Common ways to pick locks

Are you quick and dirty or learning an art?

Knowing the theory of how to pick locks, we can now look at the most common methods of how to pick locks.

Picking – the use of a torsion wrench and pick (lock pick set) to set each pin individually. The tension wrench is inserted into the keyway, leaving room to reach the pins with the pick and a light rotational pressure applied. The pick is then used to move each pin in turn to find and set each binding pin in turn. This is lock picking at its finest art.

Raking (or scrubbing) – similar to picking, except that a raking pick is stroked across each pin rapidly to try set them all at once. A less sophisticated form of lock picking.

Bumping (or Bump Keying) – Similar to raking, except that a snap gun or bump key is used to ‘bump’ the pins into the set position by force. This can be a very quick way to open a lock, but can damage older or rusted locks.