How to… - Meagan Hale

How to…pick a lock

You need a tension wrench which is basically a piece of metal bent at a ninety degree angel and a pick, a hook pick or an S-rake pick are the best. Then you take your tension wrench and put it in the bottom of the lock slot and apply light pressure whichever way the lock gives to. Next you slide your pick into the lock all of the way to the back. If you have never picked a lock before it helps to shine a light inside so you can see what you're doing until you can just do it by feel. The way a lock works is that there are several pins inside and until all of the pins are pushed up exactly right the lock remains locked. A key is cut in a way so that the pins to that specific lock are all pushed up at the exact right time in the precise order. The same thing can be done using a pick but the pins are pushed up individually. With the tension wrench, each time a pin is pushed up the wrench will turn slightly like a key, just one pin at a time instead of all together. So while applying a small amount of tension to the wrench rake your pick upward along the top of the lock to push the pins up. You will know you are getting pins to stay pushed up with the tension wrench turns. When all of the pins are correctly pushed up, the lock will open and you will have successfully picked your first lock. Happy picking!