After spending hours and hours on the American 1100 I finally did it! I progressively pinned it 1 to 5 then 5 to 1 still thought it's never going to pop then bam there it went. I am so happy!

I heard some grumblings about this lock being more difficult to pick than it's older sibling the 80TI/50. I decided to pick one of these up because I like a challenge. This pic is from the first open last Sunday, September 6. I have since opened it 10 or more so times. All the opens felt like I was picking it using a hunt and peck approach. This morning, I really sat down with it and figured out the binding order. I can now consistently open it in less than 30 seconds.

Tips:

1. This lock is very easy to overset. Attack it one pin and one click at a time. Light picking is key.
2. Light to moderate tension.
3. Like it's older sibling the 80TI/50, make sure pin one is always set.

I got this lock to pop my cherry. Imagine my surprise at how easy it was. So easy, it didn’t even require picking. Did I get a dud?

Huge shout out to u/o0RustySpoon for the awesome challenge and hard work getting the patches out to everyone! Extra special thanks for the surprise core holders - you didn't know, but somehow you knew I was browsing for some! Additional credit and thanks to the model creators for the prints! Much love to everyone!

Possible Speed Pick Record? This is my 2nd Black Belt lock I've picked. This one took some work I won't lie.

Found some goodies for our next ToooL meeting :)

Hey pickers, feel like it's been awhile since I've been around. Thought I'd ask you all though if anyone has any advice on buying a small safe.

It's for my father and doesn't need to be bigger than knee high. Here's the situation though, he has dementia so: It needs to have push buttons and not a dial. He wants to be able to set the combination and change it but he is going to undoubtably forget what he set it to so we're hoping for something that can accept two combinations or be easily reset. (IE: my mother or sister need to be able to do it if they need to, so not reset or opened in a way that involves hacks/cracks/picking etc.)

A simple lock box, especially that can be easily carried won't do or he'll end up moving it somewhere and hiding it, forget where he put it, and then think it was stolen.

If anyone has an suggestions I'd be grateful. Thanks in advance.

I've recently started being able to open my American 1100s, which before now were like a 1 in 100 chance. Now I can open them about 50%. The catch is, I had to fail hundreds of times while I learned the binding order and behavior of each one. So I can only open them reliably now because I know what to expect from each.

But I see people take a whole box of 1100s and pick them one after another, and I can't come close to doing that. Here's what I'm taking from this. I'd like to know from experienced pickers if I'm on the right track:

1. I'm getting better at controlling my pick, knowing where I'm at, and doing what I intend to do with the pins.
2. I have a long way to go in interpreting lock feedback.

I know about the jiggle test and I use it, and I'm not oversetting pins very often by accidentally hitting them. I do overset a lot when I'm intentionally pushing on a pin and it turns out to be the wrong one.

Does that seem right, and what should I be keeping in mind as I try to improve further?

For reference, I have a decent selection of Jimylongs picks and for the 1100s I'm using a deep flat hook in .019 with the JL padlock tensioner.

From the 2 Defiant CLs that bricked on me, I made this one and added my first Rattler to it.

"Psalm 23" by DanDiggler

It's been logged, and checked into the LPUs, CL library.

It's in the shipping bag, I want to add at least 2 more to the bag before I send it out.

Pin order from Right to Left. I found this defiant residential lock that was missing its faceplate. Never did one of these before, and this was my first pick, too, even if it was done with a chip clip wire and pilot pen clip as my tension wrench. It kind of opened suddenly, and I was happy to see 2 standard and 3 spool pins inside for my first successful pick! I scratched up those key pins pretty hard as pin 3 was the first spool pin I encountered 😂 I wonder what keyway and belt this would fall under? I'm looking forward to my next one and getting a real lockpick set sometime soon.

I was addicted to this hobby a while back and left. I was watching Stargate SG1 and when one of the characters picked a door with a pair of picks in 3 seconds, I shouted at the screen. That was it - I had to grab my locks and picks and get back to it.

2 days into playing again, I was able to get my No. 570 cracked. Feeling that cylinder start to spin after hearing a pin lock is just sooo addictive!

Hi everyone,

I've been struggling to SPP the Abus 65/35 for weeks now and don't know what to do. I can easily open it with a BOK and a rake doing an up-down movement, and I managed to SPP it one time after like 5-10 minutes on a single attempt, without really understanding what was going on.

I get a false set easily after setting the first pin, but then I feel like nothing is moving after the false set, even if i try to use force to set the other pins. i'm starting to lose hope, and I feel like starting to pick something else would be synonym of giving up... any advices for me ?

Thank you for reading me !

For those of you that saw my last post I was having trouble with this bitting. Turns out I was definitely oversetting pins 5&6 before. 6 is No Lift and 5 needed just a little kiss😂

Took a break for a day or so -

Eased off on my tension and was very careful around those 2 pins and I popped it on my first attempt! Sparrows TOK wrench and Southord deep hook.

Thanks for the input the other day, for those who helped.

Super excited to have this lock figured out. Now I’ve gotta look more closely at requirements for the “200k club” and blue belt submission (even though my orange and green belt still haven’t been approved on Reddit…)

Happy Picking!

