Someone brought up this in the Hannibal Lecter thread about picking locks.
Exactly how hard is it to completely pick a lock? Your standard deadbolt or a push button lock. Do you use picks or I saw something that you inserted and squeezed something like pistol grip?
And what the heck is with the deal of using a credit card? Has this ever worked in real life?
Well, I can answer a tiny bit of this:
The credit card thing works if you have an older door (generally an interior door like the door to an office) where the lock is in the knob and simply prevents the knob from turning. If this is the case and the ‘bolt’ part of the the doorknob (no idea what the term for it is) is one of those half rounded types, you could slip a credit card behind it and when you pull the card forward, pop the door open. These days, most doors have a piece of wood or metal on the frame to prevent you from doing this, although a firm piece of wire can work just as well (having done this to the supply closet at work a few times on weekends when no one with the key was around to open it).
Actually, the credit card trick works on most doorknob locks (non-deadbolts). I used it before, was surprised at how easy it worked, never leave the house without locking the deadbolt now.
It all depends on the brand of lock, the amount of use the lock recieves and and other such minor details.
But, an average house deadbolt on an average home takes me little time. my best guess about 80% of the time less than 2 minutes. 15% of the time within 5 minutes, 5 % more than 10 minutes anything after that drill and replace the lock or at least the lock cylinder.
Lock picks come in different forms, the most common and basic are shaped flat steel tools to form the “picks” and the Tension wrench. Pick guns are also avalible (the pistol type tool you mentioned in the OP) as are electric pick guns which resemble a vibrator with a flat steel pick attached to the end.
Using a credit card can work from time to time depending once again on the lock and how it is mounted to the door.
Most interior door latches (the thing that inserts into the door frame) are a half-moon bar that runs into the latch plate. If you can access the latch and push it back your in. Many outdoor or exterior locks have a latch with a half-moon bar and a smaller bar in front of it. When the lock is installed properly the smaller bar on the latch rests in front of the hole where the remainder of the latch inserts.
This is designed so when the smaller latch is pushed in the rest of the latch remains rigid.
Try it on our office door or front door at home, push in the little part of the latch and then try pushing in the main part of the latch, it just wont go.
I have been employed as a locksmith now for close to 14 years, so I do have a bit of experience in picking a lock.
Home that helps answer your OP.
Osip
Osip is an actual locksmith, and has answered the question about the credit card: Huzzah. But just my two-bits:
Frank Hoheimer (whose autobiography The Home Invaders got turned into a Michael Mann film called Thief, which had nothing to do with the book), when he was let out of prison after 11 years of talking to his roomate about how to commit burglary, hit the streets and bought a metal ruler, a pocket knife, a flashlight and ski mask, and did his first burglary just like that. No lockpicks. In fact, I’d guess the people who need lockpicks the most are probably the ones who have legitimate uses for them.
Yes, always lock the deadbolt, Key in Knob locks on the resientail level SUCK To bypass a knob lock (non-deadbolt) is amazing easy if your not worried abou tthe locks condition later.
In fact I hate locking knob locks on the exteriror of a building or home. They give a false sense of security and they are easy to accidentally lock behind you when you walk outside to get the paper.
Osip
I’ve done some locksmithing work in my day, and a favorite hobby of mine is showing friends and family how easy it is to pick most doorknobs. I can pick a cheap doorknob in about 30 seconds. However, a good doorknob (Yale, for instance) and most deadbolts are more difficult. I’ve fought with Yale locks for up to 20 minutes. However, most deadbolts and doorknobs that you’d find at the hardware store can be opened in under 5 minutes.
As far as the gun you’re talking about… I don’t want to go into too much detail about picking locks, but the gun simulates the movement you would do with a pick, only much, much faster. I’ve personally never used one, so I can’t vouch for their effectiveness. I’ve heard they make it very easy for certain types of locks, but not for all.
Damn… I previewed my post and realized that a real locksmith answered (I only apprenticed for a while).
I guess I’m done here.
A bit of detail about picking locks:
There are two basic techniques.
One is called ‘picking’, where you individually manipulate the individual pins, attempting to line them up one by one.
The other is called ‘riffling’, where you semi-randomly manipulate all of the pins (with a pick aptly called a ‘rake’), looking for the pins to randomly fall into place.
