Hallis' paperweight

[LocksmithArmy]

In another thread we were discussing these barrel shaped American locks. Halllis mentioned that he had murdered one So I PMed him to discuss this

He ended up sending it to me(along with a generous amount of other fun locks )
and I wanted to show you all the results

Sorry I did not take any pictures before the surgery took place but I did take a few after

hallis3.JPG

What had happned was...
see, this comb pick had gotten stuck in the lock... while the cylinder was turned upside down... so the driver pins were holding the comb pick in...

I whipped out my special peterson pick(a slimline pick I had sanded down to be a miniknife... super thin)
and slid it in to raise all the driver pins... then out popped the comb pick...

next I inserted a tensor about halfway down the keyway, to be below the key stopper, and pushed all the drivers through the cylinder with one of LN21s picks... then the plug rotated... yay, now its a working lock

hallis1.JPG

and a beauty to pick

[HallisChalmers]

Keep her....she's a beauty - but kind of finnicky. You have more patience - and better tools than I, so she deserves to stay with you LSA.

[LocksmithArmy]

I dont know about patients

but thank you

I noticed, she is finnicky

sometimes picking her is 10 seconds... sometimes... i get a false set immediatly... and dont open her... sometimes i dont get squat lol

but Ill get it to 100% one day

[HallisChalmers]

I dont know about patients

but thank you

I noticed, she is finnicky

sometimes picking her is 10 seconds... sometimes... i get a false set immediatly... and dont open her... sometimes i dont get squat lol

but Ill get it to 100% one day

If you notice the plugs on all of these American barrel locks seem to be loose. So when you tension the plug - it's not necessarily in the exact same position so it jiggles around a bit - and it kinda throws you off. The only way that I found I could consistently pick that lock was by extremely light TOK tension and a very light pressure on the 4th pin to get the false set. Once you had it - WHAM - you could nail it.

[LocksmithArmy]

I noticed with the last one I had Tok tension is way easier... but I did manage to coonsistantly pick it wit Bok(?) tension lol

but it took 2 tensors to do it...

the master DGs are wobblly like that too...

practice makes perfect I guess

[the lockpickkid]

Great job on fixing that lock! The more and more I hear about comb picks, and I have a set myself, the more I hate them! I am really surprised you got it out, there is lots of stories out there of these locks forever ruined way beyond repair, with a handle sticking out of them usually of a comb pick!

[LocksmithArmy]

i dont really see how you could ruin a lock with one, unless you rotated one of the pins around or something...

you just have to think of why the pick is stuck in there...
it gets stuck because the pins go between the stems that are supposed to push them up... so all you need is something thin enough to go beside the comb and raise all the pins...

a cut up soda can should do it... if not sand it thinner

I have a set... have yet to get them to open anything... on all the locks cheap enough for them to work on the warding is too extreme...

I believe you could remedy the problem by making the stems that raise the pinstacks pointed... make them slope from their base to their tip allowing the pins so slide up the pick

but then it also becomes a weapon lol

[the lockpickkid]

There are a few ways to ruin locks with them, if you were to break a comb tooth off in the lock and couldn't get it out, or if you couldn't get the whole comb out itself. Also, you have to realize your squishing your springs in the bible of the lock like a pancake, some springs get mashed so bad that they don't go back to normal. Honestly, I have yet to find a single lock that mine even fit in!