Picked A Lock
"I have six locks on my door all in a row. When I go out, I lock every other one. I figure no matter how long somebody stands there picking the locks, they are always locking three."
--Elayne Boosler
Today, during lunch, my friend Jeremiah brought in his lock picking set and a very inexpensive lock. Since I had zero experience dealing with locks, I relied heavily on what he knew about the subject. He took the time to explain how keys and locks work. This was basically to convey that our goal was to push a series of spring loaded tumblers into alignment while applying torque to hold them.
There are definitely more extensive sets for lock picking, but the tools Jeremiah brought were all that we needed: a wrench to apply the torque and a couple of picks to push tumblers.
He should me and my other friend Mat how to do pick this lock.
After he had shown us how to do it and I knew what and why I was doing it, I felt confident that I'd be able to successfully pick this lock. I started by inserting the wrench into the bottom of the keyhole and applying clockwise pressure to it.
I used the pick on the top part and pressed and felt the tumblers move into the correct positions. This was a fairly flat key, so it was not a lot of work.
When all the tumblers are in position, the wrench is able to turn very easily. Then, the lock is open.
I was able to pick this lock fairly easily a few times.
Depending on the lock, the difficulty of opening varies. Jeremiah was setting us up for success by choosing this particular lock because of it's flatness. This was super fun, and it could be a useful skill to have when I get locked out. Now I really want a lock picking set.
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