(446) Ruko's War Against Lock Pickers 

One time I get into swords. Other time I get into puzzles. Another time I get into cooking. This time I got myself into lockpicking. Where does it end? Where is this road going? Is this the end of youtube? Does it have an end? Lockpicking videos here I come!

I live in Denmark, and I have to say I find the Ruko locks absolutely hilariously good. We have Model600 Ruko locks for our apartment complex door with no alarms, and we can see from the scratch marks that picking and break-ins have been attempted multiple times. They try picking, and when they can't figure it out, they try to bypass it by cranking open the door. Because the door frame is original (and hundreds of years old), and made of very hard wood (it's an old rich-people's abode), none of these attempts work either XD When the rest of the tenants at the apartment complex changed their store room locks in the attic to electronic ones, we kept our Ruko. Every one of theirs was broken into, but not ours. Someone had figured out a bypass to the electronics, and bypass was not covered by their insurances :/ If ever I'm replacing the Ruko Model600, I'm definitely going for a Ruko ModelDP, that has a sexy key ;)

Wow Bill, just speechless. You did a hell of a job explaining 80 years in 13m. Kudos mate.

SKAFOR means "skadeforsikringsudvalget". The direct translation would be "The damage insurance committee". Your comment on it probably being 200 letters long made me laugh xD

Those antipick features are just mind blowing. Locks made by lockpickers.

I have to say am not really into picking locks my self but it is really neat seeing you do your craft.

2021: Watched everyone of bills pick videos and his whipped videos. Come across this gem and am still blown away by how much I still have yet to learn. Thank you Bill for years of education and entertainment.

As a dentist, I appreciate the use of a dental explorer to check for undercuts :) We do the same thing for our fillings!

Ruko - We don't like people picking our locks. Let's make them harder to pick. Lockpickers - * Rejoice * . . . . . Masterlock - * picks nose, dips in dirt, eats snot dirt *

Sad to hear you've retired, wish you all the best and a big thank you for all I've learned from your videos, although I still have a lot to learn you have been a massive help to me and many others.

When I first saw a "Christmas tree pin" I started calling it a "bishop pin" like a bishop in chess. One because it does look like that and two, because chess allegories are cool, make you sound intelligent lol.

I just heard about your retirement Bill, and so I thought I should go to the video that got me into lock picking. Your video. This video. You opened up a whole new way for me to look at the world and showed me how veneer thin our sense of security is. I learned so much from your videos and I can't thank you enough. You inspired me to not just sit around and be a security officer, but become a security specialist. Thank you for all the years of information. Thank you for all the years of content. Thank you for all the laughs. I'm sad to see you go, but family is far more important than some random morons, like me, on the internet. I don't know where your path will lead, but wherever it goes I wish you the best.

You sound like someone I can listen to for hours on end talk about lock picking.I stumbled upon your channel from Facebook and I have to say I am watching a bunch of your videos. I am very intrigued!

In Denmark nearly everyone uses Ruko locks

I know the video is old, but i wanted to correct you on something (i've heard you mention it on other videos as well). This side groove on the DP model is not laser cut, but milled. You can see the marks left by the rotary tool on the bottom of the groove. P.S. Your videos are awesome!

Wow, those higher security locks are mind blowing. I used to collect keys when I was young, and those looked very cool.

Looking at this video, Ruko deserves my respect for actually attempting to make a difference and learning from pickers?

Looking at the different keys and barrels made me excited. I was laughing when I saw the different features for security! Brilliant! Clever! Intentionally frustrating! :-) FASCINATING! I'm a writer and all but one of my books involves some level of lock-picking. After writing about it for years, I decided that I needed to understand how to really do it. It was one of the most enjoyable hobbies I've ever taken up! I never wanted someone who knew how to do something to write to me in anger because I had made some assumption about a skill or project. I wanted each scene to be as real as possible! Thank you for this video. It's been the high point of my day so far!

Wow, I can't believe I haven't heard of this brand before! Excellent video! Thank you so much for sharing with us!

I will never ever pick a lock, but I stay riveted to your Videos....... I can appreciate your frustration to picking the Ruko locks, but I have to admit that after watching most of your Vids, I have to respect the level of sophistication in the Ruco Locks......... Bill - There is an equal and opposite force to everything in life, and Ruko is your Yang to your Ying........ I really hope Ruko keeps on bringing out higher levels of security, and you keep reporting them on your Channel. The way you report on all these different locks really appeals to my OCD.......... Keep up the excellent work, I will keep watching........

