Chill out, what ya yellin' for? Lay back, it's all been done before. And if you could only let it be, you will see that I am the funniest YouT*ber of all time. Admit it, my dear follow*r der
Hearing how he would normally narrate his actions whilst being able to look inside the lock was mind blowing. Finally know what's going on after 2 years 😂
What I found fascinating was the difference. I noted that "one is set" is used here, whereas normally it's "one feels set"; the accuracy of speech is something appreciated, but threw me for a second until I figured out what I was listening for.
It’s amazing how intuitive terms like ‘false set’ and ‘counter-rotation’ are to describe a process I’ve never actually felt because I’ve never picked a lock. It’s also amazing how that intuition (judging from the fact that these are designed to make picking harder) obviously doesn’t translate to the feel/ability of a picker.
I have, since I've been watching this content, managed to open a handful of lower end padlocks. 😀 That first one that I picked gave me such a jolt of adrenaline when it snapped open. You'd have thought I just discovered fire for the first time. 😊
As a lock picking hobbyist (slowly learning), I highly recommend you get yourself a few good quality picks and a few tension tools (top of keyway + regular wrenches) and give a few easy locks a go! You'll be hooked in no time! All the best to you :)
I've been following the LPL for a couple years, but I just started picking a few months ago. My first picks were just the set he plugs all the time and I just scrounged up a couple locks around my house. It's pretty fun puzzle solving with a pretty low barrier to entry, I recommend it!
@@Cray2TheZ Afterwards, and after getting to where u can open some locks reasonably fast... Challenge yourself by trying to pick one using only using random objects that maybe found laying around on the ground, and within the general area. Thieves do it all the time.
This series really shows how higher end locks designed with much tighter tolerances can be much more difficult to pick. Previously set pin stacks can drop while the counter rotation occurs on a different stack. I have a few locks in which the pin stacks must be picked several times in various orders to unlock it.
@@MarkusSchaber sometimes they do, but if they are machined cheaply the tolerances are such that ones the pin is above the sheer line a small bit of the sharp edge of the bottom of the pin will always be resting on top of the core. If they had tighter tolerances then the pins would be more likely to fall back down accidentally.
@@MarkusSchaber LPL is also an expert in the amount of pressure he uses, just enough to let the pin move past the spooling, but keeping the others binding. They can fall still, but the better touch you get with your pressure, the better results you'll typically have.
This setup apparently doesn't do justice to the difference that the spools make. Obviously, the demo setup cannot be like a good lock, so false set doesn't go.
Inside Perspective series is like a magician revealing their tricks! Very cool to see as an , up to now, casual viewer Maybe one day I'll embark into this as a hobby. I have too many of those at the moment unfortunately
This is a REALLY great series that I wish I'd had something even CLOSE to when I started as an apprentice locksmith dang near 20 years ago (instead of the boss handing you the old HPC book, a basic set of HPC or PRO-LOK picks, and a bucket of locks).... Would have made learning at least the PICKING part of the job a lot easier. Great work LPL!!!! I do want to give one bit of advice to new pickers though, "What's going on inside the lock is a matter of science, how you go about it, is a matter of personal preference, it's an art, and as long as you can do it well, and reasonably quickly, just do what works for you...... unless it stops working, then try something else." The key is knowing what's working and what isn't, and flexibility in your style..... For example, LPL defaults to SPPing with spool pins, many other folks, including myself default to rake to false set and THEN go to SPPing... Neither one is "right" or "wrong" if it works best for you personally on the locks you're likely to see.... It's right for you PERSONALLY.... AS LONG AS IT RESULTS IN AN UNLOCK. If it doesn't however, change tactics.... If you've tried SPPing and it's not working, try raking to false set, or vise versa... AGAIN, LPL, GREAT WORK!!!
@@mitchellnelson6249 For beginners it almost always is, and for some folks (myself included) it remains that way, but that may very well change as your skill increases. When I was first starting out I've knew a couple of older locksmiths who were VERY good pickers, who only carried hook picks, did everything SPP, and could pick faster than me that way. I have little doubt that LPL could probably SPP faster than I can rake then SPP even after 20 years of being a locksmith (honestly, picking locks is only a small part of being a locksmith)... Just keep practicing with different locks, different tools, different techniques and you just figure out what works for you personally.
Unrelated to the video: I'm working on a nixie/dekatron combo clock, and I wanted to say thank you for your awesome work there. I struggled a lot with understanding dekatrons specifically before I found your site. Agree on the masterlock.
Honestly, this is the first time I'm actually understanding the function of security pins! I'm looking at other videos from a different viewpoint now! Great video series!!
With security pins, it might be helpful to demonstrate “upside-down picking” - driving all the pin stacks up past the shear line, then reducing tension just enough to allow them to fall back down to it. It takes a bit of “touch” to be able to do it reliably, but it’s a useful technique to have at your disposal when you encounter the combination of spool/serrated drivers and tight tolerances.
@@robertcowling4313 The cylinder will turn only when all of the pin stacks are _at_ the shear line. Locks made to allow master keying will have multiple shear lines for one or more positions, which generally improves a picker’s odds of finding a shear-line alignment. Inadvertently lifting a pin stack _past_ the shear line is what the LPL is referring to when he uses the term “overset”.
@@robertcowling4313 I know exactly what you mean. Many years ago, I defeated a Medeco Biaxial cylinder without knowing anything about how its sidebar mechanism worked. Pure luck, basically - and I now take that to be my “lifetime quota”, more or less.
That was absolutely fantastic. I really appreciate such a good visual demonstration as visual learner. That was probably the most I’ve ever learned about picking locks in under 5 minutes.
