Top 10 Reasons Why You Can’t Pick a Lock 

This is my Top 10 reasons why you can’t pick a lock. Did I miss any? Let me know in the comments! 👍😃😃

You missed this one: I failed to pick the first lock i tried because i tried to rotate the core in the wrong direction.

Excellent, excellent tutorial. In the beginning all my pad locks were beyond my skill. I read reviews where people who bought my pick set were opening locks in minutes and I wondered why I was taking longer. After a day or so of practice I was opening locks, and later I could open some in seconds. Improper tension was a big part of my error, some required certain picks that others did not, some opened better with raking and some with single pin picking. My son was opening locks before I did, but I’ll never forget the feeling when my first lock opened. It was like magic and much of that feeling is still there when I open any lock. It is a wonderful hobby and not an expensive hobby to start with. If you are wondering what to do while you are staying at home this is a fun way to spend the time. There is no lack of instruction thanks to you and others on RU-vid!

Thank you Sir Noob !! My newbie pick skills have just been reaffirmed! Everything for the most part I've been doing has been wrong,from style of picks to proper tension tools and mind set. I've spent countless hours studying picking videos and here right before me is by far the best education I have received!!! It's invaluable for a true green pea like myself. THANK YOU!

It may be just me but I find picking locks soothing. It's like my Zen garden when the wife and kids go to sleep. It's like time slows down and peacefulness surrounds.

This is the best advice that I've seen anywhere. Hope you're staying safe.

Excellent video. As a new locksport hobbyist the video is very helpful. When I worked in the auto industry years ago I managed to hack pick a few car locks, rekeyed several over the years. Now that I'm retired looking for ways to keep busy and keep the hands nimble, locksport looks like a good hobby to pursue. The TV show Elementary with his fence section of locks was also an inspiration. I managed to pick a Master lock 130 once this morning, but need to keep at it until I can repeat the success. Thanks for posting the video!

I have an Assa Twin Combi that I have yet to pick open. Had it for 6 months or so now and have put quite a few hours on it. Just can't get it open! ...yet... Keep up the great vids, love the channel!

“.......because it’s already picked open” YEP....Stanley S828. Was at that thing for the better part of an hour. Was sitting there, cursing the thing...and I recalled watching a video of someone using TOK and bottom ( might even be you - not sure ) and I reached over and grabbed a TOK, inserted it and pushed.. *CLICK* I went and poured a Tequila and didn’t close the shackle for a while. Just stared at it and grinned.....it’s the simple things in Life.

Hah that exact American lock got me with that too! Thank you for the lesson, I managed to get through some pretty difficult locks while still struggling on what should be relatively easy, but small locks. Small keyway, need practice :)

I've bought 2 really cheap locks that are technically not broken but are broken for picking. The metal around the keyhole is bent out of shape because it was really malleable so I can't make my tension tools fit it to turn it. The key still works with a bit of effort but there's no way it can be picked without modifying a tensioner somehow.

This has been VERY helpful . . . so much, that I have saved it under my Keeper lock picking video collection. Thanks!

I opened my first lock today! I haven't gotten my pick set yet so I used paper clips for tensioner and rake.

Excellent video! Very helpful to this new lock picker. Great instruction, clear video and wonderful advice. Thank you.

Love it, great 10, and I definitely hit all of them :) thanks for going to all the effort of putting all that together. I also find direction of tensioning. Being a left hander, I'd much rather pick counter-clockwise, but sadly there are alot that don't let me.

