everyone bread mchao from The Art of
Manliness calm and I'm outside my front
door cousin today we're going to talk
about how to pick a lock I might be
thinking Brett why do I need to know how
to take a lock if I don't plan on
burglarizing somebody well there's a few
reasons first I think it's important
that civilians understand how easy it is
to bypass a lock without a key because
then you realize that locks really just
provide the illusion of security we
think that when we lock her home at
night or when we leave our our home on
vacation that our stuffs going to be
safe but really because it's so easy to
bypass a lock it really doesn't do all
that much and so by understanding the
illusion of security that locks provide
it's going to force you to think about
other tactics other tools you can do to
keep your home and your possessions safe
so that's reason number one reason
number two is just a handy skill to know
if you get locked out of your house
without a key that's not a problem
anymore just whip out your lockpick set
you keep in your wallet and your into
your home reason number three it's just
a fun skill to know I mean really this
is like Jason Bourne James Bond
fantasies being fulfilled that I think
we've all had as men at one time or
another so it's just fun to know how to
pick a lock and know that you can do
that
okay so today we're going to talk about
how to pick a pin in tumbler lock these
are probably the most common locks that
you find on homes and apartments across
America and across the world
so what's omission about the pin and
tumbler is that the basic design has
been around since 4000 BCE and this
particular design that you see it's
ubiquitous almost has been around since
the Civil War since about 1861
yeah it's changed a little bit people
have tried to make a little bit more
secure but for the most part it's it's
we're using 19th century technology to
protect our possessions and our loved
ones so I think it's it's helpful to
understand how a pin tumbler lock works
because it you'll understand like what
you're doing ever you pick a lock so
basically the way a pin tumbler lock
works there's two parts to it main parts
there's the house casing which is this
part right here and there's the plug
right there and the way you unlock your
doors you have to rotate your plug with
your key and once it rotates all the way
your door unlocks on top of your plug
you can't see it because it's encased in
the house casing house there are five or
six holes that are drilled into the top
of the plug inside those holes are a
pair of pins one is called the key pin
because that's that touches your key
whenever you insert your key into the
plug and then on top of the key pin is
another pin called a driver pin so just
lately they're sitting on top of the
driver pin is sitting on top of the key
pin like that okay so to unlock your
door what you have to do is you need to
line up the gap between the key pin and
the driver put in with the gap that
exists between the cylinder house and
the plug and that gap between those two
items are called it's called the shear
line so once you line up the the gap
between the pins with the gap between
the shear line you can freely rotate the
plug and unlock the door if you don't
have the pins lined up correctly then
the driver pin will be bypassing kind of
be protruding between those the shear
line making it impossible to rotate and
unlock your door so basically all we're
doing is are just lining things up in
order to
pick a lock so that's it's pretty simple
so we're gonna show you how to do it
right now
all right so the tools you're gonna need
to pick a lock you need a lock pick sec
I got this lockpick SEC keepin my wallet
it's a Bogota set I got from Serie pic
they also sell them at I TS tactical you
can also find something similar like
this on amazon.com or just google it
these are freely available to the public
you don't need a special license or
registration in order to buy or own
these the tool so you can pick whatever
type of pick you want I have my go-to
ones based on practice so the two things
are gonna need you're gonna need a
tensioner wrench and a pick or a rake
you understand why we call this a rake
in just a minute so the most important
what I think is the most important tool
out of the two is your tension wrench
because as you're picking locks with
your your pick and setting pins above
the shear line you need to be able to
apply the right amount of tension or
torque on your plug so that the pin so
the plug will move just a tiny bit and
the pin will just stay up there and you
just keep doing that slowly and slowly
slowly but surely until all of the pins
are set and you can rotate so applying
the right amount of tension is with your
tension wrench is key to successfully
picking a lock okay so we're gonna pick
a lock so the first thing you're gonna
do is you're gonna take your your
tension wrench and you're going to stick
it in the bottom of the key hole in the
plug like so and we are going to do the
tensioner you're gonna apply just a
slight amount of pressure on it you
don't want to do too much if your
tension wrench is bending like that
while you're picking you've got too much
pressure and what's gonna happen is the
pins are gonna bind they're not going to
be able to get above that shear line the
driver pins not able to get above the
shear line and you're not gonna be able
to pick your lock so you just want to be
very ginger with it just a baby's touch
with it so once you got that in place
you're gonna take your pick right here I
have a rake with three ridges it's my
go-to one I feel like it's the easiest I
can pick most any locks with this one
again you'll you'll find your own
preference as you mess with things
you're gonna stick it in the hole the
top like so and now your news you just
just apply slight pressure on the wrench
and you're gonna rake your pick back and
forth and what you're doing is you're
just moving those pins up and down on
the lock until you get you get the gap
between the key pin and the driver pin
lining up with the shear line with some
locks
I found it useful where it you know just
constant pressure on the wrench doesn't
useful isn't very useful doesn't do
anything so a back and forth sort of
vibration wrench pressure works and
there you go you see Phil it's rotating
all the pins are lined up just keep
rotating and the door and lock and we're
in well there you go how to pick a lock
pretty dang easy one thing I recommend
you go out and do is go to the hardware
store by yourself
pin and tumbler lock and just keep it on
the couch on your desk at home so
whenever you're taking a break or you're
bored you can just bust out bust out
your pick set and then practice picking
again lock picking is more art than
science you just have to get a feel for
it and the way you get that feel is just
through lots and lots of practice so go
and do go and do that until next time
this is Brett Mackay telling you to stay
mentally
you
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