An "inside perspective" playlist would be great to have! These videos really show what you are talking about when you pick, and it would be nice to be able to find them quickly. "More like this"
I asked LPL if he could do a video explaining what's going on during counter rotation and he delivers a cut away demonstration WITH an explanation. I can hardly wait to see next week's demonstration! Thanks, LPL!
Amazing. Being able to visualize what a "bound" pin is or, for instance, "counter rotation" is a revelation. Thank you very much and I expect to see more of these coming!
As a working locksmith that's been to the expos and taken the courses. I think this video was much better then anything they've shown there in the courses.
This explains so much more about the other videos. Being able to see the design of the pins and their movement during picking the pieces have started slotting together.
i can't wait for the wafer lock episode. wafers were some of my favorite snacks when i ate more junk food and i can't wait to see how they fit entire pieces of food into a lock.
Love this series, I like that a lot of the questions in my mind while watching these videos are starting to be answered in this series. The cut away lock visually helps me understand much more. Thank you LPL!
I love that now that your platform is approaching 4 million viewers (looooooong time viewer here..) you have looped back around to teaching. You have no idea how many people you are going to bring into the sport. Keep them coming, sir! Thank you for your many years of persistent hard work.
Same with me! I really learned picking from BB and then LPL. BB got me started, but I really started improving to a more advanced level after learning more about tension from LPL. His touch is so amazing!
@@Blitnock I miss BB. Hope he is doing well. And yeah.. that video on tension changed how I pick. Crazy too because it is probably "a thousand LPL videos" ago now.
You say the sport? But I already made some money once on succesful pick. It was when some building administrator couldn't find right key to an electrical cabinet we had to have access to while laying down our fiberoptic cable. It saved a lot of time and cost.
@@MrPzyt I get it. I've saved myself and my families butt enough to pay for many pick sets and tools. Not to mention some family and close friends on vehicle and house lockouts. Just be careful with "commercial" use. Legal stuff is weird. In my state it seems to not be a big deal but in others you're better to (t)alk softly and carry a big (p)ick. In other areas even the carrying is a big deal. My favorite pick was when my wife and I bought a vet clinic. It came with a nice cash-control "drop" safe. Of course nobody had the combination or the bypass key. It was one of those funky cross (plus shaped) locks AND was recessed in a hole behind a thick arse plate of steel. Ended up making a funky tension wrench and was still in it in under 10 mins. Sadly there wasn't a giant pile of lost cash in the safe but at least we could change the combo.
Interesting! I never put 2 and too together that the spool just moves around in the pin channel causing the false set. Love these new inside perspective vids LPL!
And the counter rotation is just the “angled”, skinny part of the spool pin pushing against the core the opposite way as it “straightens out” so to speak, as you are pushing up on that pin stack with your pick, finally pushing the bottom of the spool pin to the shear line. Serrated is just doing this many times over each tiny serration in the top pin that act as mini shear lines. The false set will be smaller than with spools however. Usually.
Been a locks.oth for 13 years and pretty good at picking locks(not the lpl) but this is the best lock picking video ever. Described everything perfectly to the person that doesn't understand how locks work. Amazing job man. Please help out a fellow locksmith and send your tools this way.
This series is great, just seeing what a spool looks like side-on in the lock really helps me understand what their purpose is and watching you pick them really helps understand what's going on inside the lock. Thanks, keep it up!
These videos are incredibly helpful. Would it be possible to make a see-through lock for other lock types? Disc detainers, tubular, there’s not really a type of lock this wouldn’t be helpful for.
This series, and this video in particular, is absolutely incredible. It adds a whole new dimension to your content! Thank you so much for putting this out
I'm loving this style of video, incredibly informative and illustrates what you mention during picking so well. Please do more videos like this, if you can figure out how to do a similar style video for a disc detainer lock that would be awesome!
I absolutely love the fact that you are sharing knowledge people would otherwise pay to have to learn. I've been debating buying some tools from your store for a while now and I think seeing this has finally convinced me to do it. You're an excellent smith, and an even better teacher. Thank you LPL!
I love stuff like this, I feel like I understand what he's saying so much more now, and now I know what he means when he says things like false set and counter rotation
Same heh. I always thought a false set meant that the lock tricked you into thinking you had the pins you needed set. Looks like in reality it's much simpler then what I was imagining.
@@TheRyujinLP well, in a way the spool does trick you into thinking the pin is set. Obviously tactile and auditory feedback are key (heh) when picking, and the spools, just like standard pins, make a click when they drop into the set. The raised bit at the bottom of the spool doesn't allow you to push the driver pin up anymore, just like the driver of a standard pin hitting the top of the cylinder. So the feel (and sound) of a false set with a spool is very similar to that of an actual set, unless like LPL you know what to look for or understand the mechanics.
Dang, so counter rotation is letting up a little bit of pressure so that the security pins don't fall but are allowed to go over the little bump Beautifully done 👍
The false set is the shear line falling into the center of one or more of the spools. The counter rotation is a natural consequence of the fat end of the spool spanning the shear line as you push the pin up, and as soon as it passes above the shear line it's free to rotate again, and it falls back into the center of the other spools causing another false set.
Yeah, this is a super-helpful video. Really puts into context how precise and clear LPLs language really is, it kind of just really clicks into place once you get this visual too. Super neat! I think of the little bump as a "shelf." I once visualized it to someone by holding two empty toilet paper tubes on top of each other. When they were aligned, they looked straight down a seamless tube. Then I put two pieces of smaller diameter piece of PVC tube inside it and pushed them up and down with no problem. But when I moved the lower tube just a bit, it created a "shelf" that caught the top PVC tube on the way down. Getting that "ohhhhhh" reaction was gold.