A pick gun is similar to riffling. It springs all of the pins up at the same time, and if it goes well, you’ll simultaneously get a gap between each of the pins, that will enable the lock to open.
Some folks swear by pick guns. Other people hate them. I’m in the second camp. I had a pick gun for a while, but it never beat picking for me, so I gave it away.
One other related point: there are locks which are practically pick-proof, notably Medeco. These are expensive and you don’t see them very often.
Then there’s impressioning, but that’s another fun topic.
Hey Osip, tell the folks about picking those cylindrical locks you see on vending machines and the like! Tedious, ain’t it? heh
I can pick wafer tumbler locks (the kind you find on most drawers and some windows) in a heartbeat, but I have yet to defeat any kind of pin tumbler lock. Still, I can impress people sometimes; some friends of mine, including one with a pick gun (duh), were working at an old, discarded cash register they’d obtained from a bookstore. Took me about 5 seconds with two paper clips to get the drawer open. Way back in high school, I let my friends time me picking little warded locks (stop laughing, I was still learning). I opened 3 in 7 seconds, which I reckon ain’t bad with just one pick.
So, picking is hard enough that it’ll take practice and dedication to accomplish, and it’s a life’s work to become proficient.
Yes I am quite skilled at that for many vehicle models, after years of practice a 5 pion ford or most nissans I am there and gone in 15 minutes with a new key to the car.
Yep, and it is all in the tension used. Is easier to use force to get in quick than to pick a lock in theft issues.
It does take lots of practice to get the process down correctly.
Osip
The thing about locks in general is that there only there to keep the honest people out. All a good lock is buy you time and incovience for the burgular. When I was in the Army we had to get into vehicles / milvans / lockers all the time that we did not have keys to. (Usually when some one lost the keyring from hell with about 50 keys on it or when someone went AWOL.) We could break a lock with no special tools in under a minute…usually with whatever was laying around.
As far as deadbolts go, unless the door frame is well built anyone can kick down a door. (Ever watch cops break down a door?) Usually all that holds the dead bolt into the frame is a 1/2 of wood frame and the plate with two screws in it.
Probably the best security you can get is a dog that makes a lot of noise. The whole point of the exercise is to make your house unatractive / inconvient to rob.
Lets face it crooks are lazy. If they were not they would buy thier own TV instead of stealing yours. Why bother to learn to pick locks?
Well, true. I’ve heard it said that “there is nothing that cannot be entered by some means other than that which was intended”, and I believe it.
The objective is to make entry so difficult that it’s not worth the time and effort. For a house, a deadbolt is just fine, because “Mickey the Wire” didn’t put the effort into learning how to pick locks so that he could break into everyday houses.
Not much to add, aside from the fact that I don’t have keys to any of the cabinets in my cubicle, so I pick them open and closed. I probably wouldn’t bother to lock them, but it disturbs the hell out of my manager to see me rake one open in under a second. He’s one of those naive people who think that locks and passwords make things secure. He needs a little demonstration every now and then. 
Wafer locks are the easiest for me, but most pin-tumblers aren’t a problem. The stiffness of the mechanism in some deadbolts and in padlocks exposed to the weather gives me trouble sometimes–I carry oil if I’m expecting to bypass one.
I dislike pick guns, mostly on aesthetic grounds–I’m a bit of a traditionalist. To give them their proper credit, I suppose they do make things easier for the professional locksmith–a quick and easy bypass for someone who already has the proper skills.
You can buy lockpicking books on the net they are quite plentiful. As a matter of fact, if you search the net for ‘how to pick locks’ you can get that information free & the tools you can buy.
One thing not mentioned was that police can & do arrest guys for having a screwdriver on them as it’s a tool for that sort of thing but how would they use it?
In a pinch, you can use a screwdriver as a tension wrench, I guess, but it’d be a poor one. The steel that screwdrivers are made from is pretty stiff, so it doesn’t have the springiness to give you a good “feel”.
The books I have say that the best tools are home-made, designed to fit your hand and style. For the most party, they recommend grinding the picks and wrenches yourself out of steak knives and the like.
Max Torque, why not use a portable drill? They got some great ones these days. They would rip through a lock in no time.