How are locks picked ?

Have you ever wondered how are locks picked? This is how;

The standard residential lock has 5 pins inside, the more pins you have the more difficult it is to pick the lock, there are more variants to this lock picking equation but we are going to get it in a little bit.

So when you take your key and you put inside your lock cylinder two things happen.

A. The key has certain bitting that allow the pins to fall exactly into place, some higher some lower and that process allows us to separate the top pins from the bottom pins in the shear line (the point where the plug meets the cylinder).

B. You are able to turn the plug and trigger the locking mechanism to unlock.

So how are locks picked ?

There are a lot of different tools ,picks , electronic and mechanical pick guns out there but they all used for the same purpose which is to separate the top pins from the bottom pins in the shear line.

once all the pins are separated in the shear line you are able to turn your plug without the key.

Lock picking isn't always simple there are sometimes security pins which get stuck or binded when trying to perform a pick, the more pins the harder it gets, also certain keyways (which are the shape of the key hole) in your lock make it more difficult to get pick tools in.

After you have studied the technicalities, lock picking takes a lot of practice and studying in order to get a "feel for it".

Stay safe!