I always tried to imagine what the narration during the lock picking means, and now I see that I was somewhere in the right path. This educational series is great 👍
I got my first set of picks from covertinstruments yesterday. played around with them for a bit to get the feel, and then picked a masterlock 141, and a brinks 161. Low skill locks, but I am enjoying a new hobby. Thanks to you and BosnianBill, I get a life skill, and a hobby in one!
Best series you've come up with by far! Makes everything extremely simple to understand while also really demonstrating the actual skill needed to master this trade.
Last Monday I was able to help a fellow bike messengers at the CCBC court house when his U-lock failed to open with the key. Took about 2 minutes to open with just a park tool and a paper clip. I was surprised when it open even drop half the lock on the ground and he was shocked at how fast the lock was picked. Thank You Sensei.
I'm loving this new series too. Might be interesting some time to see master wafers in the cutaway lock. Just to see how master pinning works, and how it affects picking. Looking forward to the serrated pin vid.
It's amazing just how good he is. You can bet a bunch of people will see this video and not comprehend the sheer amount of skill this demonstration took.
I’m starting to really get the hang of picking, after many hours of practice. Very special to feel your brain figuring out the micro movements and “feeling” the lock. I’ve been struggling with false sets/spool pins lately and this video is AMAZING for learning! Thank you, LPL.
This series is absolutely brilliant. Although others could also explain the same topics well, only LPL is able to deliver such a great visual explanation with his trademark conciseness. High density pills of high quality educational content. Not a second wasted. I wish I could learn to be half as efficient as him in my own university lectures.
Thank you for this. I picked up a standard german door lock from a keymaker who had it leftover in order to train, I spent 12+ hours on it over the course of months, never being able to pick it; now I finally opened it up to see what's in there, and I was glad to see two spools because I have no idea how to recognize or pick those. Now I can reassamble the lock any way I want, and with this I can finally try to actually pick it. Thank you!
I don’t know how many hours of picking videos I’ve watched, but this is the first one that actually explained what false set and counter rotation mean. Thanks!
I Love finally getting to see how all of this works practically. You've given a good idea of how it works previously, but seeing how the whole thing moves as you're picking is wonderful
My Covert Companion came in today! These videos are ridiculously helpful. I've been watching your videos for years, so it's amazing to learn the terminology better and see it visually with your overdub. Thanks again, and keep these coming!
What is really hard to visualize in this demo is how the spools get "cockeyed" and you have to allow counter rotation for the bottom to clear, and how that can allow other pins to drop in the process. Also a demo I'd really like to see, but something I rarely (if ever) see happen to you (due to your experience and deft touch), but tends to happens a lot to new pickers, is over set pins.
Hey LPL, love your videos. This one has probably been one of the most insightful I've seen from you to date. I've heard the terms up until now and vaguely understood what was happening, but seeing it really opened my eyes and even corrected a few misconceptions I had about what you were doing. Keep doing what you do, it's great!
I always love how LPL says "We got this open." Yes thank you. I'm not sure what I've contributed but I'll keep it up and let you do all the heavy lifting LPL
this is a master class thank you learned more in less than 5 minutes than in hundreds of hours of watching lock picking without the cutaway and detailed instructions.
I really like this new series, they are very informative to someone like me who is just starting out. I do have a question though, what is causing the counter rotation?
I believe it is the bottom of the spool passing the sheer line. Since the bottom of the spool widens back out, it forces the core to turn away from the tensioned direction.
Something you feel. It's when you push the pin upward and the core counterrotates (fights against your turning pressure) to get the bottom lip of the spool through the sheer line.
It's something you feel. During a false set, the driver pin (the spool) is halfway stuck in the core and in the lock body, at an angle (which causes the false set), When you then push down on the key pin that pushes the driver pin (which is at an angle) down into the pin chamber which straightens it and forces the core to rotate "backwards".
you generally feel it, but this depends heavily on the type of spool, for instance, gin bottle spools (seen in the lower position in chamber 4 at 0:42) catch on countermilling in the core and must be manually counter rotated out of that milling in order to be pushed to sheer I have 2 videos where gin bottle spools can be seen in the lock, along with the matched counter milling
@@thelockpickingspoon9074 Just checked out your videos, Spoon, good stuff. I'm replying here instead of adding a comment to one of your videos, as my reply has to do with your above comment. The "gin bottle spools" you mentioned are a *great* way to increase the pick resistance of the good Stanley padlocks (like the one that Bosnian Bill used to make the "world's toughest bike lock," and the one that LPL destructively opens in one of his videos). Honestly, the "good" Stanley locks make some of the most secure padlocks you can get if you take out their relatively weak stock core and replace it with something good. That gets expensive, though. An alternative that gets you a lock worth using and a fun challenge lock is to add a few gin bottle spools to the stock core, as the stock core comes with countermilling. For added fun, thread the bible and/or plug, then add some serrated and/or serrated spools! Just adding the gin bottle spools is quick and easy, and will result in quite a bit of fun! I haven't added the threading yet, but there was an old thread on one of the locksport forums where a guy had done so, and it really became quite a difficult challenge lock. So pretty good utility to be had.... a pretty darn secure padlock, and a lot of picking entertainment! Take care, Your 22nd Subscriber. ; )
It's been a while since you wrote this, but in my experience, yes, that absolutely happens. You can reduce it by being careful with how much pressure you apply to the pin, so that there's as little core movement (and thus space for the other pins to slip down) as possible, but sometimes it happens anyway. I find that you can usually re-pick that pin without dropping the one you just set, though. Also, a quick nitpick: technically, a false set is a spool pin's neutral position. Edit: brain skipped words
Thank you! I've been watching you for some time now and been trying to pick my own locks from time to time.. I have a few master locks that were easy but have a couple Lockwood locks that obviously have spool pins that I couldn't get through. This video came up and made 'false set' and ' counter rotation' so clear. I put pulled out my locks and got through all of them! Legend. So much information in 5 minutes.
