The Lock-Picking Lawyer

[Peri]

I didn't want to hijack another members thread, but elsewhere on the site the was some interest shown about lock picking (purely for the interest and puzzle factor!)

I've found this YT channel incredibly fascinating - even if lock picking isn't specifically an interest.

I now know that both of the big Abus locks on my garage would last less than 30 seconds in the hands of a skilled lock-picker !

www.youtube.com/channel/UCm9K6rby98W8JigLoZOh6FQ

This is a great 4 minute video that shows his style, and his skill

 

[marcros]

he is great. his mate Bosnian bill is also worth a watch too

 

[thetyreman]

he'd better not get near my bike

 

[artie]

When I bought this old house, a couple of years ago the backdoor key was missing.

I called the local mobile locksmith, who looked at it and announced that it was a Chubb 5 lever such and such, and the only answer was to drill it out.
Which he did and relieved me of £40.
A while later, while browsing utube I stumbled on a vid showing how to pick the very lock I had paid £40 to get drilled out.
That's when I lost all confidence in our local locksmith.

 

[marcros]

I am sure that there are various different standards of locksmith, but I doubt that 95% plus would try to pick a lock. They would almost certainly just gain access by drilling or otherwise and replace the lock. a few might try one of those bumping tools for a minute or so.

£40 including the call out, travel, etc. it probably isn't worth him wasting his time trying to pick it only to drill it anyway. If he did pick it, it would still be £40!

 

[Trevanion]

Which he did and relieved me of £40.

Only £40? That's pretty cheap.

 

[artie]

Only £40? That's pretty cheap.

I didn't have a problem with the price, but you don't have to call yourself a locksmith to drill out a lock.

 

[Trevanion]

I didn't have a problem with the price, but you don't have to call yourself a locksmith to drill out a lock.

Yes, he was a locksmith, not a lockpicker.

 

[AJB Temple]

The lock picking lawyer is very skilled. I've watched most of his stuff over the years. He has a good understanding of locks and a feel for it. It's not as easy as he makes it look.

 

[artie]

Yes, he was a locksmith, not a lockpicker.

I've never seen a lock picker advertised.
A google search for lockPICKER returns lockSMITHS

 

[Trevanion]

I've never seen a lock picker advertised.
A google search for lockPICKER returns lockSMITHS

Because locksmiths are a reputable profession and lockpickers end up in the clink!

Have you ever tried picking a lock?

 

[Bm101]

About before I had kids years ago, it was Christmas Eve and me and the Mrs were about to pop down to the the Shortlands Tavern. 3 doors away. Few pints. Maybe brandys, or spiced rum to follow up onthe Guinness. They were Dangerous Days then.
Got keys? I said. Yeh. Sure? Yeh. Sure? Course. Definite? Do you think I'm stupid? Yes I have keys.
Ok then. I shut the door.
*Ok wait no.
I have no keys.
*Are you Fuc*%& ki&&%$£g Me$%£"!!!!!*
*breathing heavily*
*frantic apologising*
I called a locksmith. £180 . Nope. Fuc* that!
I kicked the door in. Replaced the internals, painted and sorted.
I still remind her now.

 

[artie]

Have you ever tried picking a lock?

I went to do a quick job on a guys garden shed once.
The door was sticking and he needed a bit planed off it.
Just the kind of rocket surgery I excel at .
I was there a few mins before he got home, when he arrived he ran inside for whatever reason leaving his keys in the door.
I retrieved them and found the one which opened the massive Chubb padlock on his 4" pad bolt on his 12mm T&G wooden shed.
I then put the keys back in the door and had his door opening and closing sweetly by the time he returned.
He stood with his mouth open for a while and finally asked, how did you do that?
I said " It's easy when you know how"
He took it so bad I had tell him the truth before I left.

To answer your question, no I never have picked a lock, but I have removed hinges, removed bars and on one occasion kicked in a door, but lock smithing/picking would be an interesting skill to have.

 

[thetyreman]

on skyrim, I'm at level 100 lockpicking.

 

[Trevanion]

on skyrim, I'm at level 100 lockpicking.

Pfft, we all know you should just put the points into Alteration so you can open them with a spell!

 

[Cabinetman]

Back in the day probably 70s 80s and 90s I had five (lets describe them as newsagents) plus a nightclub all of which were prime targets for lowlife‘s breaking in the doors windows walls etc. I became quite an expert at making a property more burglarproof. (My workshop had my insurance investigators eyes spinning – he said it was the first time he had no comments to make on his report lol) Looking back I dreaded, literally dreaded the phone ringing after 9 pm and I think I was probably attacked at one of my properties once a month? Absolute nightmare three in the morning trying to sort out a determined attack. Doors windows walls, lorries backed into doors you name it I’ve had it. But never once ever, have I ever had a lock picked. Nowadays I suppose the answer is technology cheap CCTV etc. Ian

 

[Trevanion]

Doors windows walls, lorries backed into doors you name it I’ve had it. But never once ever, have I ever had a lock picked.

Neither have I seen somewhere that's been burgled by a lockpicker, but then I suppose it isn't the easiest thing to spot initally unlike having the door ripped off it's hinges.

That reminds me of my great uncle, who got roped into a door-to-door salesman's scam about UPVC windows and how the beads could be easily popped off and the DG unit pulled out quietly in the night and allow someone to break in and he had all the windows replaced with internally beaded ones, at a great expense. I pointed out to him that he had a Yale lock on his front door, that had small single glazed panes right next to it... All you had to do was tape up the glass pane with duct tape and punch the pane in, undo the latch and you'd have near-silent access to the house, no burglar in their right mind is going to take out the double glazing!

 

[Cabinetman]

I’m laughing as I write this, absolutely right. We go through phases of knowledge in these things. It used to be treacle and brown paper instead of duct tape, Christ I’m showing my age. Who knows where we will be in a few years. People hardly break into houses anymore, things are so cheap and ephemeral. Mind you if they took my handmade pieces of furniture they might not live to regret it!

 

[Peri]

............no burglar in their right mind is going to take out the double glazing!

I have this vision in my mind of two overalled workmen pushing a Ford transit full of tools quietly upto a house at 3am, unloading foam covered ladders and rubber screwdrivers, going 'shhhhh' to each other

 

[MikeJhn]

My next door neighbour has just had their Motorhome stolen from the paddock opposite their house, the scrotes took the fence down between our paddock's and took the Motorhome out of our gates, it seems the lock to our gates was picked rather than cut, they even put it back, unless they had a key?