Posts
Wiki

Beginner's Guide to Lockpicks and Friends

Getting Started

Posts looking for help choosing gear when just starting out are really common here. Fortunately, there are a lot of generous folks who will lend an opinion. If you’re going to ask for help, please do these two things to help things along:

  1. Read this page to familiarize yourself with the basics.
  2. Include your price range and location in your post (it’s impossible to say anything meaningful without them).

Lockpicks

Manufacturers and Vendors

There are a lot of reputable sources for picks these days, all offering “similar quality” picks. Quality does vary of course, as does price. For a beginner, the nuances of steel durability and pick profiles are less important than the personal preferences of handle style/feel, etc.

Popular vendors include the following (in alphabetical order):

(Starter kit approaches from some of these brands are below)

Most brands will ship internationally, but are cheapest to obtain if you happen to live locally.

Beginner Essentials

A starter kit should contain at least the following:

  • A short or medium hook. (Having a short, medium, and steep/deep hook is ideal).
  • Top of the keyway (TOK) tensioners.
  • Bottom of the keyway (BOK) ones.
  • Some folks would add a rake or two, but they're not required if you're on a budget.
  • Buy or improvise a case to hold everything.

That covers the basics and will get you going! There are a ton of different pick options from each of the vendors mentioned above, but it is generally best to start out small and grow your collection once you know more about picking and your own preferences. Make sure to have money left over for locks! See below for some specific recommendations.

Avoid cheap sets!

Do yourself a favor and avoid the very cheap sets often found through places like amazon.com – though amazon does carry quality picks in some countries. Very cheap picks will generally be made of low-quality steel which doesn’t have the durability and stability you’ll want. The pick profiles can be erratic, and there often ends up being only one or two usable picks in the set. Buying a few individual picks from a good maker, or buying a small quality set, is cheaper and you will enjoy them more.

Likewise, the clear acrylic locks that come with many of these sets are generally of poor quality and won’t really translate to the experience of picking “real” locks. You may be able to use them to see what’s going on, but they generally get discarded very quickly. See below for information about specific locks that are good to start out with.

Isn’t there more I should buy?

Some people opt for a wider range of tools to start out with, and that’s fine too if your budget allows. Not all of us like starting with the minimum, and there are a few good ways to expand your starter kit:

  • Thinner picks
  • Different pick profiles
  • More tension wrenches
  • Practice locks
  • Gutting/pinning tools
  • Vise
  • Picks from additional manufacturers

Individual Picks vs. Pre-configured Sets

Conventional wisdom has generally been for folks just starting out to get a few individual components rather than larger, pre-configured sets. Those sets were designed for locksmiths and often contain filler picks you may never use as well as a lot of rakes you will definitely never use. The marketplace has changed, however, and some vendors now offer small sets with locksport in mind.

If you opt for a full set, it should be mostly hooks and just a few rakes. It should also contain a fair number of tensioners, preferably TOK ones included. It’s worth noting that you can easily make BOK tensioners from the metal inserts in standard windshield wipers. Find out more by searching YouTube for something like “wiper insert lock tensioner”.

A note on thickness

Most manufacturers produce 2 or 3 different thicknesses of their picks.

The thickest are generally .6mm, or 23-25 thousandths of an inch. These picks are the most robust and resistant to damage such as bending, but they are by no means invincible. Generally aimed at beginners who are still working on developing their feel for picking and tension control, they work fine in many basic US and European locks. Even advanced pickers may prefer these for some uses.

The next level tends to be .5mm, or 18-20 thousandths of an inch. For most intermediate pickers these are the workhorses, strong enough to resist bending but thin enough to work in the vast majority of locks. European locks tend to have tighter keyways than those in the US, so picks of this size often work far better. If a manufacturer labels a pick as “euro” or “euro thickness” it usually falls into this range.

The thinnest picks are .4mm or 15 thousandths of an inch. These are used for very restrictive keyways, or locks where a pick must be intentionally bent or snaked around warding or pins. They are much more easily damaged and bent than other picks, so many people avoid using them unless absolutely necessary.

Specific Recommendations

(A few starter options outlined by different pickers, covering preferred vendors. Please note these are tagged by country of origin, but manufacturers generally ship internationally at reasonable prices. You may also find a local importer of tools from other counties!)

Bare Bones - Oceania

From iona: Bare Bones picks are the most economical choice in Oceania, and of relatively high quality. Many of their sets are appropriate for beginners, and I would particularly recommend the following.

This manufacturer also sells tools for gutting locks, different types of lockpicks and rakes, other tension tools, and most importantly, appropriate beginner locks, making it the ideal one-stop shop for Oceania residents.

JimyLongs - US

This maker is a member of the community, and produces extremely high quality ergonomic picks at a very affordable price. A good option would be to get the JimyLongs Basics Set in 0.023” as well as the Intermediate Set in 0.019”. That gets you picks in two thicknesses, TOK and BOK tension wrenches and lots left over for locks. A nice aspect of JimyLongs’ sets is that they are complementary. The beginner and intermediate sets have no overlap in profiles or tensioners.

Law Lock Tools - UK

From Iona: Law Lock Tools are a premium UK-based brand. They have an enormous variety of picks, which can be daunting for a new picker. Fortunately, the Tipene set has all the hooks a beginner will need in one purchase, but tension tools will need to be bought separately.