Question from someone still confused about technique: does the counter-rotation happen as a result of pushing the spool up when the wider tip is trying to go above the shear line, or is it something you do manually by letting pressure off the tension tool?
both, but on other types of pins, like gin bottle spools (seen in the bottom of chamber 4 at 0:42) use matched countermilling and catch but don't counter rotate, you must counter rotate them manually. I actually have 2 locks with gin bottle spools picked on my channel
It happens due to pushing the pin as the angle between the spool edge and shear line gets smaller the higher it is. Similar to trying to push a wedge in.
I started picking Christmas just gone, when I got a clear plastic "training" lock. I also bought myself a Master Lock to try out afterwards and yes, it's actually easier to pick than the clear one despite not being able to see inside :D
Your videos have always been next level helpful and entertaining but these new ones with the cutaways are pure gold. The genius at work combined with visuals. Helpful is understatement
I would love to know if you could pick a "perfectly" machined lock with zero tolerances. Maybe it's a stupid idea because I don't know much about this, but I got the feeling that you can pick locks because the core and pins do/must have tolerances and with this you can tension the core und force the pins to stuck on the imperfections on the lock caused by the machining. I think that it would be impossible/extremely difficult to pick locks with close to zero tolerances and also highly lubricated pins and gates.
To me it seems that pushing on a security pin to cause counterrotation usually causes one of the other pins to drop back in. How come that never happens for you? Shouldn’t there still be a random order in which the spools have to be picked for any given lock? Picking them in order seems “lucky“.
LPL or another viewer might be able to clarify, but I remember at one point him mentioning that his technique involves a lot of force on the tension bar. I'm wondering if because of that he's able to get back to a false-set quickly enough during picking to avoid the other pin from dropping back?
![[1432] Inside Perspective: Picking Serrated Pins](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/muPJjTBuYHY/mqdefault.jpg)
![[1432] Inside Perspective: Picking Serrated Pins](/img/tr.png)
![[1181] A TRAP For Pickers! The Clever Hines Key System Picked](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/3g0-pxXD794/mqdefault.jpg)
![[631] Master Lock 875/975 Decoded WITHOUT ANY TOOLS !](/img/n.gif)
I love that "new" series. I hope to see more. Helps a lot to understand what's happening
Chill out, what ya yellin' for? Lay back, it's all been done before. And if you could only let it be, you will see that I am the funniest YouT*ber of all time. Admit it, my dear follow*r der
@@AxxLAfriku L + Ratio + You're cringe + Who's yelling + You fell over + Why censor + Touch brass
@@AxxLAfriku Yikes + Bruh Moment + Fake Girlfriends + Get a life + Learn to pick a lock instead of stealing viewers from LPL + GG
@@ilonachan Fun Fact + Bots can't read + replying does nothing.
I like it, too. Feels like a hybrid of LPL and Bosnian Bill. That's a good thing!
Hearing how he would normally narrate his actions whilst being able to look inside the lock was mind blowing. Finally know what's going on after 2 years 😂
What I found fascinating was the difference. I noted that "one is set" is used here, whereas normally it's "one feels set"; the accuracy of speech is something appreciated, but threw me for a second until I figured out what I was listening for.
Yes completely agree
Echo, echo and echo. This was an awesome video that shows exactly WTF is happening when a lock is getting picked.
And now the same lock with inner and outer pins.
@Craig Good for you, Craig. Good for you.
It’s amazing how intuitive terms like ‘false set’ and ‘counter-rotation’ are to describe a process I’ve never actually felt because I’ve never picked a lock. It’s also amazing how that intuition (judging from the fact that these are designed to make picking harder) obviously doesn’t translate to the feel/ability of a picker.
I have, since I've been watching this content, managed to open a handful of lower end padlocks. 😀 That first one that I picked gave me such a jolt of adrenaline when it snapped open. You'd have thought I just discovered fire for the first time. 😊
As a lock picking hobbyist (slowly learning), I highly recommend you get yourself a few good quality picks and a few tension tools (top of keyway + regular wrenches) and give a few easy locks a go! You'll be hooked in no time! All the best to you :)
I've been following the LPL for a couple years, but I just started picking a few months ago. My first picks were just the set he plugs all the time and I just scrounged up a couple locks around my house. It's pretty fun puzzle solving with a pretty low barrier to entry, I recommend it!
@@SamtasticOnline a puzzle..
That's an accurate analogy. 👍
@@Cray2TheZ Afterwards, and after getting to where u can open some locks reasonably fast... Challenge yourself by trying to pick one using only using random objects that maybe found laying around on the ground, and within the general area.
Thieves do it all the time.
I legit laughed out loud when the actual picking was narrated. Brilliant.
because you can hear him having to physically slow down to do it lol
Smh
This series really shows how higher end locks designed with much tighter tolerances can be much more difficult to pick. Previously set pin stacks can drop while the counter rotation occurs on a different stack. I have a few locks in which the pin stacks must be picked several times in various orders to unlock it.
That's what I wanted to ask, why the previous pins don't drop back due to the counter rotation.
@@MarkusSchaber sometimes they do, but if they are machined cheaply the tolerances are such that ones the pin is above the sheer line a small bit of the sharp edge of the bottom of the pin will always be resting on top of the core. If they had tighter tolerances then the pins would be more likely to fall back down accidentally.
@@isaackvasager9957 Ah, that explains the beveled edges on some of the spools in his collection.
@@MarkusSchaber LPL is also an expert in the amount of pressure he uses, just enough to let the pin move past the spooling, but keeping the others binding. They can fall still, but the better touch you get with your pressure, the better results you'll typically have.
This setup apparently doesn't do justice to the difference that the spools make. Obviously, the demo setup cannot be like a good lock, so false set doesn't go.