There is a specialty lock, and this lock, some say, is impenetrable. Others say it's always open by default, just try engaging the inner mechanics, and it opens up. To some, this lock is a dangerous hindrance, barring them from items and information critical to their very survival. To others, this lock is nothing more than a game. A complex fidget spinner, with no real practical use to be found. It's there to amuse themselves, but opening the lock to access it's content is not a priority. Yet, truth be told, this lock and others like it hold the KEY to our perceived existences. Our personas. Our biases and stereotypes. Our tastes, mannerisms, and beliefs/morals. It's been said that these locked vessels even hold inside them completely different, albeit, equally important locks to other endless Mobius strips of data, most of which we don't yet understand. These. These locked containers are what I wish to access, by ethical or non-ethical means. I don't wish to damage anything while gaining entrance, but if it's life or death on the line, I'll smash a window or set charges on the door to get in by all means necessary to save a fellow human being. These are the locks of addiction. Have you or has anyone you know lost their keys? It's okay to do for help. Not all of us can pick locks. But everyone of us can pick up the phone. We can pick the right time. We can pick up the pieces, and start again. Don't lose hope. Happiness is there, friend. You just have to figure out how to unlock it.

i was having that problem..i saw so many videos saying a reason you are unable to pick some locks is because you're using too much tension so i went light on the tension and i wasnt able to pick any locks anymore then i was using the practice locks when i figured that out i had everything lined up but was like wtf isnt it opening? i didnt want to break my tool but a little extra force and they oipen easy now....i always had it just not enough push i guess.

Great video, really helps explain some terms that get commonly used, but never explained. Also shows how important it is to understand keys and not just locks :-)

I found a couple of times that I had cranked the vise too tight and it bound the lock.

That master lock with the heavy spring tension has had me flummoxed for years.... I've picked it 2 or 3 times but must have tried 1000's will have to really concentrate on the tensioning!

Great video, possibly the best I have seen on this channel so far. Way to go!

I just picked my first lock with a Bobby pin I bend and cut into a tension bar and a pick. It took about an hour, but I proved to myself that it can be done by mere mortals. YES............

I found my brother put a lock i couldn't pick on my O ring lamp The locks keyhole had been deteriorated because the material the lock was made of was pretty trash Well, i just put on the tension tool, showed in my city rake and voila, open Sesame

Looks like a good video, would like to watch it but the Volume is really low. Watching on a laptop with volume maxed and can barely hear. Granted my sound on this laptop isn't great.

Thank you, you just helped me pick my first lock.

As a total beginner it's good to know that there are so many ways to be defeated which have little or no bearing from the lock itself :-( I guess that's what attracts me though, there are so many wildly variable factors that the odd success or two really do matter :-) I only wish that I had a locksport club nearby so I that I could leech experience from a mentor or two.

Big thumbs up from me. Very well explained and good detail.x

Great video thank you so much for sharing 🙏

Great information, thank you!

I have struggled for hours and hours with a Swedish Masterlock style padlock, and a Chinese one from a company called Doublelink. These presumably cheap ones I have gotten open but it seems to be very random. I have not found a way to reliably pick them, and it feels like I don't know exactly what I am doing to get them open. Today I did get a hold of an Abus 64TI/40, and I opened that one up multiple times both by raking and single pin picking in about 15 minutes. So what gives? Are the cheap locks just so poorly manufactured that they are actually harder to pick?

Idk if I have a false setup some pins are crooked and it's like it never works

my problem is that i can fit the pick tool inside while applying tension. I tried applying more and less tension but still nowhere

Reason 102: you had one to many shots of whiskey and would most likely have a hard time opening the lock with the key. Let alone a pick.

WOW. THANK YOU,

love that US lock!

What about having too low quality tools?

how do you troubleshoot second hand locks?

Can't open it? Toss it in the "Naughty Bucket" move on and get back to it on another day.

Tip for beginners: always try to explore a unknown lock with a very slightly hooked pick before you start picking, or even start applying tension, so you can feel whether the keyway contains unexpected things. Ps. I always cringe a little when I see someone immediately put the tensioner at the rim of the cylinder, that should really be a last resort (the closer a force is exerted to it's axis, the less the cylinder grinds against its jacket).

I have have the 2nd problem 😔 how do I fix?

I can't pick it even I did everything correct

reason #1 is: "You're not the Lock Picking Lawyer"

Sometimes the tension tool slips and i think i have a false set :)

11. I don’t have “the tool that Bosnian Bill and I made” 😜

00:30 1. You're using too much or too little tension 02:40 2. You're binding the core 03:48 3. You have the wrong pick 08:54 4. You misidentified the lock type 13:26 5. The lock is broken 15:27 6. The lock is dirty 17:24 7. You chose the wrong tension tool 19:32 8. You're second guessing the lock 22:17 9. The lock might be beyond your current skill (for now!) 23:55 10. The lock is already open! 25:40 Bonus reason: You're tired!