Well played RUKO!!!!! Bill that was VERY interesting, thank you very much!!!

Very well done Bill. Very descriptive. Those pins you call "Christmas tree pins" remind me of the chess piece pins sparrows make.

Kudos to those guys for making an effort. I'm looking at you Masterlock. What success have you had on the various levels, Bill?

The Ruko's are truly engineered...others should try doing the same. Great video Bill 👌👍😍

That's very cool, a lock company that tries to make a more secure lock!

The "Christmas tree" pins looks more like a chocolate fountain... thing! :P

Absolutely fascinating. Love to see the development of the locks over time. Great Vid.

That last diagram blew my mind. I didn't realize you could get that complex and still have a functioning lock!

Fun story. The "Blå skafor" - the blue one - were the same standard as you had to have on your weapons locker.

I have learned a lot from watching your channel. I really appreciate the time you take to make these videos. I wish I could apprentice with someone of your caliber. I'm sure you are full of knowledge.

Wow, I'm amazed at the engineering and also Bob your enthusiastic knowledge!

Bill that was awesome!!! Thank you for a wonderful history and lesson on the Rukos line of locks. Once again, amazing lengths to which people will go to to keep things secure. Great stuff!!! Merry Christmas to you and your family sir.

Had to watch this video again. I have talked with 2 guys in the US that are either in ASSA sales or independent that specialize in ASSA/Ruko. For some reason the factory in New Haven, CT don't like to fool with certain aspects of ASSA/Ruko because they are a pain the butt. But these 2 guys are probably the top experts in the US with these locks. The only that know more would probably be Bo Widen and Daniel Andersson in Sweden. Bo invented the Twin and Primus sytems and owns Widen Industries now. The Ruko 600 series are almost identical to the 600 series ASSA that I have an abundance of and have a secret project going on that I spoke to you about a while back. The ones I have are a 6 pin, countered milled, single end spools. I finally picked one open the other day after about 30 minutes holding it in my hand while watching news. Yeah, bad cramps after that. Virtually no feedback like you said. This was a great video showing all the different pins and designs.

Im from DK, and I just got into Lock Picking. Soon I'm going to buy some Padlocks and such. But right now I am trying on my front door... A Ruko... Then I tried on my Mailbox... Ruko... I also have a old padlock... Ruko with the green bands xD SKAFOR: SKA =Skade (Damage, injurie) FOR = Forbyggelse (Prevention) It's a Skale we use for Security in case of: Fire, burglary and such things :D Love your videos btw! :D Been watching them all day :D

I'm not a lock picker at all, but your series of videos are so interesting, informative and well produced that I'm hooked on watching them. They're also making me doubt the LSOs (lock shaped objects) I've got keeping my front door closed.

Fantastic Presentation & Video Bill. I've just been Picking some of my Ruko's and they are Such Amazing Locks I just love them. Keep up the great work. Nick.

The intros on theese vids are just pure gold..

I'm really impressed by this. It's really sounding like a good hobby to me.

Speaking of Ruko. In looking for blanks for ASSA UL keyway, I found a supplier in the UK that carries Cerrebi blanks from Italy. They make (I guess considered aftermarket) the same blanks for about all ASSA keyways. Their catalog listed the ASSA UL keyway, with blank number RU17R, which is of course for the Ruko. Have never seen A Ruko until this video. Bought 20 blanks from them. With all charges and airmail and Western Union to send direct bank deposit to them, it still only cost $2.50 per blank. I think the same blank from ASSA is $6.05 retail if you can even find someone that has them. Davenport-Burgess in England is who I got these from. If you are looking for hard to find import blanks, you might check them out. They are on the web.

cant find the send message function on new youtube but the SKAFOR stands for SKAdeFORsikring - it is the acronym for danish insurance alliance "dansk forening for SKADEforsikring" (danish association of damage insurance)

Bos, Forgive me with your name. I really enjoy your carefully explanation of the different security levels of these Rokur locks. Very interesting how this company is able to alter the components inside their cores to prevent picking or make it very time consuming. Excellent video, really enjoyed watching it.

2020 has been so weird. I just watched a 7 year old 13 minute long video about a lockmaker’s 80 year war against lockpicking. And was fascinated! Goodness gracious!

I always wondered how you can make a master key to a pinned lock. Or a lock opened by two different keys. Mainly I've wondered because in Finland all locks are Abloy (and have a disc core where it is very easy to do). Apparently Ruko figured out how you can set multiple keys to open the same pinned lock.