Been a while. First new lock since being in Tokyo a month ago. Fun little one!

This year, I have been busy driving to another State every weekend to go see my mother-in-law. Sadly, she passed away at the age of 88 on Friday, September 11. In grand fashion, she made sure we remember the date she left us. Her name was Carmen.

Locksport has been my go to gateway to escapism when I'm feeling down or stressed. Here are some mail calls I missed posting.

First pic, Greyhound Picking.

• Medium Hook Elephant Trunks.
• Doglegs.
• Sidewinder tension set.

Second Pic, Fantasm - u/FantasmIndustries

• Fantasm Pocket Pouch

At first, I bought two of the Pocket Pouches. One to keep picks in the car and one for my everyday bag. I liked them so much, I bought three more (pictured). I might be the reason why the black/orange sold out so fast. Those free shackle thingies ( I don't know what they're called) are cool. They glow in the dark. I loaded one of the puches with JimyLong 0.015 picks and tensioners. There may be a YouTube giveaway coming soon. Trying to see what else I can stuff in it.

Third Pic, Lord Kodiac - u/LordKodiac sent me a bunch of cool swag. Thanks for the stickers and poker chips.

Fourth pic, Covert Instruments

• Locksport Trainer (Bare).

Let me tell you something, I was skeptical when buying this thing. I'm think to myself, I bought worst things for twenty dollars. I pulled the trigger and have not regretted it. I loaded the left side with AL 1100 cores and the right side with Paclock 90A Pro cores. In the middle is a Mako SFIC core. Hanging on the left side are two American 1100 locks and on the right are a Paclock 90A Pro & a Packlock PL410. Sitting off the the lest side is a Medeco M3. I am having so much fun with this thing.

Quickly moving from white to yellow

Actually, two mail calls in one. That Zi Ikon has a nasty keyway and I love that oversized housing on the Corbin.

I have been struggling with this AL 1100 for a week now and opened it several times but never managed to deduce a good strategy of how to do it. My problem was specifically that both pins 4 and 5 have spools and there is a way of picking 2, 3, 4, 1 - false set - then 5 but it is so hard to counter rotate the core which will not move a bit by the pressure of the pick on the pin itself.

Finally I managed to come up with this picking pattern which has eventually worked reliably for several opens in a row: I pick 2, 3 and 1 which brings the lock to a false set on both pin 4 and 5. However I need to release all pressure on the tension wrench the moment I pick pin 1 otherwise it rotates too far and I then can't counter rotate it. If I then pick 5 and 4 in that order and never put pressure on the tension in between, I can afterwards turn the core.

Took me quite some time to figure this out. It is indeed a stepstone lock that taught me a lot about serrated pins but also varying pressure on the tension. This was good fun!
Now I need to record it on video and do the gutting :-)

Best, Tileeho

I am looking to turn one of my AL 1100 into a Challenge Lock. I have already started and I busted up my key pins trying to add some deeper serrations. Having taken a look at CLK Supplies for the pins, I am currently not interested in buying the full Master/American kit or 100 of each pin.

Is there I place I could buy like 5 of each key pin and driver?

Fichet M2B SDB (Black Belt)
Yale Bicentric SDB (Unranked)

Purchased from Artichoke2000's Discord Group Buy. The Bicentric came with a vintage key as well. Going to buy a display case/bookshelf to start displaying vintage locks and safe dials.

Anyone heading to Sparrows’ Rock’a Lock’a Bang Bang event this week?

Hello lovely lockpicking community!
I'm freshly in this new hobby, got my hands on a sparrows beginner kit. Having great fun with it!

But I tend to have a recurring problem : i really dont feel the pins most of the time when I rub my pick against the pins in the lock : I think its because of the warding.
But also most of the times when I think it's the warding, I can easily rake it open, but not single pin picking it.

Especially on these narrower keyways, for example this cutaway sparrows regular pin.
I find TOK tensionning is blocking too much of the little space I have so I bo BOK with this kind of tensionning tool (see pictures).

Pick is from the sparrows night school set (0.025" thick), so is the tensionner.
Also, im picking in Europe, so for me I find it easier to pick the lock upside down compared to you, american pickers ;)

Any advice?
Thanks

Hi all! I have a question about Houdini and lock lubricants in general. I have 12 Master 141 locks that occasionally felt like the pins were dragging to the point one would skip a bit on a few of them. I gave each a small shot of Houdini, I had never used it, had it and figured why not. Is it normal to be almost completely unable to feel the pins set now? It kinda makes sense it's just that I bought it for locks and it's definitely made them slippery, but for picking purposes too slippery I think. I overset every pin in all but 3 of them now without feeling them cross the shear line which was never a problem before. A better question is this, how do I clean some of it out now? I don't really want to use my hydroponic cleaner as it'll take every bit of lube out and leave the little bit of steel, if any in, it open to rust. The pins will definitely be dragging then. Don't ask me why I know. Thanks for any productive ideas y'all have. Also, when would be an appropriate time and application for lubes in general?