RU-vid started recommending lock picking videos, and I'm surprised how interesting it actually is. In my head I always thought it was black magic.

Sometimes you just have to admit, today's not a good day. It's kinda along the lines of the mindset issue. Your hands just don't feel the feedback, your tension settings are wrong, it's just a bad day to pick a lock. Some days I'm unstoppable and am able to pick every single lock I own - even the difficult ones - in less than a minute each. Some days that simple one that i've memorized and can usually pick blindfolded will be beyond me. Realizing that today is just not a picking day and it's time to do something else is another step in your training. Knowing when to give up will prevent damage to your hands, locks and especially your picks.

This is the most helpful video on RU-vid on lock picking! Thank you, Lock Noob!

A lot packed into 26 minutes! Keep going and stay well!

Earlier today I picked 5 practice locks I cycle through in 10 minutes. The two I have the most trouble with I picked 3 or 4 times in under 30 seconds. Later in the day same locks took me 3 hours. Granted I've only just started to learn I've barely been at it a week and I've only just slowly been collecting a few locks to practice on. I ordered a better set of tension wrenches because I get almost no feed back from it. I feel nothing. I of course know I've only been working on this less than a week so it will take time. I'm almost certain it is tension. and the cheap set I picked up to figured it out just have too much give to them and I don't think the are putting tension right. They slip and don't sit in the key way well. Still I can get them there eventually and worse comes to worse I just rake them... I mean hell one is a master lock 140 a family member brought me and I just laughed. Also I don't have "the Tool that Bosnian Bill and I made"

that is 27mins well spent. never have I learnt so much in so short a time. great vid. thanks.

Here's my comment four years later. I'm just trying to get started with this hobby and I'm finding it frustrating, but watching your videos has been a great help, not only for the invaluable information, but for the sage advice. There's no rush, there's no shame, you will fail to pick 100% of the locks you don't try to pick, just step away and come back when you need to, etc. I just need a little amateur success to give me a shot in the arm right now, but I'm not going to give up. Thanks for the information (pure gold!) and the pep talk (absolutely necessary at this point in my journey/misadventure)!

I seem to be wildly inconsistent. One day, I just blow through my, albeit tiny, selection of locks, the next I can't open any of them. Thankfully, watching RU-vid videos and reading the forums of various sites informed me that this is not uncommon. So, I try and not get frustrated, just put in some practice every day. As such, my "bad" days are fewer or not as total as I move forward. Additionally, for me, an elderly grandmother with very little hand strength, I have found that I'm slowly building my lock picking stamina, slowly strengthening my hands. Finally, there is the whole "pat your head with one hand while rubbing your tummy in circles with the other" aspect to lock picking. That too seems to be developing. Awesome community(s) and awesome people in Lock Sport. I'm genuinely taken aback by the friendliness. Pretty cool aspect to this very fun hobby! .

All very sage advice, I've experienced almost everything described here in my few months of picking. Tension has been my #1 battle, it can be soooooo different from lock to lock and if you're like me and grab a wide variety of brands and difficulty levels for each practice session, you can find yourself trying to apply what worked with the last open to the lock you're now picking and it just doesn't translate. Tool selection would be the second most important thing that I finally had an 'aha moment' and started reaching for the thinner, more extreme profiles (ie Sparrows Lunatic in my case) that I was avoiding because they looked too different and I had in my head that they were just for really extreme bitting but it turned out that using a profile that had so little meat to it did a couple of things for me. First, I had to ease up on my heavy handedness because if I applied any real force to it, it was going to snap and that allowed me to practice finessing the pins in a gentler way than I had before and really highlighted that I'd been forcing pins into oversets far more often than I thought. Second, it's all around a more versatile pick with the reach it has so I found I wasn't bouncing back between picks anymore, I was able to use it to set those high pins at the back without oversetting the lower cuts in front of it, but I could also use it to set the more 'mundane' pins along the way. Great video, I know there'll be many new pickers who will have their minds put to rest with some of these tips and those of us who just need a reminder. Awesome video 😀👍

Already picked and dirty still gets me fairly often. When I was first learning to pick, I spent days on an american before I got frustrated enough to try really heavy tension and it opened.