Thank you for explaining the differences in each of these locks. While I have never encountered one I would imagine these would be a challenge even for the seasoned pros.

Good war, helped build better security. Glad the hobbyists are out there having legal fun and pushing the techniques and security along further :)

Out of all the intros you've done, this was the most wicked cool.

Wow! Now i know what kind of lock to use to protect my stash!

I LEARN EVERYTIME I WATCH YOU bILL YOU ARE ALONG WITH LOCK PICKING LAWYER MY HEROS!!,CHEERS Mal in Van BC

I get pissed off when the zipper on my jacket gets caught; no way in hell would I ever be able to pick locks and keep my sanity.

I took Bill's advice for learning on a budget. I have The Sparrows refining kit with one of the window teaching locks. Should arrive in the next few days I can hardly wait for this kit to arrive. I wonder if I will ever be able to pick any of the locks in this video.

How to keep out lock pickers : 2 locks keyed the same in the door with microswitch bolt pockets (Chubb type) , then have an alarm that goes off if both locks are not opened in 30 seconds, only the true key can do this.

Thanks for the potted history, Bill. I'm not (yet) a lock picker, but have still heard the name, even here across the Pond from you. Didn't know that they could be as complex as some of those. Obtaining spare keys must be something of a nightmare.

2:00 SKAFOR is short for SKAdesFORsikringen - which in Danish directly translate to The Damage Insurance. It's a group of insurance companies and it's their standard for common forced entrance safety. Old Ruko's were easy to simply drill out with the core made of brass. Nowadays, it's not so easy.

I've just received my lockpicking set today, and the training lock was easy - just as you said in your video. The only challenge i had after, was my doors and at work, but i can't do it at work. That would be weird - So, i had this lock. It's a ruko with a green band as yours, but my picking tools are way to big so i'm gonna file them a bit tomorrow and try it

Super super interesting, amazing!... but my eyes are hurting because the focus 😂

Ive never picked a lock myself but I find this fascinating. Your body of work on the subject is just amazing. You and that pesky lawyer have me wanting to by tools and picks its crazy. my place iz rented. I gotta stop myself but it hurts.

Hi Bill, Another Bill and a new subscriber here . That RuKo history was absolutely fascinating Thanks

The one with the pin in the bottom/hole in the key is called Flexcore, which is also used by Arrow (owned by Assa Abloy) in some of their SFICs.

Hey Bill, I really enjoy your channel :D My girlfriend's father is a locksmith, now I can impress him with my knowledge thanks to you!

Skafor SKAFOR in Denmark tester after Standardtyvmetoden. All of the test method described in this article Standardtyvmetoden. Casualty Insurance Committee Insurance Association (Association of the Danish insurance companies) have developed a security classification of locks and lock cylinders, called SKAFOR approval. There are four different classes illustrated with RED, BLUE, GREEN and YELLOW. To be SKAFOR approved in the highest red safety class, the locks and cylinders to be secure against break-through and oplukningsforsøg while the locks in the lowest yellow class only to be inhibitory. Kinda a little info on it. Sorry if its hard to understand I had to translate it.

my local Ruko dealer has stopped using the centre pun in the flexcore range as they're used by several utility companies and the staff often end up with slightly damaged keys (usually bent or squashed hole for the centre pin) apparently other ruko dealers also remove the pin. Its about time I went over to see them again as they said that I could have the contents of their scrap box

this is the first info video on locks ive seen on your channel and i can see myself getting addicted to these videos of yours lol i like how its very informative =). yesterday i was watching one of your tough under fire videos and those were awesome. i have subscribed =)

Bill!!!! Man We sure do miss ya! Any chance ya wanna do a lockSwap?🤷🏼😝🤣😂👏‼️‼️

No body is picking these things outside a comfy chair and vice in a well lit room, and then 1 in 10,000 (maybe.) You could practice 12 hours a day, and NEVER be a Mozart !!

Is it bad I suddenly feel proud to be Danish :D?

O_O'' damn nice.. cut down the door and steal these beautiful locks.

Really informative video. Nice job. I didn't even know about Ruko.

Cool lock designs!!..I'm such a geek for mechanical things... be fun to meet the guy who designed the side pin security. Clever

Awesome video! That red lock is something to behold. I mean, WOW. If you lose your key I suspect you just cut out your door or blast it, and get a new door.

love your channel and I am from Denmark. I have started lock picking a year ago i think. Ruko Is very dominate over here, I guess the hype is not for fun.

