introducing myself

[ARF-GEF]

Hi everyone,

Some of you may know me already I'm a member of LP101 (and the German KOKSA) for a while and I'm also not a new member around here. (At least I've registered in November last year.)
But until now I've been only a "reading member" here, but it's high time to be more active on this forum too.

I'm looking forward to seeing the familiar faces from the aforementioned places and to meet and talk to some new guys here.


For the majority who doesn't know me yet:

I have been always been very much interested in locks and padlocks of all kinds ever since I was a very little kid. And I hold them for absolutely fascinating ever since.
I actually tried to make "locks" and alarms on my door from ropes. Never realised I was even behind ancient Egypt on that, but hey, everyone has to start from somewhere...

I am actually a lot more interested in the theoretical side of lock,(how locks work,why is a lock good and why is it bad, what locks exactly do, how they do it and why and why not somehow differently) and not really on actually picking or opening them. An interesting mechanism can still bewitch me. To be honest I only see lockpicking as a possibility to better understand locks. I don't even really consider myself a picker. (and am definitely not a good one :S )

This hobby is got a bit more serious for me when I've started working at a locksmith for a while now, but only as a side job. Luckily doing it as a job didn't curb my enthusiasm, the "fire of lock enthusiasm" burns even hotter than when I started getting into this and registered on LP101.
A job isn't even the right word, I still think of locks as "toys" . And I enjoy greatly spending time playing with them and I get very excited by them.

So that's about me,
I'm very much looking forward to learning new things, and I hope I can be helpful for others too.

[dicey]

Hey mate,

I already tried to whisper you in the chat but you did not respond.

To be honest I only see lockpicking as a possibility to better understand locks. I don't even really consider myself a picker. (and am definitely not a good one :S )

Same here, I am slowly getting into lock picking and know a lot about it in theory but I am not a good lock picker myself. Judging by your writing style I would say you are also from Germany am I right lad? Well, welcome then

I joined the Koksa forum just to leave it right away. In my opinion the people there are very narrow minded and typical German. Oh and they think EVERY criminal is a lock picking professional and that all those lock picking criminals could break into your house ANY minute!!!

Well nevermind...

[ARF-GEF]

Hi dicey

I already tried to whisper you in the chat but you did not respond.

I'm sorry about the chat, that's something completely new to me:) It will take a bit of time to get used to it. Now it's really late in my timezone (same as yours) so I'm usually sleeping now.
I think if you want to be sure something gets to me the best is to PM me

As for Koksa, I personally like the people there.
You are right, some may overreact the pick security of locks, but many people are very knowledgeable, helpful and genuinely nice there. I'm sorry they made a bad impression to you.
It is different from both LP101 and KP, but that's part of the beauty. Each site attracts a bit different set of people. For me it only is "stimulating". (to use a far too fancy expression)
But of course some like A others like B

people there...typical German.

As for being typically German I see no insult in that. I know many Germans who are really nice people and I just love German engineering. (Overengineering too )
(Maybe I agree with it I just don't get what do you mean by that.)
But maybe I see Germans other as you, and although I could list a few negative attributes which seem to be widespread among Germans I would prefer not to.
(many who come here to eastern Europe are rather arrogant.
What?! I said I would prefer not to list them and 1 attribute is not a list.)

(Or maybe you didn't mean what you wrote as it came across to me.)
As for generalisation I've eaten fantastic foods in Great Britain, why people say English kitchen is bad when they invented fish and chip?!.

Anyway I'm sorry that you didn't like KOKSA, but I'm glad to see you've found your home here
(I've read your posts there are many interesting ones.)


Altogether I think our philosophies and ways of thinking are very similar,(You just know lot more about locks than I do.) and by the way I'm already subscribed to your channel and I really like it.
I'm sure several people told you but congratulations on the Abus 72/40! Nice work.

[dicey]

Thanks mate!

I will do more videos as soon as I have finished preparations for them.

Well I AM German
I love Germany but also hate Germany... difficult to explain. I love old German Engineering and I hate to see what has happened to Germany. There was a time when people paid good money for good products. Now it is only "Geiz ist geil!" and I hate where it is going you know?

On the other hand I have met many people online that do not think like that

[xeo]

Welcome to the dark side.

[Oldfast]

Welcome... I'm Mike. Very good to have you here.

I am actually a lot more interested in the theoretical side of lock,(how locks work,why is a lock good and why is it bad, what locks exactly do, how they do it and why and why not somehow differently) and not really on actually picking or opening them. An interesting mechanism can still bewitch me. To be honest I only see lockpicking as a possibility to better understand locks. I don't even really consider myself a picker. (and am definitely not a good one :S )

We all get into this hobby for a variety of reasons. Me, I'm a picker... it's the challenge of it.
Along the way I've began to explore other facets of this that I didn't foresee and now really enjoy.

