I'm making a #LearnLockpickingWithAlice zine for Fedi, and to hand out at an upcoming conference where I've been asked to host a lockpicking village.

I'm making a #LearnLockpickingWithAlice zine for Fedi, and to hand out at an upcoming conference where I've been asked to host a lockpicking village.

It's intended to answer "what should I know about lockpicking (and Alice) in the first 5 minutes?". Then I can explain concepts, teach techniques, and run hands-on demos from there.

If Fedi is excited about this, I'll likely do more in-depth ones on specific aspects of lockpicking and related skills, like: improvised tools, decoding combo locks, slipping latches, etc.

I'll make the finished versions available on my Codeberg page for free.

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# 1 Alice Watson's Itty-Bitty Intro to Lockpicking

## 2 Picks

Slim teardrop-tip short hook for small keyways, sturdy gem-tip medium hook for bullying, a w-rake for luck, and several turning tools. I've opened 10x more locks with those three picks than all others combined.

Sketches: each of the 3 pick profiles, and a double-ended wiper-insert turning tool

## 3 Lock Types

Warded: wards stop wrong key from turning
Wafer: flat wafers prevent core turning
Pin-tumbler: pin stacks prevent core turning
Tubular: pin-tumbler, but circular arrangement

Sketches: a key and keyway for each of the 4 lock types, a wafer, and the inside of a pin-tumbler lock

## 4 Pins Types

A pin-stack consists of a spring, driver, and a key pin. Driver pins have different shapes, key pins have different lengths (bitting).

Standard: plain cylinder
Spool: like a thread spool, causes false-sets
Serrated: like standard pins, but clickier

There are many others, but they're much rarer.

Sketches: each of the 3 pins

## 5 Techniques

Torsion: rotates core, use just enough force to balance a few coins on your fingertip
Single-pin picking: find binding pin, set it, repeat
Raking: generate random bitting guesses—try rising, falling, flat, and rocking motions

Sketches: turning tool & pick setting pin in cutaway pin-tumbler lock, raking motions

## 6 Practice Locks

Clear: good for first 10 minutes, terrible feedback
Laminated Master: good until trivial
Master 140: has spools, good until trivial

Sketches: each of the 3 padlocks

## 7 Bypasses

Keys (TSA007, CH751): they just work
Combs: open some locks as fast as the key
Shims: good for cheap padlocks

Sketches: TSA007 & CH751 keys, comb, padlock and door shims

## 8 About Alice

Alice is a love-lock enthusiast, professional lockpicker, and lockpicking instructor who has been in the sport for nearly a decade. In that time, Alice has taught at several security conferences, hosted workshops, become a brand ambassador for Red Team Tools, and opened many thousands of locks.

Sketches: Alice's profile pic, heart-shaped love lock

LGBTQIA.space/@alice
[email address]