Excellent video - wish it were around when I first started to pick this lock! :D Just an additional tip for folks who want to give the 3KS a shot: You may want to remove all sliders but one or two pairs at the beginning, just to develop a feeling for what's a true and what's a false gate (regardless of whether you use light or not). Thanks tumbl3r for mentioning me here :)
Great point about developing a feel for the lock. It's very hard to read the feedback when you don't know if you are actually making progress and setting sliders properly. Happy to mention your great video here +no-trick-pony_lockpicking! Your video was the first 3KS I ever saw picked opened, and it convinced me to give it a try :)
Your videos are excellent and still helping pickers such as myself. Every time I need info and search for a video I click yours first. I’m guessing you just decided to take a break and are not uploading content. Thanks
Wow, 14min video of exciting stuff - it ran through like seconds. Very well explained and demonstrated - it was a true pleasure to listen and watch with "all my senses" ;-) Cheers and thank you very much for this fantastic video :-)
Thanks for your kind words my friend! I hope this is what you were looking for. I openly acknowledge that I'm not the best at explaining things. I tend to be monotone and ramble on about the details, often not providing the needed context. I am always trying to make my videos better, so if you see anything I can improve on, I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
tumbl3r It was exactly what I was looking for. It was a perfect interesting and most enjoyable examination and guide. You did a great job. Also the magnifier is a very useful tool. On thing that came into my mind was that oversetting actually does not exist as you can always move the slider in the opposite direction. Right? How much tension did you actually use is another question that just came in my mind now. Also what is the greatest challenge in picking it? Tension control, finding and manipulating the sliders, finding the right gates, dropping slider, ...? Thank you very much for the effort in making that video :-)
The first idea that came to mind, when you talked about difficulties when "jiggling" the sliders. Was a thin pianowire with a small bend (like a tiny hook) and drill a hole in it. The hole would be just big enough to fit the protrusion on the slider. But Huxleypig`s tool I think is even better, in its simplicity of design and (I just speculate) is easier to use. The guy is a master lockpicktools-inventor. (Of course since I dont have this lock, I dont know if my idea has any merit. The "problem" with it would be that it has to be thicker in diameter on the picktip, so you can drill a big enough hole in it. So the only thing that`s come to mind is to grind the rest of it down to specs, that would fit the lock. And that would be a hazzle, but it was nice to see.. that I wasn`t the only one that thought of improving/making a tool for this)
Very well explained. It was so informative it makes me think I may be able to pick not only this lock but other locks with with the sliders and side bars. Thank you for this great video.
Thanks Bobby! I have no doubt whatsoever that you can pick locks like this. It just takes a good plan, a structured approach and some time / effort. One of the main things I've learned in this hobby is to never let a lock intimidate you :)
Thanks +dirk! Your video was one of the things that really helped me understand this lock before taking on the project of picking it. Definitely reference material on the subject :) Glad you enjoyed the vid, my friend!
Great job. Very thorough and full of great tips. I learned a lot from it, thank you. A very impressive lock. I still say my brain might explode if I tried to pick one though. :) Thank you again for all of the time and effort put into making this video. Much appreciated.
The cylinder is advertised to re-lock 4 times in a single revolution making it highly impractical to pick a door open. Is it true? Would a spinner work? After picking this, would you still consider this a secure lock for your door? How many people out there you think are capable of picking it? Would you still be able to pick it if it was mounted in a shielded fitting and had a door frame close to it obstructing one side?
Thanks so much. I never ask people to subscribe because I feel like they should only do so if I have earned it. Thank you for letting me know I've earned yours :)
There's a good chance to pick this lock faster by using a light to see all the sliders down the keyway. See my article here about this: unlocked.own-hero.net/2013/03/19/picking-slider-based-high-security-locks---part-2-evva-3ks/ Hope it helps :)
@Decoderoh, Thanks! I actually referenced your instructions for this in the video. You and I exchanged a few messages and you gave me permission to use your photos in this video. I think your light pipe idea is fantastic!