But my brain is just not wired for the whole "analytical & theory" side of all this. HOWEVER, it DOES intrigue me.
With that said, I'm always excited to see someone like you (that looks at locks from a different angle than me)
come around. Just like dicey, who you've already been talking with.... I always enjoy seeing the work he does simply
because it's usually something that I would not have noticed. So I look forward to seeing you add to the forum here!

[fgarci03]

I love Germany but also hate Germany... difficult to explain.

Uh, I know that feeling. I'm Portuguese. I love Portugal, and I also hate it
I love my cultural background. And my country as a whole. But I hate what it has become. Slaves of consumerism. Living at the expenses of social services. And I do mean literally.

I also love Germany. Many Portuguese hate it: "Oh those greedy little bastards! They didn't conquer Europe by war, they are trying to do it by money!"
I love tacky people!

Along the way I've began to explore other facets of this that I didn't foresee and now really enjoy.

Totally agree!

I started because it would be fun to have this skill. Now I couldn't care less about it being cool. For me it's kinda between you and ARF-GEF...

[ARF-GEF]

@Mike
I too enjoy to talking to people who think of locks differently.
I'm well aware that most people enjoy picking more and I can see why:) .
Funnily I'm probably too impatient for the practical side. ( Usually theoretical people tend to be the more "slow" and patient ones.) I want to understand stuff and understand them ASAP. I barely have free time and learning how a lock works and what's inside takes a lot less time than actually picking it (for an ASSA twin for example).
I know it can easily lead to superficialness but I'm aware of it so I do my best to counter it.

I generally think people thinking like you and people thinking like me complement each other very well.
For example your "channel" (Oldfast's gutted locks) is lots of fun for me too.
At least it worked out pretty fine with theoretical and practical physics....

I often get most interested when I hear locksmiths saying stuff about locks I disagree with.
If one listens to them instead of "evangelising" one's own truth, it turn out often there is a nucleus of truth in things one disagrees with,one which would usually never occur to me alone.

For example with EVVA 3ks. A locksmith I knew kinda hates them and while I don't agree with many things he said (I think they are beautiful very secure locks), he is correct about their low level of pulling protection.

@dicey

I love Germany but also hate Germany... difficult to explain.

Well I think I understand it too. I even agree with it if I think about it.
Reasonable people have mixed feelings about their homelands, only people blinded with propaganda can't see that every country has it 's sunny and it's dark side.
And what's dark side for you might be the sunny side for others.
But it's all just a question of balance:)

As for Geiz ist geil... ->
I'm always surprised when people expect to get top quality goods for dimes. Doesn't it occur to them that quality goods need quality raw materials more attentive production and often better design?
And then they are shocked then the 3 Euro Chinese lock literally falls apart.
Cheap things often turn out to be the quite expensive because they often need repairs and replacement.
I try to have fewer thing but better quality ones.
At least that's my opinion about cheap stuff.

@fgarci:

"Oh those greedy little bastards! They didn't conquer Europe by war, they are trying to do it by money!"

As for that I agree with Fgarcy: As long as the Germans pay the bill they should decide "what music should be played".
Countries who ask for their money should accept that there is no free money... (My country included...)
I'm not sure how other people see it though.

[uklockpicker]

welcom to kp - hope you enjoy your stay here

[uklockpicker]

welcom to kp - hope you enjoy your stay here

[ARF-GEF]

Thanks Alan, I'm sure I will.

fgarci:

I'm just reading an article about Portugal. That José Socrates is now a political expert on RTP
It says hat it's nice that the government doesn't push for getting him fired and that something like that would be unimaginable here.
Congrats fgarci it seems your democracy works better than ours

PS.: I'm sorry I've steered away my introductory thread so far from locks.

[xeo]

What are we talking about? I am so confused.

[ARF-GEF]

Well it's not about locks

Dicey talked about having mixed feelings about his homeland and fgraci and myself reacted to that.
Fgarci shared his opinion about international politics of Germany and it's toll on the public opinion about it and I've found an interesting article about the current situetion in Portugal.

As I've said before:

I'm sorry I've steered away my introductory thread so far from locks.

Once again: sorry for getting off topic.

[dicey]

No problem lad!

These discussion are also very interesting

[fgarci03]

Well, I don't want to get into political arguments here (I also think it's phorbiden), but now you mentioned José Sócrates. Damn, that guy helped so much to bring the country down to it's knees!

The big problem here is that democracy works "too well".
People vote on whoever gives them more. So OK, they give us more.


Eventually we ran out of money and international partners won't finance us again. So, , no money!

He is the ex-prime minister. And now he comments politics. And still has an impressive reach on things around here. Was also involved in scandals of (maybe) fake degree, and under-the-table construction permisses...



Yep, Portugal is small. But I'm proud to say we have the best con-artists money can buy

I'm treading on ice here