This Inside Perspective series is excellent! It's a really nice way of looking at it.
Inside Perspective series is like a magician revealing their tricks! Very cool to see as an , up to now, casual viewer Maybe one day I'll embark into this as a hobby. I have too many of those at the moment unfortunately
What are your hobbies? Mine right now is Elden Ring hah
yes my. new hobby.
i permanently acquire
you steal
we are not the same
Can we class watching LPL as a hobby?
@@duddlesthedog6366 I mean... if you want I guess. For me it's kind of a life style choice at this point.
This is a REALLY great series that I wish I'd had something even CLOSE to when I started as an apprentice locksmith dang near 20 years ago (instead of the boss handing you the old HPC book, a basic set of HPC or PRO-LOK picks, and a bucket of locks).... Would have made learning at least the PICKING part of the job a lot easier. Great work LPL!!!!
I do want to give one bit of advice to new pickers though, "What's going on inside the lock is a matter of science, how you go about it, is a matter of personal preference, it's an art, and as long as you can do it well, and reasonably quickly, just do what works for you...... unless it stops working, then try something else."
The key is knowing what's working and what isn't, and flexibility in your style..... For example, LPL defaults to SPPing with spool pins, many other folks, including myself default to rake to false set and THEN go to SPPing... Neither one is "right" or "wrong" if it works best for you personally on the locks you're likely to see.... It's right for you PERSONALLY.... AS LONG AS IT RESULTS IN AN UNLOCK. If it doesn't however, change tactics.... If you've tried SPPing and it's not working, try raking to false set, or vise versa...
AGAIN, LPL, GREAT WORK!!!
I just chuck the lock at the wall and it results in an unlock, so I am picking it right?
@@supertarc3993 Only if it gets an unlock.... but, if you're picking a Masterlock or Kwikset, it probably will... So yes...
@@derekbroestler7687 Lol
After about 3 days of picking with my beginner set I can easily agree with you that generally the fastest way to pick is rake to a false set then SP.
@@mitchellnelson6249 For beginners it almost always is, and for some folks (myself included) it remains that way, but that may very well change as your skill increases. When I was first starting out I've knew a couple of older locksmiths who were VERY good pickers, who only carried hook picks, did everything SPP, and could pick faster than me that way.
I have little doubt that LPL could probably SPP faster than I can rake then SPP even after 20 years of being a locksmith (honestly, picking locks is only a small part of being a locksmith)... Just keep practicing with different locks, different tools, different techniques and you just figure out what works for you personally.
I'm really enjoying the break from testing commercial locks, and the focus on teaching. Great stuff!
Having you narrate as you usually do while being able to see the inside is SUPER insightful
It seems so dumb but after years of watching LPL it never clicked what the deal with counter rotation was
@@pws3rd170 Absolutely, same here
Same with me
I can see this "inside perspective" series becoming one of the major content well of the channel.
I personally love it.
I think LPL's "Inside Perspective" videos will fast become his most liked. The very definition of "Show, don't tell."
I'd ask for an "Inside Perspective" on a Masterlock, but the silly putty might ooze out.
Unrelated to the video: I'm working on a nixie/dekatron combo clock, and I wanted to say thank you for your awesome work there. I struggled a lot with understanding dekatrons specifically before I found your site.
Agree on the masterlock.
Honestly, this is the first time I'm actually understanding the function of security pins! I'm looking at other videos from a different viewpoint now! Great video series!!
LPL: 2 is binding, counter rotation on 4...
Me: Yes yes I totally understand the process.
@@seen9417 Exactly! Sooooooo much more insight!
With security pins, it might be helpful to demonstrate “upside-down picking” - driving all the pin stacks up past the shear line, then reducing tension just enough to allow them to fall back down to it. It takes a bit of “touch” to be able to do it reliably, but it’s a useful technique to have at your disposal when you encounter the combination of spool/serrated drivers and tight tolerances.
@@robertcowling4313 The cylinder will turn only when all of the pin stacks are _at_ the shear line. Locks made to allow master keying will have multiple shear lines for one or more positions, which generally improves a picker’s odds of finding a shear-line alignment.
Inadvertently lifting a pin stack _past_ the shear line is what the LPL is referring to when he uses the term “overset”.
@@robertcowling4313 I know exactly what you mean.
Many years ago, I defeated a Medeco Biaxial cylinder without knowing anything about how its sidebar mechanism worked. Pure luck, basically - and I now take that to be my “lifetime quota”, more or less.
I LOVE these! Especially the “narrating as you normally would” really helps visualise the feedback you’re getting
Just showing my support for this series, love to learn what's happening under the hood when you pick a lock~
That was absolutely fantastic. I really appreciate such a good visual demonstration as visual learner. That was probably the most I’ve ever learned about picking locks in under 5 minutes.
An "inside perspective" playlist would be great to have! These videos really show what you are talking about when you pick, and it would be nice to be able to find them quickly. "More like this"
I asked LPL if he could do a video explaining what's going on during counter rotation and he delivers a cut away demonstration WITH an explanation.
I can hardly wait to see next week's demonstration!
Thanks, LPL!
A real look behind the magician’s curtain. Awesome as always!
I would love to see a cutaway disc detainer lock picked and explained.
I happen to just yesterday stumble on one on Bosnian Bill's channel.
Amazing. Being able to visualize what a "bound" pin is or, for instance, "counter rotation" is a revelation. Thank you very much and I expect to see more of these coming!
As a working locksmith that's been to the expos and taken the courses. I think this video was much better then anything they've shown there in the courses.
This explains so much more about the other videos. Being able to see the design of the pins and their movement during picking the pieces have started slotting together.
