Guide to Lock Picking
Ted the Tool
September 1, 1991
Distribution
Copyright 1987, 1991 Theodore T. Tool. All rights reserved.
Permission to reproduce this document on a non-profit basis is granted
provided that this copyright and distribution notice is included in full.
The information in this booklet is provided for educational purposes only.
August 1991 revision.
The MIT Hackning community's opinion.
Special Note
This page is not complete; I have reproduced the MIT Hacking
community's opinion and the table of contents (to give an idea of
what the Guide covers) as those are the parts which are relevant to my
interest in this topic. For more on that interest, see Jim Kingdon's Censorship Page. With the
exception of adding this paragraph and making the obvious edits
implied by omitting portions of the document, this page is as I
received it. Jim Kingdon, December 1996.
Contents
- 1 It's Easy
- 2 How a Key Opens a Lock
- 3 The Flatland Model
- 4 Basic Picking & The Binding Defect
- 5 The Pin Column Model
- 6 Basic Scrubbing
- 7 Advanced Lock Picking
- 7.1 Mechanical Skills
- 7.2 Zen and the Art of Lock Picking
- 7.3 Analytic Thinking
- 8 Exercises
- 8.1 Exercise 1: Bouncing the pick
- 8.2 Exercise 2: Picking pressure
- 8.3 Exercise 3: Picking Torque
- 8.4 Exercise 4: Identifying Set Pins
- 8.5 Exercise 5: Projection
- 9 Recognizing and Exploiting Personality
Traits
- 9.1 Which Way To Turn
- 9.2 How Far to Turn
- 9.3 Gravity
- 9.4 Pins Not Setting
- 9.5 Elastic Deformation
- 9.6 Loose Plug
- 9.7 Pin Diameter
- 9.8 Beveled Holes and Rounded pins
- 9.9 Mushroom Driver Pins
- 9.10 Master Keys
- 9.11 Driver or Spacer Enters Keyway
- 9.12 Vibration Picking
- 9.13 Disk Tumblers
- 10 Final Remarks
- A Tools
- A.1 Pick Shapes
- A.2 Street cleaner bristles
- A.3 Bicycle spokes
- A.4 BricK Strap
- B Legal Issues