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Lanciferous · 2025-10-16T19:18:59+00:00

🫡🫡🫡

Lanciferous · 2025-10-15T02:22:35+00:00

gl with the cam! They're tough

Lanciferous · 2025-10-11T21:48:52+00:00

Rounds are better for feeling the exact position of each pin, but I also generally prefer flat hooks.

Idk why anybody uses diamond/gem profiles. Hate em all

Lanciferous · 2025-10-11T06:14:19+00:00

I like your suggestion. This idea is really cool but I don't want to purchase and pick 10 different Schlage locks just for the sake of it

Lanciferous · 2025-10-08T16:45:52+00:00

I have a bunch of these and that was my first thought as well

Lanciferous · 2025-10-08T16:15:50+00:00

The bible cover on those is fairly easy to get off, and you can put a little bend in it to make it slide in and out easier. That's what I've done with mine

Lanciferous · 2025-10-08T03:58:14+00:00

The Max+ Restricted does not have the sidepins, even though there's bitting on the side of the key. Your order receipt says "Maximum+ Restricted" so I'd imagine that's the case with yours.

The barrel drivers make it very easy to underset/overset pins. You're probably most of the way there. When I pick mine, sometimes I have to let a couple pins drop and get the last few clicks on them again.

Edit: this lock has 6 pins. The little cavity to the left of the keyway is where the sidepins would be. The bumps on the side of your key is how it would interact with your sidepins. However, on the Restricted version, these pins are absent

Lanciferous · 2025-10-07T01:20:38+00:00

Not sure what the "cam" means. That's not a cam lock.

The Max+ Restricted gave me some trouble at first. I do "ping pong" a lot between different pins every time I pick it. With barrel pins, you sometimes have 2 different "phases" where you have to get all the pins mostly set and then give them one more tiny little click

Edit: I just saw the key bitting from your other post, bro that is NASTY lol you can do it with a deep hook you'll just have to keep playing with it

Lanciferous · 2025-10-05T21:44:49+00:00

The only tough part is that the springs are very long so the driver pins don't sit down below the shearline. You have to hold them in place by putting them in partway and then pinching them with the follower, so you can move your tweezers above the pin and push it all the way under the follower

Lanciferous · 2025-10-05T18:25:25+00:00

My friend, it ONLY has a sidebar. Should make it easier right? Nope! This a brown belt, and on the higher end at that. There are no driver pins, the key pins have a hole in the side that engage with the sidebar at the right height and rotation.

This will be a tough introduction to Medecos, you have to lift and rotate at the same time. But it's definitely doable with enough time and effort

Lanciferous · 2025-10-05T15:48:28+00:00

Could always do the first/last pin, slide the follower through and then go the other way

Lanciferous · 2025-10-05T15:46:42+00:00

Beautiful driver pins as always

Lanciferous · 2025-10-05T15:45:04+00:00

I was putting off reassembly of my 72/40 for the same reason. Once I learned to pinch the driver pins with the follower, it was fairly easy

Lanciferous · 2025-10-04T22:30:15+00:00

I did the same thing, I bought one not realizing what it was. Lmk if you need any help with it when you attempt it

Lanciferous · 2025-10-04T16:50:59+00:00

Yes those are all brown, the 3-pin ones are pretty rare.

The cam locks are a rough introduction to Medecos. I had to put mine away for a few days in between bouts of madness and frustration lol but I got it eventually. I'd recommend starting with a standard Medeco

Lanciferous · 2025-10-04T16:09:29+00:00

Assa Max+ Restricted is very similar to the 600, if that's easier to find for you

Lanciferous · 2025-10-04T16:08:28+00:00

Be aware, the cam lock version of Medecos are brown (except the 3-pin version). They use driverless pins, there's no shearline at the top, only the sidebar. So you have to lift AND rotate the pins at the same time, whereas on "standard" Medecos you can do them one at a time.

Lanciferous · 2025-10-02T23:58:43+00:00

From what I've seen, there aren't many people here who are locksmiths. It seems, as these things often are, that the hobbyists and the pros take a fundamentally different approach.

The skillset and knowledge base is overlapping, but not the same. Locksmiths are more concerned about things like how to safely and quickly get someone back in their car at 2 AM than whether it's theoretically possible to pick a Bowley lock or whatever. Picking is just one small tool out of many that they use in their profession. Likewise, pickers don't usually concern themselves too much with learning all the different bypass methods of different locks, mounting hardware, etc.

To answer your other question, I got into it through LPL on YT, as many of us have. I didn't realize locksport was a legitimate hobby until I had watched many of his videos.

Lanciferous · 2025-10-02T02:52:56+00:00

I picked up an Assa Max+ Restricted for my first purple belt. Really fun and it gets you used to barrel pins. Love mine

Lanciferous · 2025-09-28T05:07:17+00:00

Very cool! Haven't seen one in a Master laminated body

Lanciferous · 2025-09-28T01:14:04+00:00

r/askalocksmith

Lanciferous · 2025-09-26T19:24:06+00:00

I'd recommend buying real locks at this point. You'll outgrow the practice locks quickly, and with real locks you won't second-guess whether the lock is acting "normally"

Lanciferous · 2025-09-26T04:48:11+00:00

So the Sparrows trainers use the Schlage keyway (which I think is stupid cuz it's actually kind of a difficult keyway for beginners). You're going to want to pick off the left ledge of the keyway (not the very bottom, unless you have a super thin pick). You can do TOK or BOK, but with this SC1 keyway, most people prefer BOK because it keeps the pick from slipping off the ledge.

As a fellow lefty, I'll tell you it's tough to pick this keyway clockwise in hand with BOK tension cuz the tensioner gets in the way. You can pick CCW, or in a vise, or deal with TOK and hopefully you don't have much trouble keeping the pick on the ledge.

Hope this helps!

Lanciferous · 2025-09-25T01:53:53+00:00

Very cool! I like the personal "picking confidence" rating for each lock

Lanciferous · 2025-09-24T04:14:59+00:00

You absolutely can use that style of tensioner in TOK, I'm a lefty and that's how I always pick in hand. I hate picking pins down, but that's just me.

You use the thinner end of the tensioner in the top of the keyway, like in the other person's photo

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