How to Pick a Lock

Have you ever wanted to learn how to pick locks? Well, this stupid simple GIF is your ticket. Now you just need to practice.

A lock, in its simplest form, is just a series of pins, each of which has two parts that are illustrated in red and blue to the left. To pick a lock, you simply need to insert a pick and push the pins into place so that the upper, blue part clicks into place outside of the cylinder. This will allow the cylinder to turn freely and the lock to open.

So what you do, is first insert a tension wrench. (That's the L-shaped tool on the bottom.) This will let you turn the cylinder slightly and apply some torque to the lock. Then you dive in with your pick and feel out the pins. You simply need to find the pin that you can push outside of the cylinder first. (That's the one with the little yellow stamp on it.) Once all of the pins are set, you just turn the torque wrench, and the lock should spring open.

Obviously, lock picking gets more complicated based on the locks. It also gets simpler if you have the right tools. Most purists like to stick with a simple five-piece kit, though you can buy kits with dozens of different picks. Or, if you're really serious about lock picking, you might consider a pick gun. It works just like the basic picking method but all at once, in gun form.

Then again, you could always just find a key. But what fun is that?

You can learn the basics of lock picking from a GIF, but for a more nuanced look at the techniques required to actually get a lock open without the key, check out NightHawkInLight's latest tutorial where he uses nothing but a pair of strategically bent hairpins in the process.