Brilliant series, can’t wait for the dimple / side bar episode, I have popcorn for that one
i can't wait for the wafer lock episode. wafers were some of my favorite snacks when i ate more junk food and i can't wait to see how they fit entire pieces of food into a lock.
And disc detainer locks
And lever locks...
I love your style of explaining things. It's calm, measured, clear, and very concise. You're also quite good at what you do.
Love this series, I like that a lot of the questions in my mind while watching these videos are starting to be answered in this series. The cut away lock visually helps me understand much more. Thank you LPL!
I love that now that your platform is approaching 4 million viewers (looooooong time viewer here..) you have looped back around to teaching. You have no idea how many people you are going to bring into the sport. Keep them coming, sir! Thank you for your many years of persistent hard work.
Same with me! I really learned picking from BB and then LPL. BB got me started, but I really started improving to a more advanced level after learning more about tension from LPL. His touch is so amazing!
@@Blitnock I miss BB. Hope he is doing well.
And yeah.. that video on tension changed how I pick. Crazy too because it is probably "a thousand LPL videos" ago now.
You say the sport? But I already made some money once on succesful pick. It was when some building administrator couldn't find right key to an electrical cabinet we had to have access to while laying down our fiberoptic cable. It saved a lot of time and cost.
@@MrPzyt I get it. I've saved myself and my families butt enough to pay for many pick sets and tools. Not to mention some family and close friends on vehicle and house lockouts. Just be careful with "commercial" use. Legal stuff is weird. In my state it seems to not be a big deal but in others you're better to (t)alk softly and carry a big (p)ick. In other areas even the carrying is a big deal.
My favorite pick was when my wife and I bought a vet clinic. It came with a nice cash-control "drop" safe. Of course nobody had the combination or the bypass key. It was one of those funky cross (plus shaped) locks AND was recessed in a hole behind a thick arse plate of steel. Ended up making a funky tension wrench and was still in it in under 10 mins. Sadly there wasn't a giant pile of lost cash in the safe but at least we could change the combo.
Interesting! I never put 2 and too together that the spool just moves around in the pin channel causing the false set. Love these new inside perspective vids LPL!
2 + too = fore 😄😄😄
@@terry_willis heads up! 🏌🏻♂️
And the counter rotation is just the “angled”, skinny part of the spool pin pushing against the core the opposite way as it “straightens out” so to speak, as you are pushing up on that pin stack with your pick, finally pushing the bottom of the spool pin to the shear line.
Serrated is just doing this many times over each tiny serration in the top pin that act as mini shear lines.
The false set will be smaller than with spools however. Usually.
Been a locks.oth for 13 years and pretty good at picking locks(not the lpl) but this is the best lock picking video ever. Described everything perfectly to the person that doesn't understand how locks work. Amazing job man.
Please help out a fellow locksmith and send your tools this way.
This series is great, just seeing what a spool looks like side-on in the lock really helps me understand what their purpose is and watching you pick them really helps understand what's going on inside the lock. Thanks, keep it up!
Only the second video and I already love this series. Love seeing how this works. I expect this series to draw many new viewers.
These videos are incredibly helpful. Would it be possible to make a see-through lock for other lock types? Disc detainers, tubular, there’s not really a type of lock this wouldn’t be helpful for.
there's many videos for different kinds of locks
@@kipchickensout See through tubular and disc detainer locks? I haven’t seen that if so.
@@twestgard2 i just searched for "disk detainer lock transparent" and found 4 videos instantly
Omg, I totally "get" what's going on now when you're picking a lock! Thank you so much!
This series, and this video in particular, is absolutely incredible. It adds a whole new dimension to your content! Thank you so much for putting this out
I'm loving this style of video, incredibly informative and illustrates what you mention during picking so well. Please do more videos like this, if you can figure out how to do a similar style video for a disc detainer lock that would be awesome!
This is a good series. I like to see how these mechanisms work
I absolutely love the fact that you are sharing knowledge people would otherwise pay to have to learn. I've been debating buying some tools from your store for a while now and I think seeing this has finally convinced me to do it. You're an excellent smith, and an even better teacher. Thank you LPL!
Great video and love how you are explain how you do it. It's great to learn from a master like you.
Learning how locks work wasn't something I planned on doing, but here we are. All of us.
*Crimson Opinion:* I don't want to know how locks and lock picking works.
*LPL:* I'm about to ruin this man's whole free time.
I love stuff like this, I feel like I understand what he's saying so much more now, and now I know what he means when he says things like false set and counter rotation
Same heh. I always thought a false set meant that the lock tricked you into thinking you had the pins you needed set. Looks like in reality it's much simpler then what I was imagining.
@@TheRyujinLP well, in a way the spool does trick you into thinking the pin is set. Obviously tactile and auditory feedback are key (heh) when picking, and the spools, just like standard pins, make a click when they drop into the set. The raised bit at the bottom of the spool doesn't allow you to push the driver pin up anymore, just like the driver of a standard pin hitting the top of the cylinder. So the feel (and sound) of a false set with a spool is very similar to that of an actual set, unless like LPL you know what to look for or understand the mechanics.
This is FANTASTIC! Thank you very much for the eye-opening perspective!
This was easily the most informative lock picking video I've ever seen. Love your content, thanks for all the work you do!
Dang, so counter rotation is letting up a little bit of pressure so that the security pins don't fall but are allowed to go over the little bump
Beautifully done 👍
generally you don't need to let off as much as you think, the spool does it for you, just maintain the pressure you have and let off accordingly
The false set is the shear line falling into the center of one or more of the spools. The counter rotation is a natural consequence of the fat end of the spool spanning the shear line as you push the pin up, and as soon as it passes above the shear line it's free to rotate again, and it falls back into the center of the other spools causing another false set.
