[14] Learning lock picking - 3 months experience - ISEO armored lock - #01

ISEO armored lock - unknown model
This is a very interesting 5-pin lock with serrated pins.
For my level of experience it is a very hard lock, in fact this video is almost 8 minutes long, but in the end I do get it open (happily).
You can find a shorter attempt at opening this very lock in this previous video with no commentaries: • [9] Learning lock pick...
This is my lock #01
#lockpicking

[@FedericoBonelli86]

In response to some questions from my friends about this lockpicking video, I thought I'd share the Q&A here for everyone's benefit. DISCLAIMER: I am a beginner, and I am not certain about any of this. If you want expertly made content or advice, go to @LockPickingLawyer. If you are an expert and you find that I have misunderstood something, please correct me and let me know. I wish to learn. First Question: At the beginning of the video, I mentioned that the first pin I picked dropped-was I not applying enough tension? Answer: Actually, the pin dropped because serrated pins go through several binding steps. Depending on the clearance of the next pins, you might have a pin that's between notches, and when you click another, the first might drop. This can turn into an endless cycle, something that I believe even LockPickingLawyer sometimes encounters. He manages to break out of the cycle by setting more than one notch at a time, as you can see in some of his cut-out videos. He can do this with little risk of oversetting because he feels the pins very well. I am not so skilled, so I prefer to click the pins one notch at a time. In this case, I wasn’t applying too little tension; rather, applying more tension can minimize this effect, but it makes it very challenging to precisely click on a serrated pin without immediately oversetting it if you're pressing too hard. Second Question: When picking, do you lever on the lower part of the keyway instead of “lifting” the entire pick upward? Answer: Yes, I almost always leverage, especially with Yale keyways where you have to leverage at the angle of the final section of the Yale keyway. It's tricky because you're crooked on the surface where you can leverage, and crooked on the pin, but in line with the keyway. However, when I try to feel what's springy and what's binding, I don’t lever to ensure I apply very little force and avoid accidentally moving a binding pin. Third Question: How can you be sure the pins are serrated? I ask because some of my training locks bind multiple times alternatively, but it's just friction, not serrations. Answer: I believe these are serrated because once the rust was removed (when I cleaned the lock with the vinegar solution), they didn't have that mushy feel anymore and instead had many distinct, small successive clicks, very consistent with serrations. I haven't disassembled this one to confirm, but the behavior matches perfectly with that of serrated pins. I hope this clarifies some of the technical aspects shown in the video! Happy picking!