Pick Locks and Break Padlocks

Instead of being a well-known ability, lock picking may look like the stuff of action-movie heroes. Yet, anyone can become a proficient lock pick with the correct equipment, persistence, and knowledge of locks.

Improvised lock picks can be used to open low-end or spontaneous locking systems, even though most sophisticated and higher-end locks can only be opened with specialized picking equipment. Two paper clips, a hard surface, and a pair of pliers are all you need to make a lock pick, according to Clint Emerson, a veteran Navy SEAL, in his book “100 Deadly Techniques.”

To mimic expert rake and torsion tools, one only needs to bend the clips in the right direction.

According to “100 Deadly Skills,” picking locks needs skill, patience, practice, and knowledge of locking mechanisms.

In order to successfully pick a lock, one must first have a working understanding of how it operates. This diagram demonstrates a typical lock design and how to bypass it:

The most typical lock used nowadays is a five-pin tumbler lock, as pictured above. No particular order needs to be followed when driving the pins upward. The lock will be broken as long as they are all pushed upward and maintained in place by applying rotational pressure.

According to “100 Deadly Skills,” disabling a padlock takes a different set of tools than disabling a typical lock. Despite padlocks’ appearance of durability, their design actually makes them weak.

A can of aluminum and a pair of hand shears is all that is needed to open a padlock.

Only a double-lock padlock requires the two shims that were previously displayed. Single-lock padlocks only need one shim on the locking side.