Starting My Lockpicking Journey

written by Gohith Reddy on 10/12/2025

I want to preface this by saying that lock picking does not necessarily mean that it's going to be used to break into any place, but it's just another tool to understanding security. Just as cybersecurity is not only used for hacking but also pentesting to better understand vulnerabilites, lock picking is used to understand the risks and bypasses of locks.

For a while now, I've had an interest in this sport. Through mostly watching entertainers like LockPickingLaywer and McNally on YouTube, it was and still is very interesting to learn about different locks and how they work and what vulnerabilites they have. Many locks are susceptible to comb picking and raking but practically all of them are vulnerable to single pin picking

The basic way a lock works is that within the lock, there are usually 5-7 pins slots with two pins each that stop the core from rotating along the shear line. Once all of the pins are aligned properly, there are no pins actively blocking the rotation, so the lock unlocks; pictured below.

if all the pins can go above the shear line, then the lock is vulnerable to comb picking.

My kit came with two types of picks: a rake and a short hook. A rake is similar to a brute force attack where it tries many differnt combinations at once. Locks can defend against this by using a combination of security pins that are differnt shapes compared to normal pins and better tolerances for their machining. Single pin picking is the most similar to a timing attack in that it slowly gets the "password" aka the key one "character" or pin at a time. the lock pins will bind in a certain order, and using single pin picking, I can go through each pin and press the pin against the shear line one at a time. Raking can result in some pins being correctly set at the shear line.

pictured below are both of my picks. The one on the left is the short hook and the rake is on the right.

One of the most interesting practices that I see around the lock picking circle is never the internet see your keys. As I likened it to earlier, a key is pretty similar to your password. If an attacker knows your key they can know a lot about your lock.

For instance, this tells us that the lock uses normal pins as opposed to something like a disc detainer lock or something very high security. It also tells us what the "password" actually is, so we could machine a new key or use this to guide use while picking.

Although it was fairly expensive at $25 for just a lock and a few tools, I really like it. It was hard for me to find a larger padlock like this for under $20. I've also thought that I wouldn't be really able to feel inside a lock that well, so having a clear lock like this really helps figure out how everything feels. Since the kit has a limited selection of tools, I'm hoping that uses these instead of having more specialized picks will help develop a better understanding of how to use each pick.

I've been able to open it consistenly now after a few days even with my eyes closed, so I'm hoping to get a real lock and figure it out all over again.

Until next time,
Gohith Reddy