SKAFOR is an abbreviation for the Non-life Insurance Committee, also known as the Danish Association for Non-life Insurance. This is an association that belongs to Forsikring & Pension. Insurance & Pension, or F&P, is issuing security certifications of various insurance entities.

Fantastic overview!

Great Video Bill. Now I know what you mean when you say a particularly nasty ruko. These Videos help out a lot. They are appreciated. Thank You.

Never knew about these locks and level of security however I was told once by someone smart: "Locks been invented for honest people only, because an honest person will respect the privacy and will not try to enter if there is a lock there, the extension to this is: there is no safe lock against a burglar"! Also, a determined burglar will use any possible measure against a locked location including explosives! An "Expensive" lock is just an ILLUSION of safety against a determined intruder! The more challenging you make a place for a possible intruder, it will make him think that there is "worth" the risk to take...

I've actually seen some Ruko padlocks myself, but that was a long time ago.

Great explanatory video! I really enjoyed it. There are newer locks out there from Ruko now *surprise*, like the 1200 series and the Garant Plus. Have you considered picking, or trying to pick those?

i love the yellow band Assa Ruko 1 padlock bosnianbill

That last lock! Holy cows! Just the side pins alone, even just two pairs. I don't see how you could pick it, maybe decode it after days, and still yet...

A guy once had a huge [brand X] padlock he was proud of until I picked it in his presence in about five seconds. I think you know what brand it was. BTW I'm legal.

Your intros are amazing, great show.

It's not really a war on sport pickers it's a war against criminal pickers. Sometimes it's about making the best product and trying to make a secure product that people will feel works. Companies like Ruko work with pickers to develop better high quality locks. The point of locks is to prevent theft not piss of lock smiths. If anything true sport pickers should be thankful for the challenge. Good informational video though.

Bill I have a huge respect for you, but your taste in christmas trees is lacking xD

OMG ! I thought lock picking was going to be easy and fun hobby when I got into it 6 months ago . . . . . WOW this video is waaaaay beyond my rookieness and complicated; more for the seasoned senior man like you Master Bill ! But very interesting. Hope I can move up a few levels over time. Keep up the great work, really enjoy your videos.

If the 4th to last is a mushroom (4m38s), the antpenultimate (4m34s, the X-mas tree) is also a mushroom but deadlier, an Amanita. It bears a relatively good ressemblance to the biggest difference betweem common mushrooms and the group Amanita.

Nice job Bill

Great video. Good Insight ...With a good cup of coffee....Cant get enough.

1,800 likes - I'm very bad at analyzing and picking anything beyond a Masterlock 3. So history like this video, and your analytics of design at minimum make me a more informed buyer until a point where I can actually speed time to learn the finesse of LPing. Must have listened to 10 of your videos in the background during work yesterday.

Danish ingenuity and quality.

