Hi - I'm Michael Maynard, and welcome to my channel. If you're interested in locks, locksport or lock picking, please subscribe and feel free to comment.
I'm an optometrist in private practice in Napier, a small town on the east coast of New Zealand. In my spare time I pick locks and figure out how they work.
I like to teach, so this channel is all about picking techniques, reviews, tutorials and lock disassembly.
Submissions are welcome; you can post locks / equipment / books / challenge locks / whatever to me at
Herb Maynard Optometrist PO Box 179 Napier New Zealand 4140.
I'll acknowledge your contribution in the videos, and will try my best to send you stuff in return.
I personally think most dimple style locks are flawed and can be opened too easily ( Just look at the Yale platinum or avocet abs videos) Unfortunately due to the quirky key design consumers think they are some how high security and love them 😞
What so you think of the new thicker handles in the new Community set? Also they have a new number 12 flag that is the left handed version of the number 7
Your videos are teaching me valuable lessons, thank you. One thing, though, and its not really a 'thing' because how you address your audience doesn't make a difference to me, but......I just want to let you know that your viewers include at least one female. (Lemme check real quick.....yup. I'm female! )thanks again for the videos. You do a great job making them.
Holeeeee!! I just received my little Chinese fiber optic light and I am incredibly impressed. It is soooo bright and the fiber optics are great. They must have upgraded everything highly..
Nice job picking this lock. They have raised their prices so much. I'd advise an Abloy Protect 2. A few claim to have picked these locks.... Merry Christmas too you and God bless 🙏🎄
I didn't get halfway in before I heard all I needed too. Was trying to decipher between the Dangerfield 10-Piece Serenity set and this one. But German engineering, the finishing, your elaboration, all of it--sold. My brother had a 'lockpicking set with tools and practice locks' on his Xmas list (which sure beats picking out a shower curtain!!) And I mean... if you gotta get Mom and Dad to go in on a gift with you as a brokeass adult college engineering student, you might as well pay $10 extra and get the best picks on the market, right?! 🤑💸👌 (I kinda want my own set now too!!!)🤣🤓
i iost my combination for my group 2 lock , its a Gardex safe. Fortunately my door is open but in the locked position . is it possible to find my combination by turning the dial because i can see where my wheels are lining up ?
Thanks for that information. I am a total newbie at picking. So naturally, I begin with the locks I have at my disposal. One of them is a Chateau C 970 disc padlock which I simply can't open. Of course, all I have right now is a cheap Chinese starter set lol, but it's allowed me to open both deadbolts to my front doors, several padlocks, wafer lock to an old firebox / safe etc. This Chateau I can't rake, I can't SPP,. I'll be ordering some decent Sparrows picks soon (a few .015 ones for tiny keyways like this one). But I was also wondering if a manual snap pick gun might be useful with this lock. I guess I'll try a cheapo Chinese one first. I'm not really interested in Locksport, just knowing that I can get into a lock (non-destructively) if I needed to. I wondered if there is a Lishi-type tool for tiny keyways like this. I don't know, but I assume it is a Yale-type keyway? I know they make a Lishi knockoff tool for Yale keyways, but I don't know if it would fit in this Chateau keyway, as it's very small.
I have a Liberty safe,.. it has worked flawless for years,...the combination got compromised/ stolen from my father. Money was stolen from my safe,.. I bought a key and changed it,... then it worked for a year I went on vacation and came home and it would not open. After 3 months it opened. I figure,...they beat on it with a rubber hammer trying to open it with the old combination? I tried putting on 2 more Ebay New locks in one box there was a Amazon tag? One when trying to set the combination,.... wouldn't turn a complete revolution? The other just did not set and it did not turn smooth,... it was binding? But both locks when putting in the 4 screws was a tight binding fit? So I put the old one back on and it spins like ball bearings,... it just don't work.
I was thinking that the reason my two locks wouldn't work was because I might have put the cam on the wrong side of the fly. I bought 2 new? ones off Ebay? It seemed like their was binding when I tried to bolt them on to the safe with the 4 bolts. I could not set the combination on one because it would only turn 1 revolution? The other one would turn smooth then bind? I tried several times to get it to work? So I left 1/16 of in and out slop in it,.. to work the best it could. I tried to set the combination and nothing at all. It didn't take. I slapped the old one back on,....it don't work but when you spin it it feels like ball bearing's. S&G no thanks.
Great vid. I was always wondering how the change key could be inserted, and the combs could be changed with a key in place. I figured that part of the wheels were moving, while other parts weren't , but didn't know about the decoupling of the " boss" ( centre) from the rest of the wheel, and the clutch that holds it together.
I have a safe that I saved from the landfill with a La Gard locking mechanism that looks nearly identical to what you displayed here. I have a combo that works with CW-CCW-CW (or right-left-right). Most documentation I found show a left-right-left. Is it possible there is a LRL combination that works this lock (but off by that slot width)???
What is all this talk about Manipulating the Combo Lock??? As long as the door is open and the back is off the lock case you can manually line up the wheels, insert the change key and set a new combo in maybe a minute - two at the most!
Looks like a direct copy of lock used in Eiko Japanese document safes (so Japanese junk ) . Just had one apart changed combo. Moved bolt. You can swop/maybe flip wheel 2 and 3. Put a better tumbler lock in, is next to look at. Maybe a Miwa.😊.
Getting into lock picking with my 12 y/o daughter. Was considering exactly this as an upgrade for her from her cheap Amazon beginner kit. Would you consider these a decent upgrade? I’m about to order myself the tuxedo nightschool and wanted to add something for her. Their suggestion is the Kick start because it’s easier to master. Any opinion?
Hay there...I have this lock...I can open the door fine with a partial twist to the keft...but I cannot lock the mechanism when I leave all the way to the right..., as in if I just leave anyone can walk out the door once inside. So someone could get entry via letter box. Is this normal or I should have the ability to lock the bolt across. Maybe the bolt isn't aligned via door recess??
Thanks for this series. Helped a lot. One question. My group 2 lock works ok with back plate off but when you put backplate back on the lever doesn’t drop. Can it be spring ? How tight should lever screw be?
Fascinating vid. I gotta agree with the rest... music is fine if it's that or nothing, but much prefer to hear you talk through it. I've not encountered gins before unless by a different name. Would love to see a tutorial with a closer look at those pins. Great stuff as always!
I enjoyed the music, but found that it pulled me away from seeing the detail of what you were doing. I 'm with the others who like hearing your dreadful kiwi accent ;-} All that aside, bloody great spot of picking. One of the few remaining skilful locksport channels.
I'm with @Lock pickings Gal. I missed hearing the detailed descriptions of what you were doing and feeling in the lock, the infectious enthusiasm in your voice plus all the other interesting background information you add. When that's topped off with your undoubted picking skills, you have something unique and special that sets you apart from your peers. Very nicely picked by the way.
