Random musings: Inside the hidden world of competitive lockpicking

Today's blog post is based on an article from CNet.

I've long had an interest in lock picking, starting when I was in junior high school in Oakland. There were three stores that I really enjoyed going to...Radio Shack, a telescope store and a magic shop. All 3 stores were between my home and my junior high school, and although I took the bus most of the time, I'd often walk to or from school. And if I walked home, I'd often stop into one or more of these stores. And of course, the magic shop got me interested in Harry Houdini and escapes.

When I graduated from high school, I was still very interested in magic and escapes; and I even had a short term job working in a locksmith shop right out of high school at Tom's Lock Shop in Cotati, CA (we moved from Oakland to Rohnert Park the summer after high school. Cotati was the next town over but was only about 2 or 3 blocks away from the house that my parents were renting). I learned the basics about lock picking and how to create my own picks...the metal bristles from street cleaners make excellent picks and tension wrenches.

Anyway, on to the article:

It starts with tension.

Not unlike defusing a bomb, the practice calls for incredible precision -- listening and feeling for the acute signal that progress is being made.

It could take minutes, hours, days. Even weeks. Tools break, fingertips turn purple with pressure. Grips falter. All for a series of tiny mechanisms, hidden within the confines of a piece of metal no bigger than a few inches.

It's rigorous and demanding, but for the locksport community, it's all worth it to hear that final click.

As far as I know, competitive lock picking wasn't around in the 60's and 70's.

Competitive and hobbyist locksport is the practice of navigating the intricate inner workings of a lock -- unused, unattached and usually held firm in a vise. It's a challenge, an unseen puzzle that's drawn thousands of people to converge online to share their excitement and frustration over a lock unpicked.

Banish the thought of shadowy figures picking open locks in the middle of the night. Abandon any notion of complicated Ocean's Eleven heists. Throw away your Skyrim character's Thieves Guild membership.

Instead, consider Dave.

David Sell is an optical engineer by day, a black belt lockpicker by night and -- contrary to what Hollywood would have you believe about lockpickers -- has no interest in criminal activity. It's not about stealing someone else's hidden treasures. It's about the craft.

"The draw of the hobby lies a lot in difficulty progression," he said "At any given time, there is a good lock to pick for your current skill level and there's always something more difficult or interesting on the horizon, which keeps it satisfying."

Sell isn't alone. In fact, he's a moderator for an online locksport community of over three thousand people, using Reddit and Discord to connect with members all over the globe. For the past few years it has been his responsibility to ensure everything is above board, despite misconceptions that the community could form a haven for aspiring thieves.

Rory Rezzelle, a fellow subreddit moderator and president of Augusta Locksports -- a nonprofit that teaches physical security and locksport around the US -- has also worked hard to change the negative mentality toward lockpicking versus conventional locksmithing.

Locksmiths have credibility and trust, but what they do isn't picking. A locksmith helping someone who's locked themselves out of their apartment, for example, wants to get in as quickly as possible. This means potentially using drills and other tools to break the lock, whereas a picker has the time to feel for the mechanics.

"People see locks and keys as these magical items that just work when you use them together," he said. "They don't always understand the mechanical intricacies, and when we show them how simple they can be it just blows their minds."

It's those mechanical intricacies that appeal to locksport devotees. It's creating lockpicking tools, adapting pressure, developing techniques, creating challenge locks, videoing successes, rising up the internal ranks and even mentoring newer members of the community. Like the hidden workings of a lock itself, it's the unseen side of locksports that advocates like Rezzelle and Sell are so excited to showcase.

A while back I did a post (which I can't find) on picking a Master Lock combination lock (I didn't actually pick the lock, I'll need to try again), but I did recently purchase a lock pick set similar to the one pictured:

The little booklet included with the set left a lot to be desired, so I may check out the library or Amazon.

There's much more to the article than what's included here. Be sure to check it out!