Lock Pick - What is a Lock Pick and how can it open a door?

A lock pick is a small instrument, typically of metal, used to simulate the interaction of a key on a lock. Coupled with a tension wrench, it is used to copy the action of a key inside a lock.

In order to understand what is a Lock Pick, one must understand what is a key and how it interacts with a lock. First, it is important to understand there are different kinds of locks, the most important being warded locks, wafer lock, tubular locks and, most of all, Pin Tumblers Locks. Pin Tumblers Locks are by far the most important and the ones you will encounter the most.

Inside a Pin Tumbler Lock, pins are pushed to a precise height by the key. A pin tumbler lock can have as little as 2 pins and as many as 14, the most common being 5-pins for regular locks and 6-pins for advanced, high security locks. A key will then have 5 or 6 little flat spots to push these pins to the precise height. Once all pins have been "set", the cylinder will be free to rotate and the lock will open.

A Lock Pick will simply push the pins to the correct height one by one. A Lock Picker will use the Lock Pick to lift each pin one by one. Depending on the complexity of the lock, this can take anywhere from a few seconds to several hours. Most lockpickers will be able to open an average lock - the lock you find on houses or in public parks - in sixty seconds or less.

Lock Picks, simply said, are pieces of metal that can take different shapes. The most important of all lock picks is the regular hook one, used on almost every lock to lift pins upward. A rounded or double-rounded lock pick will be used on wafer locks. A rake pick will be used for raking, a jig pick for jiggling, etc. It is possible that you build your own lockpicks but it is not recommended that you do so until you are very advanced, first because they are not that easy to build, second because the cost will be similar to our prices anyway, and most important is the fact that they will have a totally different 'feel' to them than a well balanced, correctly designed pick.

In conclusion, the lock pick is the basic tool of any lock picker, even for very advanced locks. In fact, a simple rake pick can even open the most advanced locks, those on vaults and governmental buildings, although you can guess this is very very hard.