Yeah, this is a super-helpful video. Really puts into context how precise and clear LPLs language really is, it kind of just really clicks into place once you get this visual too. Super neat!
I think of the little bump as a "shelf." I once visualized it to someone by holding two empty toilet paper tubes on top of each other. When they were aligned, they looked straight down a seamless tube. Then I put two pieces of smaller diameter piece of PVC tube inside it and pushed them up and down with no problem. But when I moved the lower tube just a bit, it created a "shelf" that caught the top PVC tube on the way down. Getting that "ohhhhhh" reaction was gold.
@@daemn42 makes perfect sense now
I always tried to imagine what the narration during the lock picking means, and now I see that I was somewhere in the right path. This educational series is great 👍
I got my first set of picks from covertinstruments yesterday. played around with them for a bit to get the feel, and then picked a masterlock 141, and a brinks 161. Low skill locks, but I am enjoying a new hobby. Thanks to you and BosnianBill, I get a life skill, and a hobby in one!
This was the BEST demonstration of what goes on inside as your picking, I've begun to understand what is happening as it is picked. Thank you!
I'm just waiting for the April 1 video.
Fr
Naughty naughty....😂
It's expected to be quality nothing else will be acceptable now 😂
Best series you've come up with by far! Makes everything extremely simple to understand while also really demonstrating the actual skill needed to master this trade.
Last Monday I was able to help a fellow bike messengers at the CCBC court house when his U-lock failed to open with the key. Took about 2 minutes to open with just a park tool and a paper clip. I was surprised when it open even drop half the lock on the ground and he was shocked at how fast the lock was picked. Thank You Sensei.
Oh man, this answered so many questions I’ve had - the vocabulary explanation is something I’ve been hoping for for a long time.
I'm loving this new series too. Might be interesting some time to see master wafers in the cutaway lock. Just to see how master pinning works, and how it affects picking. Looking forward to the serrated pin vid.
I m loving this new series coz now I can actually understand what LPL is doing instead of just enjoying the lockpicking ASMR and LPL's soothing voice.
It's amazing just how good he is. You can bet a bunch of people will see this video and not comprehend the sheer amount of skill this demonstration took.
This inside view of the process is so helpful in providing me a better understanding of the process and how security pins work. Thank you LPL!
I’m starting to really get the hang of picking, after many hours of practice. Very special to feel your brain figuring out the micro movements and “feeling” the lock. I’ve been struggling with false sets/spool pins lately and this video is AMAZING for learning! Thank you, LPL.
What tools is he using in this video? I whould like to just give it a try for fun or just in case i forget my keys agian
@@jochemarends2035 they're in the description
These cutaway videos are fantastic
This is the most helpful series I have ever seen. I am finally understanding how it works. Thank you LPL!
This brings a lot of clarity to your process. Thank you very much! More of these instructional pieces are appreciated.
This series is absolutely brilliant. Although others could also explain the same topics well, only LPL is able to deliver such a great visual explanation with his trademark conciseness. High density pills of high quality educational content. Not a second wasted. I wish I could learn to be half as efficient as him in my own university lectures.
These are fantastic, thank you!
This series is absolutely enlightening and fun to watch. Can't wait for the next one!
Thank you for this. I picked up a standard german door lock from a keymaker who had it leftover in order to train, I spent 12+ hours on it over the course of months, never being able to pick it; now I finally opened it up to see what's in there, and I was glad to see two spools because I have no idea how to recognize or pick those. Now I can reassamble the lock any way I want, and with this I can finally try to actually pick it. Thank you!
This series is good thank you for taking the time to explain in detail.
I love these kinds of videos!! Keep'em coming, please!
I don’t know how many hours of picking videos I’ve watched, but this is the first one that actually explained what false set and counter rotation mean. Thanks!
Really demystifies the process. Thanks for putting this together
Love this series. It's amazing to see what is actually going on. It gives a whole different understanding, for both picking and smithing.
Having never picked a lock myself and only having the introduction of watching your videos, this helps so much. Thank you LPL!!
I Love finally getting to see how all of this works practically. You've given a good idea of how it works previously, but seeing how the whole thing moves as you're picking is wonderful
My Covert Companion came in today!
These videos are ridiculously helpful. I've been watching your videos for years, so it's amazing to learn the terminology better and see it visually with your overdub. Thanks again, and keep these coming!
This is fantastic
What is really hard to visualize in this demo is how the spools get "cockeyed" and you have to allow counter rotation for the bottom to clear, and how that can allow other pins to drop in the process.
Also a demo I'd really like to see, but something I rarely (if ever) see happen to you (due to your experience and deft touch), but tends to happens a lot to new pickers, is over set pins.
Fantastic! I've watched a bunch of your videos, but I've learned more in this one than the rest combined! Thank You!
Hey LPL, love your videos. This one has probably been one of the most insightful I've seen from you to date. I've heard the terms up until now and vaguely understood what was happening, but seeing it really opened my eyes and even corrected a few misconceptions I had about what you were doing. Keep doing what you do, it's great!
Got a lock pick set, it should be arriving in an hour👌
I always love how LPL says "We got this open."
Yes thank you. I'm not sure what I've contributed but I'll keep it up and let you do all the heavy lifting LPL
this is a master class thank you learned more in less than 5 minutes than in hundreds of hours of watching lock picking without the cutaway and detailed instructions.
This series is what I've been waiting for since I started watching LPL videos. Really looking forward for the next episode!
I'd like to see a cutaway SmartKey Gen 4 core because that represents some of the best pick protection on the market today.
If you mailed him one, he'd do it 😉
Would be interesting to see one of the cutaway locks pinned so that the counterrotation causes a previous set pin to drop.
It's just beautiful. Thank you LPL
This series is absolutely wonderful! Thank you so much for this.
