Wed Sep 22, 2010 8:27 pm
Reading a Key
So, I am trying to write this newbie guide of mine and in the process I am trying to explain how to read a key.
Something just occurred to me, however. I can't read a key correctly.
I have a key that has bitting that is sort of close to the following (I did my best):
As you can see, there's an issue here. This ain't the easiest lock to pick.
Add to this that this is my M15, which is heavy as Hell and requires a significant amount of tension just to keep the pins in place. I also suspect (but can't prove) that my torsion wrench is getting bound up on something inside the lock so I'm not getting pressure on the cylinder as I pick. Rather I'm just putting pressure on whatever is in my way. I've seen this lock picked in several videos and so far almost all of them either mention it or actually run into it when picking this lock.
That's another issue however. Right now, I'm just trying to read the key. According to the key, the number 3 pin has to be raised VERY high in order to hit the seam line. The problem here is that because of different lengths of key pins and top pins, I don't know exactly how long that pin is, or how much I should be raising it. It's possible that I only need to raise it the height of my lockpick, but because I don't know the length of this pin or the top pin, I can't quite tell exactly how high to raise this pin.
How do you know how high you need to raise a pin?
Bonus question: What if you don't have the key? How do you figure it out under that circumstance?
Something just occurred to me, however. I can't read a key correctly.
I have a key that has bitting that is sort of close to the following (I did my best):
As you can see, there's an issue here. This ain't the easiest lock to pick.
Add to this that this is my M15, which is heavy as Hell and requires a significant amount of tension just to keep the pins in place. I also suspect (but can't prove) that my torsion wrench is getting bound up on something inside the lock so I'm not getting pressure on the cylinder as I pick. Rather I'm just putting pressure on whatever is in my way. I've seen this lock picked in several videos and so far almost all of them either mention it or actually run into it when picking this lock.
That's another issue however. Right now, I'm just trying to read the key. According to the key, the number 3 pin has to be raised VERY high in order to hit the seam line. The problem here is that because of different lengths of key pins and top pins, I don't know exactly how long that pin is, or how much I should be raising it. It's possible that I only need to raise it the height of my lockpick, but because I don't know the length of this pin or the top pin, I can't quite tell exactly how high to raise this pin.
How do you know how high you need to raise a pin?
Bonus question: What if you don't have the key? How do you figure it out under that circumstance?