Hi bosnianbill. Interesting video - it makes me want to share some information with you, that I hope you'll find equally interesting. In that regard, it'll be a long post - just as your video, but I hope you'll bare with me anyways. SKAFOR was a Danish society/union of insurance providers that provided insurance against damage from theft or fire. The acronym you mention is not exactly 200 letters, but it could easily have been. It stands for SKAde FORsikring (DAMage INSurance in more understandable terms to you, although the acronym obviously only exists in Danish). The longest word ever accepted into practical use in Denmark, by the way, is the word speciallægepraksisplanlægningsstabiliseringsperiode, which is a 51 letter long, and very, very academic way to label the period it would take a special psysicians office to stabilize their planning/booking (after some event, I suppose). This was entered in to the Guiness book of world records in 1993, however the Danish language strangely enough allows one to put as many words together as one pleases, so your 200 letters might not be far off. :-) SKAFOR was a self-contained corporation and union, that existed untill 1999, where it was merged into other organisations, namely DBI, which is the Danish Technological Institute of Fire (prevention/safety) in terms of all activities related to fire protection, prevention and reduction, and into F & P, a trade organisation for all insurance agencies, in terms of all activities related to the protection against theft of property. F&P today deal with what SKAFOR did in terms of locks, however the classification of locks into colours have been left unchanged during this merge. Now, the European Union would like to homogenize lock standards, so that instead of national standards, there is a set of classifications shared throughout the union. These are now accepted as ratified standards (you can probably find them on Google, although it may cost money to obtain a copy), and as such the Danish system of colour coding is likely to be replaced by these new standards. The old colour classifications are not grabbed from thin air by the way. They literarely set up pratical tests for each lock, door or safe/cabinet, in which two "individuals" (obviously with some experience), monitored by an insurance agent, and under strict rules in relation to methods and tools available, were to attempt to gain unauthorized entry. Based on the duration of their attempts, the locks was classed. As such, class red is not "10 minutes" but "longer than 10 minutes" - in essence it could mean that they never succeeded. Since the makers of locks were involved with the process, it is without any doubt that this testing procedure gave not only clear classification of locks and security equipment, but also gave the makers much experience and knowledge on how to improve. The colour coding could apply to both locks, doors, cabinets, padlocks and so forth. The Ruko 500 system as you mention is the lowest security available, and was introduced in the 1930's to (largely) replace the very unsecure standard locks at the time, where each key and lock had a number, and the lock system comprised of a number of matching keys and locks, meaning the only security really, was that you had to either know or guess the correctly corresponding key - or have the time to work your way through all keys in the system. It is however little known, that not all round headed Ruko keys are strictly 5 pin keys. For instance, my very front door had a variety of Ruko lock, that was used for a brief period as a sorta stepping stone from the round headed keys to the trapez shaped 600 series keys. I believe the key format is called Ruko 21, and while it is a round headed standard Ruko key, it is actually longer (~7-8 mm) than the five pinned versions and supplied with an additional pin to make it a six pin system. The keys were golden rather than steel in colour. I had probably never believed it, had I not myself exchanged the lock for a Ruko 1200 series, and had it not caused alot of grief to have duplicates made as virtually no key maker had seen the format before. Today, Ruko deliver the series 500, 600, 1200 and Garant Plus. The 500 being advised only for interiour use where nothing valuable is protected, the 600 being a step up with drilling prevention and six pins, but still with an open copy policy, meaning that anyone may copy the key for you, without other credentials presented than the key. The 1200 series is also six pinned, but with double coding, drilling and pick safety as well as restrictions on copying. It also features a special key profile. Finally the Garant Plus is a sixteen pin lock with two blocking systems, side pins, special profile and drill and pick safety. These keys are only available for copying by authorized Ruko dealers, and in case of the Garant Plus a personal security identity card must be presented. Every Ruko lock, including the 500 series, adhere to the EN1303 lock standard. Today, the security market is more focussed around access control systems, as with safer locks it's becoming more of an issue that keys are lost or that for instance employees keep their key after ending a job. Prior to this switch though, many brands started experimenting with keys that had embedded chips in them - much like the immobilizer on cars - to first electronically authorize the key, in which case the actual cylinder was unlocked for rotation, allowing you to turn the key, and if the psysical pins were a match as well finally open the lock. In my opinion, one of the true extraordinary features of Ruko locks is not only the (in my opinion) high level of safety, but also that the keys and locks remain user friendly. Many secure alternatives are difficult to use, with keys that "hang onto something" inside the cylinders and require a firm hand to turn, etc. I've always found that no matter the classification of a Ruko lock, the key always inserts and turns with ease, and with a firm quality feel to it.

i picked my first lock today, my own door thanx Bill :)

looking at those pins: "okay, so Ruko invented security pins, nice, nice, wait what is this" (getting to the last two) "WHAT ALIEN HUGGER-MUGGER IS THIS??"

I bet I could pick all of those with thermite :P

Just started to get the hang of picking my American 1100 Series locks, thinking about making a jump to the 500 or 600 series but they're super expensive on ebay lol

That finger focus.

Excellent video Bill. Always chock full of great information.

It's funny how this could have easily been my hobby, When I was a kid I loved messing around with the houses' locks that I lived in, it was sooo satisfying to hear the click and open the door, It was that or be locked out of my room. I cut my fingers a lot twisting and bending paper clips. I Wish I had these lockpicking tools, it would've gone much faster...

That is one phenomenal informative and enjoyable video - thank you.

I haven't been able to find out what SKAFOR stands for but it's a insurance standard in Denmark for locks. If you want to get money from an insurance company you have to prove that you used a SKAFOR standard lock. And if you have weapons in your home, they have to be locked in a closet with a SKAFOR RED by law.

SKAFOR stands for "Skade-forsikring" meaning "Damage-Insurance." Simply means it been testet by experts. Well that is what their catalog says anyway. =)

SKAFOR is simply an abreviation of SKAdesFORsikring, or in english: DamageInsurance.