We are happy to present the talk Experiment driven lockpicking by Jan-Willem at HackerHotel 2023.
The talk goes into uncovering information leakage in locks like Bowley Rotasera and Kromer Protector.
May this talk inspire to do research and share all the interesting results.
The slides can be viewed and downloaded below.
Impressioning competition are all about opening the most locks in the least amount of time. Quite often, every second counts. As we have been playing the game for a couple of decades, it wouldn’t surprise you that the locks become harder, the times have been getting faster, and the openings more consistent.
Most of the players have reinvented their setup multiple times. I’ve seen 3D printed attributes for key marking, and often see the newest inventions. To keep it fair, however, you require sharing the idea before the competition, as to prevent an unfair advantage.
My first improvements have been to watch the masters work, and to copy what they do. Whereas my last improvements are much more subtle. I’ve, for example, reduced the distance between the lock, lamp, and table. And improved my handling process to save seconds here and there. I don’t believe we are done, either, as I’m trying to find a better way of placing my file when I’m not using it.
The tool idea of this blog isn’t a new one. It has, in fact, existed over a decade in use. We have blogged about it back then: When every second counts: formula 1 impressioning tool. It’s however, still relevant.
What is it? It’s a modified cylinder where the pins are replaced by sharp carbide rods. By pressing a key into the pins, the pin positions are marked on the key. Which, in turn, allows a key of all depths one to be made. The process takes a second, instead of preparing a blank with sand paper, a filling jig, or marking the positions one by one with a scribe. To be completely honest, it might not save me too much time, I just like it as a convenience tool.
I’ve built my first version after I impressioned my first lock, early 2018. It’s not the prettiest, but it worked for over a thousand keys. At that time, I impressioned a lock a day for every day in January. At UKlocksport forum, this is known as the January challenge. I’ve got some good stories about it, including a friend that just never stopped and has a streak in the thousands. (Please, Toni, remind me to write a blog about it.)
The key below shows the principle of operation. The scribe replacement tips scratch the surface of the key. For this one, the scratches are deeper than I like, but it shows the idea. You want a mark, but not too deep.
The current version, as shown in the pictures below, are from a small series production I’ve made for LockCon 2022. It was well received, and I’ve helped many of my friends with one of them. Making them commercially is very much not worth it. But if you want one, or the bits to make one, I might have some.
Please remember, even with all the impressioning gadgets, it’s not going to make a difference if you didn’t put in the hours. Consistency is key.
Pictures are copyright CCBY4.0 Jan-Willem Markus @ Blackbag.
This post is a bit of unusual content for this blog, but I believe it to be worth sharing.
In summary, I’ve modified a 1500 W space heater to output 400 W heat continuous. This lets me heat up just my computer corner, and subsequently save on my energy bill.
The winter is cold. While not unusual, this year’s energy prices are going through the roof. (For reference, electricity is about €0.8 per kWh and gas goes for €3 per m^3.) This requires us to be smarter about energy use, or pay the price. It doesn’t help that my house isn’t very energy efficient. Luckily, I wasn’t home during the coldest weeks of December. Annoyingly, I’ve paid about €50 in heating for the single day I used my central heating. While I can afford it, I’d rather spend it on locks.
One solution to save on the energy bill is to use a localized heating over central heating. The newest technology in that regard are infrared (IR) panels. They radiate infrared light, which is absorbed by surfaces. This is believed to be more energy efficient than heating the air. The panels are usually mounted to the wall. But I’ve also seen then hanging from the ceiling, or as large format placemats under a computer keyboard. I couldn’t find one that fit my needs, so I modified a fairly useless space heater instead.
Useless, wouldn’t usually be my way of describing these devices. Space heaters work as designed, converting electrical energy into heat. I’ve bought a 2* 750 W version some years ago, but have not used it much. It heats up quickly, and shuts off as it reached it maximum temperature. Heat for 10 seconds, cold for 30. This hysteresis is quite annoying to me. Therefore, I chose to wire the two 750 W elements in series, reducing the power output to approximately 400 W. This appears to be enough to make my workstation habitable. (Given, I’m dressed for the weather as well.)
