3 Expert Techniques To Open Your Locked Door
2 Expert Techniques To Open Your Locked Door
So you shut the door and didn’t grab your keys. It happens. In fact, it happens so much that there is an entire profession built around solving this problem and helping you open your locked door.
Wait. Before we go over the methods it is important to know what you are trying to accomplish. These will work on your standard pin tumbler locks, which is pretty much the style of your everyday lock. This lock has two main parts: the bible and the plug. The bible has the driver pins. Most often, five pins with a uniform length that all rest on a spring. The plug has the key pins which are not a uniform height.
How a pin and tumbler lock works is that the key will lift the lock’s key pins. This compresses the springs and moves the driver pins up into the bible. The key pins resting in the plug and the driver pins being in the bible means that the pins have reached the shear line.
The shear line is the gap between the plug and bible that when unencumbered allows the plug to turn, opening the door. So to get back in your house and open your locked door, all you need to do is move those pins.
1. Picking
- Begin by inserting the tension wrench into the keyhole as if it were a key. Make sure that it is placed on the opposite end of where the key’s teeth (grooves that move the key pins) would go.
- Twist the wrench to see which way has more give. The way with the most give is the way the tension wrench will be turned when the lock is opened (the way the key would be turned).
- You will apply tension on the tension wrench (hence the name), in the direction you determined in the last step, during the rest of the picking process.
- Insert the rake into the keyhole (against the side that would touch the key’s teeth), then push and pull the rake in and out, raking the lock.
So right now you are applying tension to the tension wrench (Not too much tension. Don’t bend the wrench) and raking with the rake. - Try different ways of moving the rake; wiggling, vibrating, etc. (while still applying pressure on the tension wrench in the correct direction).
- The pins reach the shear line.
- Twist the tension wrench like it were a key.
- The lock is open. Congratulations, you have managed to open your locked door.
This method is much more an art than it is a science, so practice will always achieve quicker results.
2. Bumping
To begin you will need a key blank, a file, and the key of the lock you want to bump.
- Measure the maximum depth on the key (the deepest groove).
- Measure the distance between each groove.
- File the maximum depth at each point where there needs to be a groove.
- 4 The end product will look like a saw blade. Refine the new teeth to be as close to a 90-degree angle as you can manage.
For added measure, you can adjust your bought key or homemade key:
- Sand the end product so the teeth are not jagged.
- Remove the stop point on the key (this is the chunk of the key that aligns it and keeps it from going into the lock further). Without it removed you will need to take the key out one click each time before bumping it.
- Fill the space between the front of the lock and the bow (the part, usually round, of the key that does not go into the lock and acts as a grip for your fingers) with rubber or a spring.
With these added steps, the lock can be bumped much quicker. The bumping process relies on moving the pins the same way as the picking process described above, but it moves them all at the same time. With each bump, the key will attempt to move the pins to the shear line, and must be turned as the lock is bumped. Successfully bumping the lock will help you open your locked door.
a. Strike the key with a rubber hammer or comb when it is in the lock.
b. Turn the key as the key is struck.
This may take a few hits, and make sure you are turning the key the correct dir
