Ep37: Abus 55/40 - An Easier Way To Pick Them?

[@shadowshadow2485]

Good video , great perseverance , moe

[@pugspickslocks]

Thank you! I wish my hands weren't covering the locks... But... I'll make more videos with these locks. The perseverance was simple stubbornness, LOL! I hate being embarrassed by an easy lock...

[@TheLockPicker1969]

Great video and glad to see you doing them! :)

[@pugspickslocks]

Thank you! I appreciate you and your support, especially as I was starting out!

[@scottmerriman8549]

I just started and got one of these! Opened it once and haven't got it again. I'll have to try going back to front!

[@pugspickslocks]

I realized after filming that my hands are all in the way of the camera the entire time, and thought about re-filming but... the package was already opened and it wouldn't be a pick straight out of the box anymore. In the future, I'll do another video or two on these and show the picking more clearly. Maybe that will help you as well as trying to go back to front. Let me know how you get on with the different approach. I'm really curious to know if it's just the three that I have that pick easier that way, or if it's all of them!

[@gprider1525]

I'm not sure I fully understand the 'choice' of going back to front if all I get is pin 1 binding, I'll definitely try it though

[@thecompguy]

Very nice explanation on this! I've done 3 videos of this lock and I touched on this point in my video Abus 55/40 Engaging the spooly action. I had done 3 previous videos on this, where picking with BOK I could pick it once where the pick profile lined up perfectly just like the key. In the next video, I picked with BOK back to front, 4,3,2,1 and it opened right up. My next was picking it TOK 4,3,2,1 and I could get it open again without engaging the spools (in practice however, this wasn't always the case). Then I wanted to engage the spools purposely, so In the last video, I started at the front of the lock to show the difference in picking by doing so. It was a completely different pick and every pin picked dropped pin 1 so I had to go back and set pin 1 each time. I could do this in hand but the vice definitely helped a lot as the tension did vary a bit. Thank you for this video! I really enjoyed it! I enjoyed also showing that different ways of picking can make a lock perform much differently! Your videos have taught me a lot! Thanks again!!

[@pugspickslocks]

Adam, you are too kind! Thank you! It's so cool to hear that you're trying different appoaches to the same lock. That's a really great way to learn and develop your skills! You saw how I struggled going front to back. I was having the same issue of always dropping 1 when setting the others. The funny thing for me is that the older two locks, I can't go front to back at all because pin 1 doesn't bind first on either of them. I'm assuming that's wear and tear. I had the vise just off camera on my desk and almost reached for it a couple of times, but I have a stubborn streak and didn't want to admit I needed the extra help, LOL! I'm going to revisit these locks in a future video or two because I realized that my hands were covering up the picking for most of the time. I wasn't paying attention to the camera angle. I didn't re-film it because the package had already been opened and it wouldn't be a fair representation of picking a new lock straight out of the box.

[@thecompguy]

@@pugspickslocksI thought it was really cool to see your video on this! I was surprised when I got mine. Honestly it was a struggle at first but it was picking it in those different ways that taught me the differences! I can't attest to the older one but I assume you are correct! I could feel the vice almost come into play in your video but knew you didn't want to lol! It did help me a lot in mine! Thank you again for the learning experiences you share with all of us! I do hope I can offer similar experiences in the future to others as I grow my skillet!

[@jeffandthings77]

How did you first learn tapered pins? I don't know for sure that I've ever picked a lock with tapers...

[@pugspickslocks]

Hey, Jeff! Tapered pins are relatively common in tubular core locks. The first one I encountered them in was an American Lock 7200, a tubular core padlock that I featured with diagrams in a video last year. I then ran into them in a Dorma DC3003, that one was tricky. It's featured in a couple of my videos. The actually are a load of fun!

[@johncooper9887]

False set, dropping pins feels like tapered pins? I thought those were spool pins but I think you have more experience than I do

[@pugspickslocks]

The new one definitely has spool pins and a standard or possibly serrated pin in stack one. The fact that I was dropping pins due to the counter-rotation is part of how you know that they're spool pins. When I don't set pin one first, they pick more like serrated pins, but yeah... they are definitely spool pins. The two old locks, prolly have spool pins as well, but they pick like tapered pins, possible due to age and wear.