The difference is, the heater will get less hot, and the temperature is more stable as the tipping point of the thermostat is rarely reached. You might even forget it is even there. (Please don’t, as it’s still a fire risk.) I’m using the heater for about 5h a day on normal winter days, and have not used my central heating for a month.
While the modification isn’t difficult for the average maker, I rather share the complete story and make it more accessible. Do take care, though, as electricity is largely unforgiving, and the dangers are easy to underestimate.
In the figure below, there are simplified two diagrams which represent the original and the modification. In simple terms, electricity flows through a heating element to create heat. As continuous heat can burn out the element, they added a thermostat to regulate the temperature. This is quite a dumb device and consists of a bi-stable thermal switch. The heat builds up, until it trips the temperature dependent switch. The switch is turned on again when the temperature cools down below the set point. The overshoot and undershoot is called the hysteresis.
Switches with a build in lights are added for usability, and the earth is the safety feature to complete the build. It should be connected to the metal case, as a short from line or neutral to ground will trip the ground fault circuit interrupter (GFCI or RCD), or at the worst case, cause your circuit breaker(s) to pop.
In the original configuration, the heater can be used as 750 W or 1500 W heater. Making it into something arguably more useful isn’t hard. I’ve simply wired both heating elements in series, which quadruples the resistance, and sets the power output to 375 W.
The modifications are fairly straight forward, as clip on connectors are used to simplify manufacturing. Swapping the wires is usually enough to make it work. As you will see, I’ve not wired the optional switch light, and reused the cable for another connection.
Please take care of the necessary safety precautions, including unplugging it from the wall. Furthermore, don’t forget to wire the earth, (thermal) fuse, and thermostat correctly as they are life-saving features.
Let’s summarize. I’ve outlined a simple modification to a space heater to output 400 W heat continuously. This is enough for me to heat my work space in moderate Dutch winter weather. For the next winter, I’m very likely to invent in a heated work table surface, and a heated office chair, instead.
Hopefully this inspired you to modify your devices, and save some money on the electricity bill. I’d rather see you spend the money on other necessities, and if possible your lockpicking hobby.
Hi everyone, this is a quick blog post to show off a lockpick set by Lockpick maker Moki who also makes wonderful pick cases, as seen below. These cases are made in part from bicycle inner tube, which appealed to us.
The Moki set contains three hook sets; small, medium, and deep hook of pointy, flat and round hooks similar style to the Sparrows SSDeV and Law Lock Tools Tipene set. All the lockpick shapes work very well. There is often debate on which is best, but we are open to all lockpick shapes, each has their function.
While we don’t expect to break these lockpicks, it’s an interesting design choice to have a replacement tip in the handle. All lockpicks came heavily polished, more so than any commercial lockpick we have seen.
The lockpicks are longer and wider than standard lockpicks, think Law Lock Tools Pro, or Sparrows Sandman. Due to the size, the picks are quite flexible and are thus heavily improved with handles. Moki sells 3D printed handles from PETG, and has sold thick metal handles in the past. But it wouldn’t take much to make your own.
Experimenting a bit with the size and shape shows 2mm at each side works best. The screws in the set require countersunk holes, and are a bit fiddly to put together.
It is quite interesting working with these different handle materials. The 4mm thick wood is superb in feedback, but is thicker than any usual lockpick.
All plastic handles are an improvement over the handleless lockpicks, but none have the same feedback as glued/welded metal handles. The search for the best handle continues…
Our friends from Italy organized the Car lockpicking competition this year. Many car door locks, provided by ParmaKey, were picked during the competition.
First place in the competition won a Multipick ELITE pickset, an Italian bag, and a bottle of wine. Second and third place won a Multipick ELITE pickset. All winners got a trophy, and a custom engraved PACLOCK, a book on lock history, and a lock comic book.
Congrats to the winners!
