What if they are all spools?

[Swampy459]

Hi,

OK, I'm fairly new at SPP, but I've known how to rake for years. Within the last few months I've successfully picked every padlock and deadbolt I've gone after. Some pop right open, and some take me a day or two of fiddling before I finally get it to open.

Yesterday I was at walmart and was looking thru the padlocks. The brinks padlocks had three levels, "normal" "high security" and "maximum security" so I grabbed the most intimidating looking "maximum security" lock. It's a laminated steel padlock with a cut resistant shackle and spool pins.

I've picked spool pins before where there was one or two spool pins in the lock. However this one is different I think.

When I insert my tension wrench, I immediately get about 10 degrees of rotation that has a very spongy feel to it. I am thinking that they are ALL spool pins and they are immediately getting trapped. if I push all the way till the plug stops rotating the #3 pin binds. If I do like most of the videos on spool pins say and apply only feather light tension with the keyway vertical nothing binds. If I apply enough pressure to turn the plug, one pin binds but cannot be moved. If I back off and set that #3 pin, rotate the cylinder to find the next binding pin, then back off to pick it, then the third pin that I just picked unsets itself.

Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Am I correct in the assumption that the cylinder rotates ten degrees is a sign that there are all spool pins and not just one or two?

Can someone give me guidance on how to proceed?


Thanks in advance for your reply,

Chad

[Xrax]

What are u picking it with?

[Xrax]

Oh and which brinks is it, check the bottom of the lock, most likely not all spools, you might be setting the pins in the wrong order or picking them past the sheer line.

[xeo]

Believe it or not, Brinks' most 'intimidating' padlock is not their hardest to pick. Grab the 5-pin brass lock if you want to really learn spools.

[xeo]

If I do like most of the videos on spool pins say and apply only feather light tension with the keyway vertical nothing binds.

That "featherlight" tension people always rave about is nonsense. The ammount of force required to lift a binding pin is directly proportional to the ammount of tension you're using. It just seems 'easier' to set spools with light tension. I personally use medium tension. Play around.

As far as what the plug rotation means... you need to think of the lock as a puzzle. If you're tensioning the plug off the start and it turns 10 degrees that means its most likely all spools caught at the shearline. Theoretically, every pin you touch will give you counter-rotation except for one, which will give you the most and it will also feel different. You have to remember that even if you have 5 spools caught like this, due to tolerances in manufacturing the pins themselves, one of them will bind on the skinny part of the spool.

Other situations can occur say you have this: what you might see is if you tension off the start, the plug barely moves, if you set #2, you get a false set, and you continue to get false sets as you pick from there UNLESS the drops back down blocking the plug from hitting the skinny part of the OR the fat lip of a gets wedged in there. There's way too many theoretical situations to be described here.

Hope that helps

[LocksmithArmy]

i got you... here is what you do...

apply tension as normal(not too much but not too little).. you will be in a false set (as you have noticed) all you gotta do to pick ur way out of a false set is...

find the binding pin... (you say its pin 3) push it up , still applying normal tension, until it stops going up... the push quite hard... by pushing on the pin harder than normal you should feel counter rotation on the tension wrench (the wrench will push back on your finger) allow this counter rotation to happen untill the pin slips past its indent(if you fight the counter rotation you will only be fighting your own fingers aginst eaichother... and your pick will lose that fight), now it should fall into a correct set (since you are still applying tension) then simply repeat till all the pins are set...

it sounds long and drawn out but when you get used to security pins its second nature... pushing past a fals set is much more reliable than resetting as soon as yo uget a false set (especially when you have 5 spools lol)

[sandman]

Oh and which brinks is it, check the bottom of the lock, most likely not all spools, you might be setting the pins in the wrong order or picking them past the sheer line.

where is this binding order that every one is talking about. are you implying that lets say im picking a master #3, that there is a specific order in which i should pick it every time? where is a list of binding orders for various locks then? just wondering? and im a hobbiest picker, as well as a newbie locksmith, but i have no idea what SPP stands for. is it Seriptitous Picking? i just cant figure it out? im not noob, im just simple lol.

[LocksmithArmy]

Binding order is specific to each lock, not each style of lock... read more below
http://www.locksmitharmy.com/bindingove ... th-102.php
he said pin 3 binds (meaning it moves stiffer and the plug and housing are binding on that pin) so pin 3 is the first pin in his binding order

spp stands for single pin pick

[Grandpa]

swampy and sandman. welcome! There is a great video on spools and particularly the brass Brinks. You"ll find in lockpicking videos in jruther2 video section. He explains it perferfectly.

[sandman]

Binding order is specific to each lock, not each style of lock... read more below ;)
http://www.locksmitharmy.com/bindingove ... th-102.php
he said pin 3 binds (meaning it moves stiffer and the plug and housing are binding on that pin) so pin 3 is the first pin in his binding order

spp stands for single pin pick

well shit, ive been SPP for 3 years now and never do it, ive never raked open a lock until i bought a peterson's bagota pick. now i rake ever lock for 10 seconds to get some pins to set, and to see if it will just open, and then SPP from there on, well when im in the field, when im practicing at home,...SPP all the way for sure.

thanks for the link to your site, ill read that when i have more time. looks complicated.

[LocksmithArmy]

peterson never made a bogota...

[sandman]

peterson never made a bogota...

your right, what i got was the TR-TG, Triple Rake Pick

http://www.peterson-international.com/picks/ss_tr.html