It's also a pretty cheap hobby to get into. Though the legality varies by country/state so do check into that first if interested.
Like when I cleverly managed to mail my apartment keys to myself, including my only mailbox key...
If my mailbox key was locked inside my mailbox, I would just wait for the postal person to show up. They have keys that open the entire wall of mailboxes. Just wait in the distance until they open the wall and then go get the mail out of your box. Just act like you don't see anything wrong with grabbing your mail and they probably won't question you.[1] As a backup, have a photo id with your address on it. :)
1: I've done this myself because it was easier than using my key. The postal guy saw me and we exchanged a few pleasantries.
A sobering insight after a break-in and a conversation with a locksmith. A lock is only as good as the latch, and door that it's sitting in, and the hinges attaching the door, and the molding surrounding it, and the wall it's in.
So picking a lock in Compton might be perfectly safe assuming you don't get shot outright, unless Compton's been gentrified while I wasn't looking.
On the flip side, you won't even get close to Fort Knox with bad intent, largely because you know you won't get close to Fort Knox with bad intent.
Here's a version I found on reddit a while back.
http://delima.soup.io/post/295576131/how-keys-work
is the original link, but it's at least two links closer to the original source than the link submitted here to HN.
AFTER EDIT: Many thanks to the HN reader who found the original source, which deserves traffic much more than blogspam. I flag blogspam relentlessly since another HN user asked about the issue.
;)
However, can anyone explain how lock picking works, that GIF makes it seem like it would be very difficult. On TV at least they do it in a matter of moments.
As for the difficulty, you'd be surprised how easy it is. I started picking a few weeks ago for fun and I've been able to pick your basic store bought locks within a couple minutes with the hook tool (where you have to lock each pin individually).
There is another tool, called a 'rake', that tries to set several pins at once -- it basically has several jagged edges, much like a key. With rakes I can beat these locks in a matter of seconds, and I'm a newbie! I'm working on the lower end of locks, but even still, it has made me more wary of home security.
I'm also by no means an expert, just somebody interested in the hobby.
Nitesh - yesterday Related, the flaws in the machining of the pin chambers is what you exploit while lock picking. You turn the lock slightly, then use another tool to push pins up one at a time, and hopefully when they come down they get stuck on the top of the lower pin chamber. Once you do that with every pin, it's unlocked.
"High-quality locks may be more vulnerable to bumping unless they employ specific countermeasures. More precise manufacturing tolerances within the cylinder make bumping easier because the mechanical tolerances of the lock are smaller, which means there is less loss of force in other directions and mostly pins move more freely and smoothly. Locks made of hardened steel are more vulnerable because they are less prone to damage during the bumping process that might cause a cheaper lock to jam."
http://woodgears.ca/combolock/index.html
Now you know why you had to go twice around when opening your school locker. ;-)
How you combine those elements takes some intuition, but if you really look around you at the world today I don't think it can be said that this sort of creativity and insight has been lost to history. We're building some pretty wild stuff these days.
Perhaps make another one about how walker keys work with locks like these? If I remember correctly, they were keys with filed down teeth. You had to put the key all but one tooth into the lock and then nudge it all the way in while turning, which would knock the top half of the metal rods up, allowing the lock to open.
Plus, you need to be able to allow the entire mechanism to turn in order to disengage the lock, which the broken cylinders would interfere with.
Ah, here's a screenshot of the board! http://tf2tags.com/dr_dos/img/zzt/town/zzt_036.png
This board is show as a whole, but in the game the board was "dark" and so you could only see what was within about 5-6 blocks from your character.
Apologies on the video music, you might want to turn it down but this is the first Video I come across of snapping a euro cylinder on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVeij3jffCM
They seem to be much much harder to lockpick. My key-guy can lockpick garage doors and cars and whatnots but if I forget my Mult-T-Lock double-sided keys he needs to drill through the hole and destroy the entire system to be able to open the door, which then needs a new mechanism.
One of my neighbour got robbed and the thiefs did the same: they drilled through the Mult-T-Lock hole.
Can these be lockpicked? If they can, it seems to be way harder than regular keys or than typical double-sided keys.
