MIT Guide to Lock Picking by Ted the Tool - HTML preview

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Chapter

7

Adv

anced

Lo

c

k

Pic

king

Simple

lo ck

picking

is

a

trade

that

an

y

one

can

learn.

How

ev

er,

adv

anced

lo ck

picking

is

a

craft

that

requires

mechanical

sensitivity

,

physical

dexterity

,

visual

concentration

and

analytic

thinking.

If

you

striv

e

to

excel

at

lo ck

pic

king,

y

ou

will

gro

w

in

many

wa

ys.

7.1

Mec

hanical

Skills

Learning

how

to

pull

the

pick

ov

er

the

pins

is

surprisingly

dicult.

The

problem

is

that

the

mechanical

skills

you

learned

early

in

life

inv

olv

ed

main

taining

a

xed

p

osition

or

xed

path

for

your

hands

indep endent

of

the

amount

of

force

required.

In

lo ck

pic

king,

y

ou

must

learn

how

to

apply

a

xed

force

indep endent

of

the

p

osition

of

your

hand.

As

you

pull

the

pic

k

out

of

the

lo ck

you

w

an

t

to

apply

a

xed

pressure

on

the

pins.

The

pick

should

b ounce

up

and

down

in

the

k

eyw

a

y

according

to

the

resistance

oered

by

each

pin.

T

o

pic

k

a

lo ck

y

ou

need

feedback

ab

out

the

eects

of

y

our

manipulations.

T

o

get

the

feedback,

y

ou

must

train

y

ourself

to

b e

sensitiv

e

to

the

sound

and

feel

of

the

pick

passing

ov

er

the

pins.

This

is

a

mec

hanical

skill

that

can

only

b e

learned

with

practice.

The

exercises

will

help

y

ou

recognize

the

imp ortant

information

coming

from

your

ngers.

7.2

Zen

and

the

Art

of

Lo

c

k

Pic

king

In

order

to

excel

at

lo ck

pic

king,

y

ou

m

ust

train

y

ourself

to

hav

e

a

visually

reconstructiv

e

imagination.

The

idea

is

to

use

information

from

all

your

senses

to

build

a

picture

of

what

is

happ ening

inside

the

lo ck

as

you

pick

it.

Basically

,

you

w

an

t

to

pro

ject

your

senses

into

the

lo ck

to

receive

a

full

picture

of

ho

w

it

is

resp

onding

to

your

manipulations.

Once

y

ou

hav

e

learned

how

to

build

this

picture,

it

is

easy

to

c

ho ose

manipulations

that

will

op

en

the

lo ck.

All

y

our

senses

provide

information

ab

out

the

lo

c

k.

T

ouc

h

and

sound

provide

the

most

information,

but

the

other

senses

can

reveal

critical

information.

F

or

example,

y

our

nose

can

tell

you

whether

a

lo

c

k

has

b een

lubricated

recently

.

As

a

b eginner,

you

will

need

to

use

21

your

ey

es

for

hand-eye

co ordination,

but

as

y

ou

improv

e

y

ou

will

nd

it

unnecessary

to

lo

ok

at

the

lo ck.

In

fact,

it

is

b etter

to

ignore

y

our

eyes

and

use

your

sight

to

build

an

image

of

the

lo

c

k

based

on

the

information

y

ou

receive

from

y

our

ngers

and

ears.

The

goal

of

this

mental

skill

is

to

acquire

a

relaxed

concentration

on

the

lo ck.

Don't

force

the

concen

tration.

T

ry

to

ignore

the

sensations

and

thoughts

that

are

not

related

to

the

lo

c

k.

Don't

try

to

fo cus

on

the

lo ck.

7.3

Analytic

Thinking

Each

lo ck

has

its

o

wn

sp ecial

characteristics

which

make

picking

harder

or

easier.

If

y

ou

learn

to

recognize

and

exploit

the

"p ersonality

traits"

of

lo cks,

pic

king

will

go

muc

h

faster.

Basically

,

you

wan

t

to

analyze

the

feedback

y

ou

get

from

a

lo ck

to

diagnose

its

p ersonality

traits

and

then

use

y

our

exp

erience

to

decide

on

an

approach

to

op

en

the

lo ck.