During the Saturday, we ran the Lockpicking competition. For the first round, we had eight tables with eight participants each. Which all attempt to pick locks in 5 minute rounds, where everyone at the table gets to try all locks. The first and second best of the table get to the next round, which was four tables of four. The best of each table got to compete in the finals.
This year the competition had a wide selection of locks, from Abus, Corbin, Kibb, Iseo, Kale, Nemef, DMS, Winkhaus, DOM, S2, ERA, and Zeiss-Ikon, just to name a few.
First place in the competition won a custom engraved Abloy Classic lockpick by Jaakko and a Sparrows voucher of €100. Second place won a mh electronic lock bumping kit and a Sparrows voucher of €200. The third place won a set of Multipick LockNoob essentials lockpick kit. All winners got a trophy, and a custom engraved PACLOCK.
Congrats to the winners!
At LockCon we ran the Impressioning competition on the usual C83 locks. (Abus, Thanks for sponsoring!) For the first round everyone has 1h to attempt the keyed a like locks. 12 people opened the locks in 20 minutes, this time. The best six went to the A Final, the subsequent six to the B Final.
In due time, we expect to publish a report on the key bittings, pins, and the times for each lock.
First place in the competition won a custom engraved Abloy Classic lockpick by Jaakko, and a Sparrows voucher of €100. Second place won a Multipick Artimis electropick. The third place won a set of Multipick Elite 27 lockpickset. All winners got a trophy, and a custom engraved PACLOCK, and an M&C pinning mat.
Congrats to the winners!
Toool NL has a competition with ~25 locks, which can be picked during Toool meetings. Each member times his opening attempts and points are awarded according to opening times. The competition ran from LockCon to LockCon, which was a bit longer than a year, this time.
Competition archive from 2004: https://toool.nl/competitie/
Competition from 2020: https://toool.nl/competitie2020/
First place in the competition won a custom engraved Abloy Classic lockpick by Jaakko. Second place won a Multipick Kronos electropick. The third place won a set of Multipick dimple lockpicks. All winners got a trophy, and a custom engraved PACLOCK.
Congrats to the winners!
Last weekend was LockCon 2022, our annual conference about locksport. Throughout the conference we hosted talks about the hobby, in-depth analysis of Anker 3800, Zeiss Ikon WSW, Kromer Protector, just to name a few. We also hosted the DutchOpen competition on Impressioning, Lockpicking, and Car lock picking.
This year, we had attendees from Europe, Great Britain, USA, and Australia. It was great seeing many familiar faces, and meet new attendees. In between the program, we traded locks, and shared the information we have gathered over the years. Thanks Everyone for making LockCon a success.
We would also like to thank our sponsors. Abus has been sponsoring the impressioning competition for a long time. They helped us with Abus C83 locks and blanks for the impressioning competition.
We received vouchers for the price pool and pinning mats from Sparrows. A wide range of lockpicking tools are sponsored by Multipick, from Multipick essentials up to Artimis electropick. For the first prices, Jaakko made custom engraved Abloy classic lockpicks available. PACLOCK sponsored Paclock padlocks with the competition name. Parmakey organized the car picking competition, and sponsored the price pool for the competition with books and wine. mh made a set of his electronic lock bumping tools available (See talk: Electronic Locks: Bumping and Other Mischief). Henk sponsored an old padlock for nr. 10 of Impressioning. M&C sponsored pinning mats. Last but not least, NoStarchPress sponsored digital copies of the soon-to-be released Locksport book by Jos, Matt, Walter, BandEAtoZ, and Nigel.
Thanks to all the sponsors for making this event possible.
This blog is a short photo tour of the venue for LockCon 2022.
Click the map to enlarge, or follow the link: https://blackbag.toool.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/The-Berckt-estate.png
After parking, walk back the way you came and head over to the conference hall (Legion Hall).
Please, do not walk through the Manor House from the parking area, as another group has rented that hall and terrace, and we don’t want to disturb them.
In case of doubt, please call the organisation or use street view.