I'm just getting started. My picks haven't arrived yet, should be here any day now. I'm retired and it looks like a great new hobby.

Holy crap dude #10 was an eye opener. I have the same exact American lock that you showed and it's the very lock that brought me to this video. Turns out I have in fact been picking it successfully this whole time and simply didn't put enough tension to turn it. This video was fantastic

I know it's a couple years old at this point but thanks much for this video. I am brand new to this hobby and after watching this, it's very nice to have a rough idea of what is the possible cause of, as well as the solution, if my current lack of skill and experience causes me to face the same or similar stated hurdles. I recommended this and a few other videos of yours to a friend who's also just started the hobby. I best described them as being so helpful because it's much like being given the individual answers to a test and even in advance to taking it, but with one caveat, you have to show your work on how you got to those correct answers you'd been given. However, it is a test on a subject where most of it's questions are about a topic that you are just beginning to learn about, and only possess the most basic working knowledge on, but with the answers in hand and those basics, you can still show your work of how you came to the same answers... So thanks again.

Reason 1: I have not got actual lockpicking tools

I've been trying to pick my Abus 5/55 "Silver Rock" for quite a while now and after watching your video I took a deeper hook. Lock sprang open shortly after. Opened it twice since. Looks like you were right on that point. I thought that the hook was deep enough but apparently it wasn't. I've basically taken your reasons as a checklist. Checked all that could apply and BINGO. Thanks for this video! Now only a single lock I own is left unopened and I'm getting the feeling that it's actually broken

Nice of you to address the black magic art of tensioning. Many times when I order stuff I add tensioners to get to free shipping (if I'm close). Tensoiners need to be filed, bent, modified etc to actually work in a lot of locks.

Amazing vid for us begginers. Thank you for sharing ur knowledge with us!

One you missed was that the lock is so poorly made it is hard to read the feedback because of the bad machining of the parts. I often come across Iron padlocks like that.

Noob question. I get good results with my city rake but I can’t rake my front door lock.. it begins to turn and binds solid. Is it me or has the lock got some fiendish security system? Can you explain why security pins work...what’s going on inside to make them hard to pick..... my front door survived my noob attack....phew

When i first started picking i did exactly that always had too much tension and couldn't figure out why its not opening, i then started thinking its the tools i had and bought better one's lol, after realising that they soon started opening up. Great vid, great demontration and informative vid well done, this vid has made it easy for new starters, 👍👍👍👍👌👌👌👌😊

I like how you're the first channel of this type that actually says bitting instead of bidding!

Having the right tool for the job is very important plus a tool that you feel comfortable with helps a tremendous amount in achieving the goal of getting a lock open. Take care and stay safe ;-)

At the time, I didn’t know a Best core picked to control only turns a little. Kept thinking I was in a deep false set until I accidentally pulled the core out :)

Very helpful....getting back to basics is a great way to step back when you are frustrated. Needed this video. Thanks and stay safe my friend. 🇺🇸

15. You're too busy commenting like me to even watch any of the lockpicking videos

Very good video mate. Comprehensive and very useful. I loved section 10...The American padlock effect must have happened with everyone.

Reason #1 for me: ...those aren't lockpicks I'm using, just some mutilated bobby pins.

This was a Awesome information video, even ì picked up on things I'm doing wrong. Thank you Ash for this video, it's going to help a LOT of pickers

Already picked. This is what happened to me first time I picked my house when locked out.

The reason why I can't is I'm using STUPID Bobby pins

Great video. Extremely helpful. Nice to have a mental checklist such as this. It can really help to relieve tension and eliminate “lock frustration”. Thank you!

