Padlock shimming and you, and other thoughts

[elbowmacaroni]

Yo...

Well, here's the question...

Back on these silly master #3s, which btw, I've gotten better in the last few days going CW using TOK tension with the bent and grinded to size finishing nails that I've recently taken a liking to for small tensors. However, the entire time I have had any Master #3s, I have been unable to shim them. Now looking at the locking dogs (that is the part that bites into the shackle right?) I noticed the sides and top are squared off. I suspect this is why they are eating any shims I make for lunch. I've read they were shimmable, but with the squaring, I don't see how it could cause it to retract. Is this perhaps a new anti-shim feature they've added? or am I just thinking about this incorrectly?

Thanks!

Oh and I've learned two valuable lessons in the past two days: be more careful than careful when cleaning knives (yeah, I already knew this, but got it reinforced cleaning my henkels yesterday VERY SHARP so at least I didn't feel it ) and don't don't don't try to make a cutaway with a mini-hacksaw and hand holding the cylinder, waaaaay too messy cuts. totally wrecked the cylinder. At least it was a cheapie... live and learn...

[HallisChalmers]

Oh and I've learned two valuable lessons in the past two days: be more careful than careful when cleaning knives (yeah, I already knew this, but got it reinforced cleaning my henkels yesterday VERY SHARP so at least I didn't feel it ) and don't don't don't try to make a cutaway with a mini-hacksaw and hand holding the cylinder, waaaaay too messy cuts. totally wrecked the cylinder. At least it was a cheapie... live and learn...

Oh yeah sure...very sharp he says....but did you get any stitches - or just a little, teensy-weensy, bo-bo?

[elbowmacaroni]

Well, as I have seen my knuckle bones on several occasions and not gotten stitches, that's subjective... It was fairly deep and bled like crazy, and I keep reopening it, sometimes on purpose to look inside (I'm just weird that way.) It's not terrible, but not good by any measure. Coulda got stitches, but meh... I'll probably stop reopening after today to let it heal, probably will krazy glue it.

And, yes, they are very sharp. I take very good care of my knives. Be kinda crazy not to when good steel costs so damn much.

[HallisChalmers]

Well, as I have seen my knuckle bones on several occasions and not gotten stitches, that's subjective... It was fairly deep and bled like crazy, and I keep reopening it, sometimes on purpose to look inside (I'm just weird that way.) It's not terrible, but not good by any measure. Coulda got stitches, but meh... I'll probably stop reopening after today to let it heal, probably will krazy glue it.

And, yes, they are very sharp. I take very good care of my knives. Be kinda crazy not to when good steel costs so damn much.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours:

http://www.keypicking.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=2259

[the lockpickkid]

some of those Master don't shim well from inserting a shim straight down that have to be inserted and turned to depress the locking dogs, so insert down the shackle away from the locking mechanism and just turn toward it to depress it and it should pop. Now a Brinx padlock, most of them have a different mechanism, it actually allows you to pop them open buy going straight down, just a differece in the mechanism is all.

[Solomon]

The master #3 hasn't changed one bit over the years. The one I have is at least 10 years old and it's a bugger to shim. One of the latches is deeper inside the body and commercial shims have a hard time getting at it properly.

Personally I hate shims. Mainly because they were £20 for a set and I never use the bloody things... the only time I'd use one would be if a lock had a really jammed up plug and there was no way to pick it. And that doesn't happen very often.

Oh yeah, and cheap combination locks of course. They're good for those, but they seem to be used very rarely here so again, I have no idea why I even bought them in the first place. Oh well!

[elbowmacaroni]

Lockpickkid, I'll try that again. The ones I have are pretty squared on the sides of the dogs though, we'll see what happens.

Solomon, I have this one super cheap no name chinese combo padlock that the springs are so strong I just can't get it with a shim either, and lots of false gates too it seems so manipulating is a bear on it. Either that or it's just so sloppy that it feels like false gates?

[the lockpickkid]

Some are easier than others to shim, like Solomon said, the locks construction has remained basically the same over the years but if you find one with lots of wear from years of use, it may be easier as well.

I have never seen "false gates" ? when trying to shim a padlock, can you explain this?

[Solomon]

Kid, I think you need some coffee. He was talking about manipulation being a problem because of false gates... completely seperate topic.

[elbowmacaroni]

Some are easier than others to shim, like Solomon said, the locks construction has remained basically the same over the years but if you find one with lots of wear from years of use, it may be easier as well.

I have never seen "false gates" ? when trying to shim a padlock, can you explain this?

Sorry for the confusion, I had a double point on the on the cheap chinese combo padlock. The spring is so strong on the locking dog that it makes it difficult to shim(hell it's very difficult to even push it back with a lever tool while the shackle is open), AND that it has false gates making it difficult to manipulate which I found surprising on just a cheap POS. But my surprise may just be attributable to lack of experience.

EDIT:
Duh! Solomon already covered that!

[elbowmacaroni]

Well, as I have seen my knuckle bones on several occasions and not gotten stitches, that's subjective... It was fairly deep and bled like crazy, and I keep reopening it, sometimes on purpose to look inside (I'm just weird that way.) It's not terrible, but not good by any measure. Coulda got stitches, but meh... I'll probably stop reopening after today to let it heal, probably will krazy glue it.

And, yes, they are very sharp. I take very good care of my knives. Be kinda crazy not to when good steel costs so damn much.

I'll show you mine if you show me yours:

http://www.keypicking.com/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=2259

I'd show ya a pic, but it's not much to look at honestly, it was a clean cut by a really sharp blade, now held shut with CA glue I brushed on while holding it closed. It probably won't even leave much of a scar. Part of why I don't like stitches when I cut my fingers, even really bad, they leave nasty scars that on you fingers just feel weird forever. Just stop the bleeding, clean the hell out of it, put a butterfly on it for a day or so then krazy glue it is kinda my MO for ALMOST anything. I suppose if it wasn't a sharp knife that got me or for some other reason it wasn't a clean cut, I probably would have gone and got stitches given how deep it was. But as it stands it just looks like a big wad of CA glue.

[HallisChalmers]

Part of why I don't like stitches when I cut my fingers, even really bad, they leave nasty scars that on you fingers just feel weird forever. Just stop the bleeding, clean the hell out of it, put a butterfly on it for a day or so then krazy glue it is kinda my MO for ALMOST anything. I suppose if it wasn't a sharp knife that got me or for some other reason it wasn't a clean cut, I probably would have gone and got stitches given how deep it was. But as it stands it just looks like a big wad of CA glue.

Yeah, but scars are kinda COOL...

[elbowmacaroni]

Eh, I have enough already... they're overrated

[the lockpickkid]

Kid, I think you need some coffee. He was talking about manipulation being a problem because of false gates... completely seperate topic.

OH, so that cheap chinese lock is a lever lock?? Ok got ya. Sorry solomon didn't mean to make you lose sleep

[elbowmacaroni]

Perhaps I'm mistaken, but aren't the fake stops on a combo dial also referred to as false gates? I apologize for my ignorance if that is not the case.