How to pick open a lock with paper clip - life hack

What's going on guys I'm Bill and welcome to Bill's How To. Today I'm going to show you guys how to pick a lock using a paper clip. Let's do this. So what we've got here is a standard padlock seven pin padlock. The only difference is obviously this one here is clear. So this one here is a good padlock to be able to see exactly what's going on inside to help you develop your skills. So you can get these online they're pretty cheap only a few dollars online. So the aim of the game is there's a whole row of pins up on top that you guys can see. Okay, these pins are all cut at different heights. So what that does is that locks that barrel in place and doesn't allow it to turn. So what you have to do is simply bump up all these pins in line in order to be able to turn that barrel. So if we turn this around, you'll be able to see once it's focused. So that top little gold section on the inside, okay, you can see there that pin is the first pin in line. So what we're going to do is we're going to use These paper clips so two standard paper clips we're going to turn these into two little tools so we can pick this lock. I've seen a lot of people do some fancy things online turn them into rakes and individual picks and things like that so what I'm going to do I'm not going to do that just very very easy okay all we're going to do is simply bend this one here down like that on a 45 degree angle okay and I'll show you guys what we do with that in a second. With the other one we're just going to bend it out straight all the way or as straight as you can get it doesn't have to be precise So bend that out straight. Once we've got it straight we're going to bend the two to meet each other and just fold that down. So what you want to do in this case is this loop up the top you want to get it squashed as much as possible so if you put a bit of pressure on that should fold down. So once you're done that's what it looks like okay so it's pretty simple we haven't done anything special or difficult yet. Next thing you want to do is you want to put that loop down the bottom section of your padlock okay just at the start so we only want to get it in say about half a centimeter five mils or so just enough to be able to get it in there and get a bit of grip so right down the bottom position it right down the bottom like that and then once you've done that you just want to simply bend that across so get that in position bend it all the way across and now you've got your tensioning tool So once you've got your tension already all you do is slot it in the bottom of the lock just like that so you can see that's starting to actually turn the lock a little bit there'll be a little bit of play in there before we actually pick it. So all you want to do is slot it in that bottom section using your finger we're going to hold it in place and we're going to keep tension on there. One of the biggest mistakes people make is putting too much tension okay so we don't want to actually force it we just want to put enough to be able to turn it so just a little bit of tension just like that is enough to actually open up that lock. So the reason why I bend it on a 45 degree angle is so that you can use it as both a rake and as an individual pin pick. So what we do if we slot that in from this side okay, you can see that's where we're aiming to hit those little pins up on the top. So what we do is we keep that up on the top section, slot it all the way through and as I pull it up you can see that I'm actually moving the pins out of the way. So what we need to do you can choose you can either sit there and pick it individual each pin as you go or you can rake it so by raking it it means you just slot your pin all the way through and then you simply pull back on all the pins that'll give you the raking action moving all the pins as you go along. So now we'll get started so put your tensioner down at the bottom put a bit of tension on there like we discussed before once you've got your tensioner in place then you can slot in your pick okay and what we're going to do is we're going to We're going to work these individually. So now that we've done that we're ready to get started so put the tensioner down at the bottom, put a little bit of tension on there and what we're going to use is our pick. So you've got two options we can either rake or we can individual pick. So I'll show you guys both methods so individually picking each pin as you go. The upside about the clear lock is that you can actually see the pins so it makes a huge difference when you're learning how to pick. So once we feel that click now you have to remember that your tensioner is actually pretty weak because we're using a paper clip. Now I felt that move. So if we have a look you can see there it's on a bit of an angle. Now obviously if I pull this out of the way, paperclip's going to start to bend. Okay we can actually do it for argument's sake and that'll actually pop. Now we'll do it once again with the raking action, tension on and then just keep raking it. You just continue to keep raking those pins until you feel it give way. Once that's done, bang! Nice and easy. If you find that the pins are actually really stiff or you've been working at it for a while, what you do is just let go of that tensioner. That'll reset the pins and the pins will all line up once again and then you can start again after you put the tension back on. So I'll just show you guys what I mean by resetting the pins. So let's say for argument's sake we've got the tension on, Okay we've pushed all our pins up, once you put that tension on you'll find that the pins actually stay in position. So that's the whole purpose of the tension. As you pop up the pins individually they'll actually line up and they'll hold in place. So long as you have tension on there they'll hold in place. So let's say for argument's sake I've been working at this for a few minutes, not getting anywhere, I can feel that the pins are a bit solid in there, they're not free. So what I do is I simply release the tension. And you can see those pins start to drop back down into place. So that's the whole point. So then we put the tension back on and we can get straight back into doing that. So there you have it guys. There's an easy way to pick blocks using paper clips. No fancy or expensive tools needed. Very, very easy. Hope you guys have enjoyed the video. Like, comment and subscribe as always. If there's anything else you guys want to learn how to do in or around your house, put it in the comment section below and I'll be happy to show you guys how to do it. Until next time, I'm Bill. Thanks for watching Bill's How To.