Hi From Western Australia

[northernbrewer]

Figure its time to drop in and say hi after spending the last few days reading through the forum. Everyone here seems a bit more open than the other forums about so will hopefully be a good spot to start.

I understand that there is a few guys (and maybe girls) from Perth here and I'm hoping that someone might be able to point me in the right direction as to where to get some locks to learn on from. Do locksmiths tend to throw old locks out or rekey and reuse them? Would they be willing to give old locks away?

One other question that has been bugging me is what type of keyhole to Aussie locks have? will standard picks fit or should I go the slimline route?

Cheers for anyone who can help

[Neilau]

Welcome to a fellow Ozi.

You are right about this being a great site. Lots of helpful and knowledgeable people. Plus tons of information.

As for acquiring locks. You will find them in lots of places. A friendly locksmith might sell you some, try the tip for locks without keys and if you are just starting out, buying cheap locks is a good place to start.

Ask any question and someone(s) will provide a good answer. You also might also want to turn your hand at making your own picks. It'll give you a better understanding of what the pick is doing as you experiment with tips and styles and there is the extra buzz of opening a lock with a tool you made yourself. There is a ton of info here under "Home Brew".

Key ways are nothing special and just about any set of picks will fit.

A good supplier, price wise and also being in Australia is http://www.locksmithstoolbox.com/

I have no connection with them but have bought a couple of sets of Sparrows picks from them and they post promptly and you don't have to pay the ridiculous postage from the US. As a matter of fact most things are posted free.


Again welcome to the forum.

[GWiens2001]

Welcome from the deserts of Arizona (Though am currently in Denver, Colorado for the week), USA. Glad you joined us!

Gordon

[jeffmoss26]

Welcome from Cleveland, Ohio USA!

[xeo]

Welcome from Lobster Ravioli, USA

Wait... what?

Damn, that was some good ravioli last night.

[Oldfast]

Xeo... Ha! lol

Welcome. Glad you're here. It's a GREAT place

[huxleypig]

And welcome from Florida! Don't get to say that very often!

[s1deshowmick]

Hi northerbrewer,

Locksmiths here don't tend to be very tolerant towards pickers, if they get a sniff of what you want the stuff for they wont sell you anything so unfortunately, we have to be a bit sneaky about how we get our supplies. But it's not impossible.
Start with a couple of cheap Chinese 4 pin locks and learn the amount of tension you'll need, and how the lock feels and acts when the pins set at the shear line.

The most popular keyways are the C4, lockwood type and the Gainsborough (Tesa) TE2

There is hours of reading submitted by some very talented people on here, you wont need to go anywhere else to find the info your looking for.

BTW, when the picking fever hits, normally drops in just after the first lock pop's, it's not much longer after that the "addiction" sets in.

I've had the addiction for years, and I'm not giving up anytime soon.

Good luck.