Suggestions for Y1 keyway pick?

[cyrano138]

I have this lock which has, I believe, a Y1 keyway, and it has basically made me question all that is good and holy in the world. I can't budge it. I'm using a southord slimline short hook and a normal tension wrench, but I can set at most two pins before the whole thing comes crashing down. I was thinking of experimenting with a few new picks and I was hoping you guys could give me your thoughts. I'm looking at the peterson gem and the falle-style reach hook. Would they be good, redundant, or does anyone have better suggestions for small paracentric keyways like this one?





Here's a picture of the key. I'm pretty sure this is a fairly challenging bitting as well:



Thanks for any advice you guys can offer!

Jack



***Edit: I just finished reading Solomon's book and he addresses my question, basically, in the FASQ section at the end. Sorry I didn't read that first. Still, I'm curious to know if the peterson gem or the falle-style reach thing are worth the purchase. I have a 14 piece standard southord set and a 9-piece slimline southord set. Personally, I'm not a collector, and I'd rather keep my sets as minimal as possible, but if there's anything indispensable that those two sets don't cover I don't mind adding them.

[xeo]

Have you tried doing what I call 'snaking' where you insert the pick straight to the back from the bottom warding (not touching any keypins) and then twisting it up onto the upper warding so you can access the back pins without disturbing that deep cut in chamber 1? You may need a pick with no tapered shank to do this like a Peterson DCAP diamond.

[cyrano138]

I did try that, actually. All my picks are at least slightly tapered, but the slimlines are still very thin. I guess I just need to poke around a bit more. I haven't had to try progressively re-pinning yet, but maybe this is as good a time as any to start. Thanks for the help!

jack

[whizdumb]

Being a newbie picker... you may think what I'm about to say is a little crazy, but, have you tried a steeper hook. If you have the southord slim line set then there's a good chance that you have a med or deep hook as well. The great thing about the southords is that they are skinny all the way around and can fit into the tiny spots where the warding is milled out for the pin to pass through. It may be difficult at first to find these tiny spots but it would effectively give you access to each individual pin-stack and you could attack this lock all the way from the bottom left. Then all you need to do is use top of the keyway tension instead of bottom of the keyway free up the space for you to maneuver the pick. Hope this makes some semblance of sense to you.

[cyrano138]

Makes perfect sense, actually. I did experiment with the longer hook for about ten seconds, and I knew about the milled spots, but did not put the two ideas together. Thanks! Can't wait to try this.

[NNFAK]

Yeah you are probably going to need a long hook, or whatever people call it because that first cut is pretty deep and the one right after it is pretty high. I have the same problem on the Y1 keyway with a short hook but it is nothing when you get a long hook up in there. Good luck man!

[mdc5150]

For that keyway I've had really good luck with a slim reach.

[10ringo10]

HI try to rake the back pins at an angle,stop before you get to the front pin it locks almost zero tolerant,this way you might set a few back pins,looks like theres just enough space to rest your pick in there on top of the first pin.

[Kezo]

I like to use a SouthOrd Slimline pick for the Y1 keyway, like this one http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-Tools/Slim-Line-Standard-Individual-Lock-Pick-SLS-07.html or this http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-To ... LS-09.html

The only thing bad about these is that they bend very easily cos it's so slim. If you're still fairly new to lockpicking, you might end up applying excessive tension that will lead to bent pick tools.

[whizdumb]

If you're still fairly new to lockpicking, you might end up applying excessive tension that will lead to bent pick tools.

On the contrary, I have found that since i started picking with southord tools, i naturally became more light handed and due to a desire to maintain my picks when i was first starting out i realized very quickly how much pressure was too much. Ultimately, this gave me a deeper appreciation for peterson tools when I moved on because I know how to effectively use the greater strength to my advantage while being able to maintain a relatively light touch in picking style. My $0.02.

[cyrano138]

Thanks to everyone who offered advice. I'm back at it today, so we'll see how it goes. I've been using the slimline hook from Southord and I haven't managed to bend it yet, so I suppose I'm not being too heavy handed. I'll keep you guys updated and see how I do today. I have a feeling this one's going to take a while.

[cyrano138]

Still have not managed to get anywhere with this lock. Every time I see it I want to chuck it in the gulf.

[Aedalas]

Have you tried progressively pinning it?

[cyrano138]

No. I was really hoping I wouldn't have to. I guess I know what to do.