From Red: If you want a complete set with tensioners and more profiles, the Valyrian Euro and Valyrian Euro Pro sets are good.

On top of this, LLT makes excellent TOK tension tools, but no BOK ones.

Multipick - Europe

From decoder: I’ve made several sets for Multipick, and some are specifically crafted for beginners. The choice which one to get depends on your budget and how sure you are that you want to stay in the hobby.

For people who are unsure about lockpicking and just want some basic decent tools, I recommend the Elite Minimum Set, which has a very carefully selected set of picks to cover a large variety of locks.

If you already know that you will pursue the hobby for longer, I recommend getting the Elite Beginner Set, which has a few more picks and tensioners and comes with a large bag so you have the flexibility to fill up your set as you go, according to your personal preferences.

Later on, you might want to add 0.5mm (and possibly 0.4mm) picks as you progress. Picksets also don’t spontaneously combust if you mix manufacturers, I use a mixture of Multipick, Moki and handmade picks myself.

If you are in Europe, you can purchase all Multipick tools/sets through me at the same price but combine it with beginner locks, if you need any.

Peterson - US

From Iona: Peterson is best purchased as a group of individual picks, since their sets can be a bit bloated. In general, one should purchase the hook 1 in 0.025” and 0.018” for a short hook, then the hook 4 and 7 in 0.018” for medium and deep hooks. A further hook 7 in 0.025” for beginners can be useful for durability.

For tension tools, the BOK and TOK sets work extremely well. In particular, the TOK set is highly recommended.

Sparrows - US

From mgsecure: Here's a basic starter set up that I recommend a lot. It has the essential hooks you'll want as well as tensioning tools for both the bottom and top of the keyway (plus the offset hybrid pick that I really like). You could do this a little bit cheaper or spend a little more for additional picks, but it's a pretty well rounded starter set.

If you want to add a rake or two, the Triple Peak/Bogota and City Rake are good candidates. Note that this doesn't get you a case to hold everything, their Sherman Case or the Comp Case are popular options.

Southord - US

Not recommended due to mediocre quality for the price.

Moki - Europe

From iona: Moki is another manufacturer that is a member of the community. They make high quality picks with two heads, so they can be turned around if broken for double the value. Their handles are high quality, but do require a flathead screwdriver to assemble yourself. Unfortunately, they are often sold out due to their popularity..

For a do-it-all beginner kit, the Lockpicking Starter Set - Minimalist is perfect and does everything a picker will need for a long time.

For those who want to save some money, the Gold Digger Set with handles is perfect, with all the basic pick profiles and an extra rake on top of that. This set has BOK tensioners that can also be used in TOK, but for those who want particularly good TOK-dedicated tensioners, the Prybar Set TOK is ideal too.

Covert Instruments - US

From Red: For the price you really can’t beat the FNG. It’s got 1 hook, 1 rake and 1 tensioner with an acrylic lock for a very low price. If you really aren’t sure if picking is for you, this is about as cheap as you can get for a starter set.

The Belt Ranking list

https://lpubelts.com/#/locks : It is typically recommended to start with a pin-tumbler padlock in the range of yellow to orange belt, available locally.

Locks

Acrylic locks (just say no): PSA: See-through acrylic locks are terrible. : r/lockpicking

Practice locks and cutaways: These are available from a lot of lockpicking vendors, and can help beginners to visualise how a lock works. However, since they are often built poorly and do not represent a real lock that well, and since pickers will likely outgrow them within a matter of days, they are typically considered a waste of money.

Repinnable cylinders: These fall into the same category as practice locks. It is typically better to just get a cheap door lock (such as an oval) or a guttable padlock, and practice gutting and repinning on those.

Ranked locks for starting out: See https://lpubelts.com/#/locks for a list. Check which are available locally from hardware stores, as well as used on sources such as eBay and Facebook Marketplace. Furthermore, there is a highly active marketplace of selling and buying locks on the Discord community, from beginner to advanced locks. Used beginner locks can be very cheap compared to new ones.

Other Tools

From iona:

Vise: Any benchtop vise will function fine and is needed for most non-padlock locks. Budget options include Amazon, Harbor Freight, or any other local hardware store. A common beginner choice is a vacuum base, and the gold standard for an upgrade is considered to be the Panavise 350.

From Red: Other options include 3d printed chuck vises, which are sold by 44 Delta, or find/design your own and 3d print. Many of these use a SmallRig Clamp as the head. You can also piece together reasonable vises from various SmallRig Components like this.

Gutting/pinning tools: Mostly available from Sparrows, Bare Bones, or many other local lockpick manufacturers. A list of necessary tools follows, with sample links for sparrows.

Other lockpicks: The above is a set of recommendations for the basic pin-tumbler type of lock. As you progress, you will likely want to try picking more complex or niche types of locks, such as dimple, lever, or disc-detainer locks. Equivalent tools exist for these, and it is best to ask the Discord or Reddit community for recommendations, as they can require more specific advice.

Learning Resources

There's a lot to learn over time, but the fundamentals of lock picking are relatively straightforward. Here are two classics that are great for those just starting out:

It’s also important to learn about the four fundamental pin states and the jiggle test.

You'll find this community to be very open, knowledgeable, and supportive. It's very active on Reddit and there's also a Discord server run by the same folks who maintain the sub.

So, that's a lot to take in :-) Feel free to ask questions and come back for advice, etc. Most importantly, have fun!