Do it again to make sure it wasn’t a fluke
I really like this new series, they are very informative to someone like me who is just starting out. I do have a question though, what is causing the counter rotation?
the wide element of the spool being pushed up while the core is caught on the thin element of the spool
I believe it is the bottom of the spool passing the sheer line. Since the bottom of the spool widens back out, it forces the core to turn away from the tensioned direction.
I'm loving this new series! Thank you very much!!!
great series! so nice to actually see and understand what it is that you do and feel.
thank you!
Is counterrotation something you feel, or is it something you apply when you're in a false set?
Something you feel. It's when you push the pin upward and the core counterrotates (fights against your turning pressure) to get the bottom lip of the spool through the sheer line.
It's something you feel. During a false set, the driver pin (the spool) is halfway stuck in the core and in the lock body, at an angle (which causes the false set), When you then push down on the key pin that pushes the driver pin (which is at an angle) down into the pin chamber which straightens it and forces the core to rotate "backwards".
you generally feel it, but this depends heavily on the type of spool, for instance, gin bottle spools (seen in the lower position in chamber 4 at 0:42) catch on countermilling in the core and must be manually counter rotated out of that milling in order to be pushed to sheer
I have 2 videos where gin bottle spools can be seen in the lock, along with the matched counter milling
Thanks everyone! I think I understand it now.
@@thelockpickingspoon9074 Just checked out your videos, Spoon, good stuff. I'm replying here instead of adding a comment to one of your videos, as my reply has to do with your above comment. The "gin bottle spools" you mentioned are a *great* way to increase the pick resistance of the good Stanley padlocks (like the one that Bosnian Bill used to make the "world's toughest bike lock," and the one that LPL destructively opens in one of his videos). Honestly, the "good" Stanley locks make some of the most secure padlocks you can get if you take out their relatively weak stock core and replace it with something good. That gets expensive, though.
An alternative that gets you a lock worth using and a fun challenge lock is to add a few gin bottle spools to the stock core, as the stock core comes with countermilling. For added fun, thread the bible and/or plug, then add some serrated and/or serrated spools! Just adding the gin bottle spools is quick and easy, and will result in quite a bit of fun! I haven't added the threading yet, but there was an old thread on one of the locksport forums where a guy had done so, and it really became quite a difficult challenge lock.
So pretty good utility to be had.... a pretty darn secure padlock, and a lot of picking entertainment!
Take care,
Your 22nd Subscriber. ; )
Does counter-rotation often result in already-set pins dropping back to a false set, or just back to neutral?
It's been a while since you wrote this, but in my experience, yes, that absolutely happens. You can reduce it by being careful with how much pressure you apply to the pin, so that there's as little core movement (and thus space for the other pins to slip down) as possible, but sometimes it happens anyway. I find that you can usually re-pick that pin without dropping the one you just set, though.
Also, a quick nitpick: technically, a false set is a spool pin's neutral position.
Edit: brain skipped words
This video was very helpful! I really enjoy the more technical look at what's happening inside the locks you pick.
Thank you! I've been watching you for some time now and been trying to pick my own locks from time to time.. I have a few master locks that were easy but have a couple Lockwood locks that obviously have spool pins that I couldn't get through. This video came up and made 'false set' and ' counter rotation' so clear. I put pulled out my locks and got through all of them! Legend. So much information in 5 minutes.
Question from someone still confused about technique: does the counter-rotation happen as a result of pushing the spool up when the wider tip is trying to go above the shear line, or is it something you do manually by letting pressure off the tension tool?
both, but on other types of pins, like gin bottle spools (seen in the bottom of chamber 4 at 0:42) use matched countermilling and catch but don't counter rotate, you must counter rotate them manually. I actually have 2 locks with gin bottle spools picked on my channel
It happens due to pushing the pin as the angle between the spool edge and shear line gets smaller the higher it is. Similar to trying to push a wedge in.
I've picked spools before- you *will* feel it trying to turn back, so you need to let up a little on the pressure to let it move up further.
You can see all the pins, but its still more secure than a Master Lock.
I started picking Christmas just gone, when I got a clear plastic "training" lock. I also bought myself a Master Lock to try out afterwards and yes, it's actually easier to pick than the clear one despite not being able to see inside :D
Not only a master of lock picking but also of explaining lock picking. I've been hoping for these videos since I bought the genesis set, so thank you.
Your videos have always been next level helpful and entertaining but these new ones with the cutaways are pure gold. The genius at work combined with visuals. Helpful is understatement
I would love to know if you could pick a "perfectly" machined lock with zero tolerances. Maybe it's a stupid idea because I don't know much about this, but I got the feeling that you can pick locks because the core and pins do/must have tolerances and with this you can tension the core und force the pins to stuck on the imperfections on the lock caused by the machining.
I think that it would be impossible/extremely difficult to pick locks with close to zero tolerances and also highly lubricated pins and gates.
Zero tolerance makes it easier to pick. Can't remember the source but it was probably in the MIT guide.
It would also be similarly difficult to open such a lock with the key.
To me it seems that pushing on a security pin to cause counterrotation usually causes one of the other pins to drop back in. How come that never happens for you? Shouldn’t there still be a random order in which the spools have to be picked for any given lock? Picking them in order seems “lucky“.
It happened a few times actually, it's just that he's VERY experienced and usually know the line not to cross.
LPL or another viewer might be able to clarify, but I remember at one point him mentioning that his technique involves a lot of force on the tension bar. I'm wondering if because of that he's able to get back to a false-set quickly enough during picking to avoid the other pin from dropping back?
You'll hear in a few of LPL's vids 'lost a pin' or something to that effect. So it does happen.
Great and incredible to understand how it works inside.
I really love this as a series, thank you for helping to teach in just a great manner