Hello lockpickers, one of my friends bought a Covert Intruments Genesis set recently and I decided to play with it. Turns out I very much enjoyed it and managed to pick the beginner clear lock in 7 seconds after a couple days. So I did some research to find out what to buy for myself to get started on this journey.

So far I’m eyeing Sparrow’s The Spirit set but found this reddit thread in the process. So I might go with the hooker set and get a tuxedo case separately.

As for locks to practice with, I’m considering getting all the sparrows clear locks as they seem to have a good variety and seems to be beginner friendly to practice with.

Let me know your suggestions below, I’ll be glad to learn from your experiences.

  • Greenish@infosec.pubEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    Hey, welcome!

    Hooker set is a solid start I think, but don’t get the acrylic locks. They are not very useful to learn picking, and break easily. I’d suggest getting a cutaway lock and a master lock 140. Real locks give much better feedback, and well teach you more.

    Edit: assuming you’re in the US, I recommend these picks to start: https://jimylongs.com/products/

    They are made by a community members and well loved (and very very affordable). I suggest the round hooks, they’ll make it easier to feel the pins.Also think about getting some Top of the keyway tensioners, I hear sparrows heavy bars are good)

    Also, if you’re into discord, consider joining the lpu discord. There are a lot of helpful people there, and you may find it easier to find help.

    Good luck!

    • /home/pineappleloverOPEnglish
      1·
      9 months ago

      After a second look at them, I was considering getting all the cutaway locks to practice on all the different types of pins. But the number started to add up real fast, which of the locks in particular do you recommend?

      I think I’ll just stick with the hookers set first, I’ll buy more hooks and tension wrenches as I advance further.

      I tried joining the discord but it required phone number verification for the server in particular and I wasn’t willing to do that. I also joined the Lockpickers matrix chat but it was pretty much dead so I think I’ll just communicate on Lemmy.

        • /home/pineappleloverOPEnglish
          1·
          9 months ago

          Wow! Thank you for this. I will definitely get the standard lock and reload kit. That’s a bit more affordable than getting all 3 cutaway locks. Any other suggestions? After some modifications I think I will buy the hooker set, cut away standard, reload kit, sherman case, and I’m considering additionally buying ssdev hooks or flat bars knurled tok wrenches

          Edit: I’ll just get both

          • lfisk@infosec.exchange
            2·
            9 months ago

            @pineapplelover If you’re new to this go slow. As you progress you’ll take a liking to certain picks, techniques and then wonder why you bought some items you don’t like or use😉​

            That said… ssdev hooks and TOK type tension tools are very handy to have on hand. That looks like a decent selection of items for a good start. Though you don’t have any Rakes in your mix. Some skill is needed to use a rake well but it is much easier than SPP’ing. Keep something like the Rakers set in mind too, maybe for a future order. Even just a single Bogota (Triple Rake) style rake would be good. I also like their Worm Rake. Both are in this set:

            https://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/products/rakers-lock-pick-set

            • /home/pineappleloverOPEnglish
              2·
              9 months ago

              I don’t particularly like to work with rakes, it’s more of a luck based tool and doesn’t require that much skill. I have done some raking before and although it’s cool to get it in a few seconds, I feel more accomplished doing SPP, which is why I specifically chose the Hooker’s set instead of the Spirit Kit, which includes those hooks and rakes.

              • lfisk@infosec.exchange
                2·
                9 months ago

                @pineapplelover Seems you already have some rakes around so as to be exposed to their use. I wouldn’t add any then till you want to try more with them🙂​

                “…it’s more of a luck based tool and doesn’t require that much skill…”

                Biggest mistake I made early on was believing that raking was easy and luck. Picking the right rake and using a tension tool that has a chance of working with it is a skill. Knowing to move on to a different rake if you don’t get an open rather than just burnishing pins down. I’ve locks that I’ve never been able to open SPP’ing but will fall to a rake attack in seconds. I’d rather be able to SPP it but just knowing the lock can be opened is valuable to my psyche😉​

                • /home/pineappleloverOPEnglish
                  2·
                  9 months ago

                  Ah I see. Yes, I do have one rake that my friend gave to me and that’s how I found out I don’t really like rakes. I’ll keep that in mind that learning how to use rakes is a skill and could prove useful just to test if a lock works.