11. Having lockpics is illegal in your country.

Thanks for the video, i got my practice cutaway lock from Sparrows at the weekend and first day picked it successfully twice, beginner's luck. Since then cannot get it picked, mostly tension which I can't find the balance. Experience required!

Great video. Sometimes I'm trying to pick a lock, but I don't realize it opens counter-clockwise (anti-clockwise) not clockwise!

A good name for this hombre would be "The Lock Artisan" that was some interesting insights into problematics with problematics. I still have several cheap (but well made) 3 quid locks that I've failed to open. I _do_ recommend MasterLock padlocks for all your padlock training exercises...they're great and p0p open a treat!🔒🐭💨👍

Thank you lock noob! This was very helpful for me as a new picker. It makes me feel that any lock can be achievable with the proper tools and technique! Keep it up.

*The "Picking fatigue" explanation rings surprisingly true to me.* *I've got a big box of repinned half euro cylinders and various cheaper end padlocks.* *When I get bored I'll grab around 10 out of there and pick them one by one.* *They'd either take me 5 to 10 minutes total to pick the lot It, Or I'd be struggling with every single damn one, and it would take over 45 minutes.* *I'd also end up usually giving up on 3 or 4 of them too.* *It always confused me why there was never any middle ground.* *I'd either zip through them at a ridiculous rate, Or they'll be fighting me every step of the way and I'll have to admit defeat on nearly half of them.* *I was thinking it could be phycological (Like how if you made a silly little mistake near the beginning of a driving lesson, then the rest of that lesson tended to turn to crap).* *I was thinking it could be that on a bad day I'd managed to pick a bad lock out of the box to start on, and that screwed with my head.* _(As an example of "A bad lock to start on", I made most of my collection of half euro cylinders quick repinable by knocking out the bible's pin plugs and tapping them for grub screws._ _But for 2 of them I ran a 3.2mm ream right through the bible and into the core. I did one hole first, then fitted a 3.2mm dia locking bar into it to keep the body and core aligned before then reaming the rest._ _I made some pretty much exactly 3.2mm plain key and driver pins for these out of polished spring steel._ _The result is that as all the internals are REALLY accurate, the pins have as close to zero slop as I could get, and the pins ALL go from free to bound at very nearly the same tension (Unfortunately, Some of them also partially seize up when they're much below room temperature ! 🙄)._ _It's also hard as hell to tell if you've set a pin because until ALL the pins are set the core has next to no rotation. :)_ _I only built them because I've got a friend who also picks locks for a hobby, and I like to keep him on his toes._ _I think he's going to have fun with these, And when he finally get's p*ssed off and gut's them he won't be able to understand why he was having trouble !!!! LOL !)_

The lockpicking lawyer taught me there is no real reason that makes you unable to pick any lock. It can always be done.

the number 1 reason why i can't pick a lock is.... i basically turned into a Skiver since the darkness started

Im probably way late to the party, but sometimes as a super beginner lockpicker, it's difficult to determine what type of lock I am even attempting to open. Can you speak to this? sorry if i missed it in your video... but sometimes pin-tumblers, wafers, or dimples all have very similar keyways to the lay person, and it can be frustrating to not know the type of lock youre dealing with.

Excellent tips, always something to learn. It's great you have all these tips in one video. Well explained and good range of locks and tips to watch out for. 👍👍👍

I guess this is close to tip #10. (Already open) I was picking a ML #3 when I was a noob. (Last month) I kept getting what felt like a false set --started to open, but wouldn't. Weird. So, I'd slowly release tension until I heard clicks... etc. Anyway, after a week, I figured out what was happening. After I picked it, my twisted tension tool was immediately binding on a rivet and would not let me finish opening the lock... haha.

Sometimes I’ve just not had enough picking juice 😂😉

excellent tips, another reason you might be able to pick a lock is bad hands, having torn ligaments, broken fingers, arthritis,corporal tunnel is another reason you might be having diffusivity picking a lock.

My reason is I broke my lock that I got today:(

That's a master class. Thank you so much!

