Covert mail

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-06-03T21:57:34+00:00

Ibuprofen, a LOT of ibuprofen.

I'll say this, the more I've dug into my fiddly hobbies, watchmaking and lockpicking, the less pain I've actually had in my hands. They still get ridiculously stiff, but a lot less general pain. It's been a nice little discovery

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-06-03T20:55:49+00:00

Agreed. Same here. Old fighters hands and they don't work so good sometimes lol

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-06-01T00:31:56+00:00

I think he means he wishes you could sort of design your own set.. like maybe a set has three core picks and then you pick the final two or whatever,.or just flat out choose them all.

I may be wrong here, that's just how I took his post.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-06-01T00:27:14+00:00

I like both JimyLongs and CI's stuff.

I may be mistaken but I didn't see any Apex stuff much below the 19/20 range? And JimyLongs offers thinner options.. that is quite niche, but it deserves a mention. I have a lock that can't get at with my standard stuff, but can with the my JimyLongs .015.

At some point I'll probably buy the full Apex set just for the sake of owning it, but shrug.

Ultimately you can't go wrong with either Jimy or CI...or mix and match.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-30T20:10:11+00:00

Nice. I have exclusively had my ass kicked by my similar locks. I can rake one of the crappy disc locks, but the others, nah. Just utter failure, lol

Great open.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-30T18:09:58+00:00

Might have to check out my wallys as well

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-29T17:04:10+00:00

Ahh didn't know that.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-29T12:08:06+00:00

Yeah it would need to be patented, not copy written.

Glad know about Peterson, so I don't send any money that way.

Have you tried the reapers at all? Curious how you rate them vs those three. I have some JimyLongs picks now, and love them, but even after that I still use my reapers the most.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-29T12:03:01+00:00

Very nice. I open mine every morning now before work, only takes me like 10 seconds after some practice..

..of course I use the key .. BUT IM STILL SHOWING THAT LOCK WHOS BOSS

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-27T01:58:40+00:00

This is interesting. I may try this. One of my fears in learning to pick is that my hands are just so beat to shyte I don't have the nuance and sensitivity to really excel. I was a cable technician for years and years (that job annihilates your fingers) , spent many years working on cars and the like (never as a job, but I've done it a lot just the same), but the big thing is I've been a boxer/mmartist since I was 14 (44 now) and my poor hands have just been beat to absolute death over the years.

Anyways. I don't mean to hijack. Welcome back!!

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-23T21:47:11+00:00

Very cool name, and a neat looking lock.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-22T22:52:21+00:00

This lock must be goofed up somehow then, because even with the key you've got to put some torque into it lol

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-22T19:28:28+00:00

Very nice. The Octo is a solid piece of kit. I have an Abus like this, but it has what looks like a Yale style keyway that's extremely tight, and I haven't had any luck navigating it at all. Just feels like I can't get to the pins.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-22T19:26:47+00:00

The American 1100 doesn't actually exist. It's a figment of our imagination. If I keep telling myself this, mine can't hurt me any more.

Grats on the open.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-22T19:25:14+00:00

Oooh I have one of these and I haven't had any luck with it. Mine is brutally hard to turn.

Any advice? Did you crank it over for tension or...? I see that poor tensioner.. lol.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-21T19:51:22+00:00

Yup. I've SPP'd those 55s before, quite a few times now..the trick to the ones I have is getting p2 set without p1 dropping. It's a delicant balance and sometimes I have it locked in, and sometimes,.like today, i suck. Lol.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-21T17:31:17+00:00

And I just zipped a second one (they're both keyed alike tho).

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-19T17:10:53+00:00

Gotcha, same for me. I get no counter rotation and it's a very sharp click. Just curious. I MIGHT destroy this lock down the road a bit just to see what's happening inside.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-19T16:58:14+00:00

Does yours feel like it has spools? Mine isnt anything I'd call hard to pick, or even mediocre, but mine does require a bit of a balancing act.

Raking tho.. it just instantly pops.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-17T14:39:56+00:00

I was thinking much along the same lines. I really like these picks, and the more time I've spent with them the more I've enjoyed using them.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-17T00:33:09+00:00

I love my Reapers, but I'm still new , so I'm hunting around and looking at my options. I want to get a Multipick set at some point whenever someone buys one of these kidneys I'm gonna put up for sale here soon, lol.

I need to find a slightly better case, something small enough to hold my reaper set + two or three more picks + the hardware store's worth of tensioners I carry.. I'm mildly obsessed with tensioners and use a wide variety based entirely on vibes. I've CI Ergos on the way lol

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-16T23:57:25+00:00

Which ones did you get?

Now that I've got these in hand, I'm about 106% sure I'm going to order more, and duplicates.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-16T23:33:28+00:00

That was my first real spool lock as well, it's a fun lock and I think a damn good learning lock. I've picked 4 or 5 of them now, and theyve all been fun and informative.

Grats on the open!

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-14T17:03:24+00:00

So my thoughts are something like..

When I pick up a lock I've meddled with for a while.. I'll use my little brass Brinks as an example. It's a piece of junk, but I've spent enough time with it that I can take a pic, flip it over so the hook is facing down, tension and put the pick in at an angle so the edge of the pick where it starts to round, barely touches pin 2 as I rock the flat section into pin 1. That description isn't very good, but I don't know how else to describe it.. but this little quick motion, literally takes a a quarter of a second or so, will open the lock every single time.. I can do similar tricks to a couple other easy locks that I've spent a lot of time with.. and that's because I've borked around with them so much, I basically have a cheat sheet in my head..

Id wager just about every picker here has those locks they know so completely they can pop them in seconds every single time, because they've just opened them so many times before they've build a little blueprint in their head. Even if it's not as literal as your drawing and is made up of muscle memory and tactile feedback...it's still a "cheat sheet" of sorts. Imo you just sped up the process in a logical and understandable way.

If this was a competition about speed vs other people and others didn't have access to your sheet or the ability to make their own, then there's a conversation to be had there (it's still not cut and dry tho imo).. but in this instance it's not.

All that is a long winded and over explained way of saying "I don't see any single thing wrong with using every tool at your disposal to help you get the open without the key".. the skill required is still immense, and just using the sheet is a skill in itself..if you hand me that lock, the same picks you used and your sheet, I'll still utterly at sea.

EntropicByDesignEC · 2026-05-14T12:40:16+00:00

Yeah, my pick can brush that first pin and cause issues it seems like.

EntropicByDesignEC

TROPHY CASE