted. In any event, I don't want my prose alongside some post about hacksaw blades or some tutorial on re-pinning cylinders that uses a twig as a plug follower.

You seem to be very highly opinionated


I am opinionated.

...and talk as if you have it all figured out


Because I believe I have figured it out.

Where do you get off being such a prick to me?


Are you frustrated that you can't just arbitrarily delete my posts and then ban me?

Would you say this shit in person if we were having a beer at a bar, or is it only something you do while hiding behind your keyboard?


I'd say it in person.

Did you even invest in the kickstarter project? and if so, may I ask how much did you pay to feel that you have every right to shit on Schuyler and for some reason on lp101? Was it $20 dollars worth? $75?


Yes I did "invest" in that Kickstarter Project. I didn't know there was a pro rata system in place. So are you seriously asking me how much I paid so you can dispense me a quota of virtual shit I can dump on Towne? Who put you in charge of that?

And if you're going to formulate opinions of how lp101 is run or who we endorse or don't endorse, what did the forum ever do to you?


I don't need your permission to hold an opinion on lp101 or on Towne. You are exhibiting the very behaviour I have been alluding to. You seem to think that because you and your cohorts delete any post on lp101 that is critical of lp101 that that represents a legitimate behaviour and it should magically extend to other fora. You are so unaccustomed to answering any criticism that you don't know what to do when you can't simply delete it and terminate the posters account.

I will not have you badmouthing lp101, unless you actually become a member and give it a chance.


I've been reading posts on lp101 since it was created and I do have an account (and I don't care if you cancel it).

lp101 admins, mods, or management does not control the actions or business plans of members, be it Romstar or Schuyler, so I feel it's totally unfair for you to suggest we have any responsibility for their actions, or that we are in any way covering for them.


Lp101 was Towne's primary platform for self-promotion and the sycophantic, group-think culture of lp101 prevented any criticism of Towne. I hold the owner and the original mods/admin responsible for creating that poisonous culture.

I have no beef with you, but you seem to have a chip on your shoulder. try being a nice person for a chance, and give others a chance.


I don't like lp101 or most of the people that run it or most of its membership. What exactly is your problem with that? There are heaps of people that share my opinion.
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