Great tips. I used the light idea on locks with my bad eye sight. The tool idea. Is a snapped pick with a grove cut out. Excellent. It reminds me when people first start picking MTLs and getting exciting about it. In years to come people will be opening these just like the MTLs. Would you agree?. Great video as always. Thanks man..
I don't know if I have enough information to really develop an opinion if these will be as commonly picked as MTL. I get the feeling MTL has a much wider distribution and the cores are much easier to get ahold of (at least in the US). Slider locks are also not nearly as common as dimple locks, so that's another factor. As far as I know, EVVA only packages their locks in Euro Cylinders, which is another factor that affects their potential distribution. If I can use the viewership of the videos I've made as any sort of litmus test, the lock most people are interested in is the Kiwkset SmartKey. This lock has massive distribution, so it seems reasonable to speculate that the number of people interested in picking a given core is directly proportional to the distribution of that core. Assuming that to be the case, I don't think many will undergo the extremely non-trivial task of learning to pick these locks unless the distribution increases dramatically. Of course, there could be any number of problems with this speculation, not the least of which being sample bias. Anyhow, those are my initial thoughts. It would be interesting to have a crystal ball and see what lock picking will look like in twenty years. I suspect locks will continue to get better and become increasingly harder for us to pick. Beyond that, I think it's anyone's guess.
great reply. I should of thought deeper. before putting my comment down.lol but it would be great to see lockpicking in 20 years time on YT. like you said in the U.S. they not that common. here in the uk they are. I will defo get one. then we can compare notes. but great tips on this great lock. and again great vid. Thanks man.
Well, I do have an MCS, but I have to admit that I'm a little afraid to take it apart 😄. I bought it just to have in my collection, but I really like your idea of an in-depth video of how it works. I'll do a bit of research and see if I feel like I can gut it safely. Thanks for the great idea!
I can understand that for sure! They are not cheap =) I am looking for get a 42mm for 142€. Is that a good price? I can't tell how much I will look forward to see your MCS video! The lock almost seams like magic or something that case out of Area 51.
Considering how the key is cut, suppose grease and dirt got built up in the key. Will you risk damaging the key or the sliders if you didn't clean it out say, every 5-6 weeks?
Great question and thanks so much for watching :) The internal mechanism of the 3KS is surprising well made and given the material and interaction with the key, I think it would be extremely different to bind it up with gunk or crud. Honestly, I think a bigger concern than the sliders binding up would be the bottom bar becoming stuck in the unauthenticated position. In many ways I think this system is probably more robust against particulate and corrosion than most pin tumbler designs.
Yes. In this case I did because I did not know how the lock worked. I needed to take it apart to understand its mechanism before I could reasonably approach picking it. For other locks that I understood better, I usually tried to pick them before disassembly. However, sometimes I would have a failed take after picking, and something would go out of frame while I was gutting the lock and I had to redo the video. In those cases, of course, I would have previously disassembled the lock.
Keep an eye out and one will pop up. I found this one on eBay and had to get up in the middle of the night to snipe the auction. I think I payed something like $70 shipped from Europe. I wish I could trade this one out, but I really do want to keep it as part of my collection.
I'm honestly not very familiar with either of their product lines. It seems like most of the Kaba locks have been picked, which is pretty impressive! Similarly, from what I know of DOM, there doesn't seem to be anything about their lineup that would make them pick-proof. Admittedly, my knowledge of these things is probably full of holes. One of the things that's so much fun about this stuff is there never seems to be an end to the learning.
Interesting for sure! =) I'd love to see a chart of the locks sorted across brands in pick resistance ranked by pickers. E.g. Which is harder to pick 3KS or experT ?
I have still not done an MCS disassembly (I do intend to), but my friend just published one today and I thought of you :) Here is the link if you are interested: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mv2TaRgDZ7A.html
Oh, this also reminded me. Based on your question, I've been trying to track down a DOM Diamant to pick on my channel. Thanks for inspiring me to learn more about them!
dont like these videos of showing how locks can be picked. your teaching criminals how to break into peoples stuff. someone has been picking my lock thats on my shed and tampering with stuff because they dont like me. really surprized utube allows videos like this. they should be banned and considered illegal.
