Practical Lock Picking: A Physical Penetration Tester's Training Guide

While not at the graduate school level, this should perhaps be considered a Junior or Senior level reference textbook of lock picking for interested, self-taught students. When a book starts off by espousing the ethics of lock picking, you know this is a serious look at the topic. This is a basic enough introduction, though, that almost anyone can begin with this book. Others, that have been investigating lock picking for a while, will still find lots of tidbits here that they may not have known about before. The computer-done illustrations are somewhat bland in a book of this sort, but are absolutely clear and to the point; which is its intended purpose. The detailed, close-up photos of picks, locks, and tools are what generates genuine interest here; especially, if these things are a little unfamiliar to you. Some photos could have been clearer or better lit; but, just by studying the photos (and the text is usually very enlightening, too, of course), the reader can tease out interesting revelations about why certain locks are easier (or harder) to pick, and how and why specific tools can be used to do the picking. Which, of course, is the whole purpose of this book.Although in paperback form, the pages are printed on slick paper, which makes everything sharp and clear, and causes the photos and colored illustrations to pop from the page. It should last for a long while in your library, even after being referenced again and again.All in all, an enjoyable, interesting and well-done book by an interesting, well-known character in the lock picking world.

I recently became interested/fascinated in the art/science of picking locks. Since that time, a couple weeks ago, I did what I always do when something new and unknown to me gains my attention. I went on an information acquiring mission. Since that time I've read a few books, but started to read a multitude of other books and guides from the web and from my Kindle unlimited account. A few were pretty good, but an astonishing number of what are considered "required reading" from the lock picking community aren't worth the time or effort. I'll tell you why since you've read this far and are probably wondering. They are extremely poorly written. Typos abound, thoughts are incoherent and often oppose themselves, terminology that is vague and confusing and poor illustrations that are downright useless. NONE of that can be said about Deviant's book "Practical Lock Picking.". He either secretly is an English professor, or he has a terrific editor on hand and a talented illustrator as well. I'm halfway through the book and have only noticed 2 very small, and in the grand scheme of educating the reader, very insignificant typos. That's a lot less than I found in most all of the free publications the I've tried in vain to read. This book has helped me teach myself, which is what any textbook within your ability to understand should do. It's a joy to read and full of "A-ha" moments that draw you in. To date it's the best book on the subject that I've found and I can't recommend it enough for beginners to intermediate lock pickers. In the couple of weeks I've been interested in this subject I've learned a few things (some the hard/expensive way). In lock picking as a hobby you should know: you don't have to spend a fortune to get started, you may not get value for your dollar if you do spend a fortune before educating yourself to some extent, you often get what you pay for, but not always and you really ought to read this book BEFORE you go out and spend your money on a pick set. Especially on a Chinese made bargain set on some of the sites. I found out about this book on the lockpicking subreddit and on the lockpickingwiki on said subreddit. I highly recommend you start there...after, you get this book of course! Thank you Mr. Ollam for a wonderful source of information on a challenging and interesting subject.

I stumbled upon this book while browsing and decided to purchase it from mere curiosity. I have a part-time job at a hardware store and am constantly getting questions about what padlocks are the most secure or which deadbolt set should one go with. This book certainly opened my eyes, particularly to padlocks - I haven't had much time to practice on any deadbolts yet, but the mechanics are basically the same.Along with this book, I also purchased a small pick set to see if what I was reading would actually have real world practicality. Since padlocks are relatively inexpensive, I began toying around with different models and discovered that many - the majority sold in the hardware store I work at - are easily overcome with a basic picking set; namely, all one really needs is a tension wrench and a rake pick (detailed in the book). The first padlock I purchased was a cheap Master Lock - after reading midway through this book, as a novice pick artist, I opened a Master Lock in less than five minutes. I have since refined my technique and Master Locks can be opened as if one had the key and not a wrench and rake.Since I was able to crack Master Lock brand padlocks so easily, I began trying different models and brands that my store sold. One-by-one, they all succumbed to the basic skills learned in this book. I can open every Master Lock our store sells, every Tru-Bolt, the few Brinks we sell, and the few Schlage we sell. All of these locks were fairly easily compromised except for one - that is the Schlage 994831:http://www.amazon.com/Schlage-994831-Padlock-2-5-Inch-Shackle/dp/B0043EVDAU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1358829492&sr=8-1&keywords=schlage+padlockThis thing is a beast and took days for me to finally crack. So the lesson learned about padlocks from this book is that one should seriously consider using the Schlage - despite its cost, it will be well worth it to thwart most, even very determined, thieves from taking whatever is valuable behind that lock. Like I said, the book was a real eye opener as to how vulnerable this common means of securing property really is.As for deadbolts and standard handle locks, I have not attempted to use the techniques described in this book on any; however, if they all follow the same general mechanism, which this book will illustrate in intricate detail, then there are certainly a lot of locks open to circumvention via lock picking. I have heard; however, that the Dexter locks (of higher quality) mirror the Schlage padlock in thwarting an attempted pick.Aside from these sorts of tumbler locks, there really isn't much to step up to unless you want to spend a serious amount of cash. The most difficult, or intimidating lock, in my mind is the round key-lock. These require even more specialized tools to open, so the safety factor of these seems fairly high. There are also magnetic locks, electronically controlled, but I can only imagine the cost.Brands of locks aside, the book really does do a great job of explaining in detail the internal mechanics of all of these various locks (some are more refined and harder to crack) and the book turned out to be very difficult to put down. The book could easily be read in one session, but the desire to check out the techniques described will be strong.If the book has taught me anything other than a new, inexpensive hobby, it is that, rest assured, someone will be able to crack any lock you will likely find in a local hardware store, especially given the proper motivation. My motivation was from curiosity and to help customers select the correct product when asked. Those would be some of the more expensive locks, but if you value what you secure with a padlock, or door lock, or deadbolt, it should definitely be one built to thwart such an easy skill to acquire. Particularly when there is literature out there that can teach someone to pick effectively in a matter of hours.