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The powerful
pleasure of single
pin picking
Chris Dangerfield of UK Bump Keys tells The
Locksmith Journal why Single Pin Picking
will always be his technique of choice…
» » IN THE MODERN WORLD, ALL OF
our pleasures are - apparently - just a
few clicks away. Gratification is instant.
No one waits for anything. We do not
get the chance to anticipate something
nor the opportunity to look forward to
something…
And, that’s why I love single pin
picking (SPP).
SPP gives back many of the things
our culture seems to take away. You
cannot rush SPP; a patient mind is
required. It might take five minutes, it
could take 30 minutes. It might take
several attempts over a period of
weeks. I have one lock that I couldn’t
pick for four years. My skills were
just not up to par, and it wasn’t until
I’d developed more knowledge and
understanding, and the necessary
confidence that I finally managed to
pick that lock.
‘Locks are not made to
be a puzzle. Locks are
a moment of security,
they are the thing that
separate the outside
world from our property,
our family, our cars’
None of this was frustrating or put
me off though. On the contrary, it made
me love it even more and the pleasure
of picking the lock that took four
years; the sense of achievement, was
immeasurable.
Do you remember the first time you
successfully opened a lock without
the key? Mine was the little device
on an old telephone. It prevented the
dial from moving all the way round,
which prevented me from telephoning
all manner of people to deliver skips,
pizzas, even hairdressers to the family
across the road. Come on, I was eight.
‘When you start picking
locks you become
part of a special
group of people who
have risen above the
security of a society’
I managed it with the little ‘gunk-
scraper’ from a set of nail-clippers. It
fitted, and with a wiggle and a jiggle,
BOOM, the lock opened. And WOW,
what a feeling. I can remember it
clear as day. And I write with absolute
confidence that anyone reading this
who has picked locks will also know
that feeling.
Locks are not made to be a puzzle.
Locks are a moment of security, they
are the thing that separate the outside
world from our property, our family,
our cars. Locks protect government
reserves, they protect weapons, money,
gold, and diamonds. When you take
all that into account you realize why
picking a lock is not just another puzzle,
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it is a moment of power, a moment of
transgression. When you start picking
locks you become part of a special
group of people who have risen above
the security of a society.
Sure, you can use a pick gun, you
can bump, you can rake, you can use
all sorts of techniques. Don’t get me
wrong, I adore bumping, and I have
described rakes as ‘The magic wands
of lock picking’ on many occasions. But
if I had to pick ONE technique, it would
be SPP.
It’s that a heady mixture of patience,
time, application, concentration, trust,
belief, and more. Many of the things
that we see our culture slowly removing
from our lives. Combine all of that with
the looks on the faces of people who
watch you pick locks - the amazement,
the shock, the appreciation, the
bemusement - it really isn’t far from that
of a conjurer and his audience. They
have just witnessed magic; for they too
know you have transgressed security.
They also know you can move through
all of their locks.
‘Do you remember
the first time you
successfully opened a
lock without the key?’
Lock picking is a powerful pleasure,
that are now few and far between. You
know it from the first lock you opened,
you know it from the last one you
opened, and you know it from all of
those in between. It’s why you started
doing it, it’s why you still do it, and it’s
why you’ll do it again.