Lock pick set and training lock

Practice on your own from Amazon

Admit it, you've always wanted to be able to pick a lock like they do in the movies. First don't do that; you'll get in trouble. Second it's never that simple but it certainly can be done. This is a great place to start. After playing with the training lock for a couple hours I was able to move to a deadbolt in our house so it must work.

Build- There are two main components: The lock and the pick set. The lock is great. The part that makes it a training one is the face that the main body is cast in transparent acrylic which exposes all the internals of a lock. I'm a firm believer that the more you can see and understand how something works the better you can be at using it. Every important part is easy to see exactly how it works with the other to make a lock. It seems to be well made too. My daughter has got a hold of it a couple times with no issues. The picks however are so-so. I like the convenience of having them all in an easy-to-contain pocket-knife type set but I can never keep the other picks I'm not using at the moment from flopping out and getting in the way. It is great however that the tension bar stores nicely in it. If you for some reason want to keep the set with you there's even a hole already drilled so you can put them on a key ring.

Function- I already had a working knowledge of how locks work so I didn't need much in a way of instructions. If you need a starting point though they do advertise an e-book that they emailed me and you will find no shortage of explanations on Youtube. In short though, you need to get all the upper/lower pin combinations lined up perfectly along the shear line of the barrel so that it can rotate. What you are doing with a pick set is taking advantage of the minute amount of slop in how everything fits together. When you get the right pin lined up the tension bar moves just a tiny amount to catch the pin on it's lip so you can find the next pin. Every lock will be a little different but eventually you'll be able to feel when you get a pin. Here though it's all right out in the open so you can see how your actions affect the lock. You get several different pick geometries to allow for different locks and different styles of use. Some may want start out just applying tension and raking the pins. I prefer the one with the round end and a little angle to it. The round allows it to bounce past things and the angle allows me to use it like a little lever and rotate it instead of lifting.

I like to try a bit of everything so it's nice to have a set like this to be able to learn basic lock picking and check it off my list. Plus, if I ever do have a lock I need to get in to(and I'm SUPPOSED to get into) I hopefully can put to use what I learned to save me from calling a locksmith. It's fun but certainly not a stretch to call it educational too. I received this product free in exchange for nothing more than my honest opinion.