This is a great video. I'm really very amateur and many types of lock are so far beyond my abilities, but I'll add one more frustration. I get a lock, manage to open it, and can never repeat the success, meaning that I just happened to fluke it or got lucky. I find these can be the most frustrating of all. It's one reason why I always try to SPP rather than rake, bump or jiggle a lock. If I haven't opened it intentionally on a pin by pin basis then I feel like I've cheated. That could really offend people who enjoy those rapid access techniques and these methods definitely have their place; just not for me... so far!

Many years ago, mid 1970's. One of my ELDERLY co-workers had an OLD 28" Royal Enfield pushbike, that he didn't want or need (and as he was retiring ....) . He asked me if I could make use of it. - I wasn't overly keen (being about 17-18 at the time, and push-biking for me wasn't one of my preferred modes of transport (having a motorbike & a car at the time meant that a pushbike wasn't EVER going to be something I would want, especially one that needed long legs to operate & my short-R's one's needed to go under the horizontal bar to push that bike's pedals). .... It was however, the LOCK, which I liked, that allowed me to say: Yes. I asked him how it opened, and he showed me. OK (I thought) - Got it, and I tossed it in the car boot. ? ? ? ? ? Buggah me, but by the time I got it home - after a full night at the pub, I didn't have a clue as to "what" he had showed me, (on top of which, I had simply tossed it around the back of the farm-sheds, and forgot about it for several weeks). I found it still there, when tossing something "else" behind the sheds, and decided to drag it out and check it out.? Uh-oh? Why won't the back wheel turn? That's when I saw the hasp through the spokes under the seat - and remembered about..... T H E "lock".. A simple affair, which was bolted to the frame. ? And on both sides of the main body of that "lock?" Were two arms/legs - whatever, that curved around to "just clear" the wheel-spokes. The main body had a huge metal knob, with a lovely (FAKE) ruby on it. The hollow arm/legs that curved around ("and almost-met") until just clearing the spokes, in-fact held a movable semi-circular tube/rod that could be slid all the way underneath, through the spokes and back into the hollow arm/leg on the other side, and "clicked to lock" Oh crap, how did he unlock it - I couldn't remember. --- CAN YOU? All I knew was that there was a series of MOVEMENTS, one could make with the huge metal knob, if pushed to either side of the exact center, and another "movement" UP towards the seat which would UNLOCK the hasp, IF? If the correct sequences of sideways movements were made first. IF NOT - then the entire lock function reset. Meaning, NO false gates, no false turns, & no buggah all? One had to get it all done EXACT. It was the most frustrating LOCK (without any key, numerical rotating numbers, or any other means) . JUST the darndest thing - how many slides left, right left and or right again? Before lifting it up to discover? Nah not correct - again. I eventually remembered where I'd put the wee piece of paper - that HAD the right code on it, but without that - it would have remained locked forever. P.S: Unbolting the lock from the two vertical frame tubes directly under the seat, just meant that the rear wheel would ALMOST do slightly more than half a turn, before that LOCK collided with the frame. Taking the wheel off ? Left you without a rear wheel. Oh and best of all, if one put the hasp through a hoop of a chain & put the chain around the main frame itself, then fed the hasp through the other end of the chain, meant that taking the back wheel OFF, left you in a bigger mess, as you couldn't take that away from the frame, to put another wheel ON. Thus the bike was still unrideable.

the third reason happened to me, i had a weird lock where i had to put the key upside down and i diden't know why, then after a while, i realised it wasen't a pin tumbler, but it was a WAFER LOCK. super easy to understand which ones are wafer locks now.

Excellent video! I really learned a lot. Thank you!

8:32 “You are using a Master Lock , it can be opened using a Master Lock ” -@McNally

I haven't even TRIED picking a lock yet, and I'm looking at why I can't pick it

So ive scared my dad by practicing on all his padlocks and my neighbour was unsettled that i almost picked their euro lock first try, the excitement got to me and then frustration set in 😂 he was locked out luckily he climbed in a window

Yes! It was picked, and I just didn't turn it hard enough!. I've done that before. LOL

Is there a lock picking discord server I could join and ask questions?