About

 

I just got back from BSides Las Vegas and Defcon 20, where I spent four (four!) fabulous days learning to pick locks. I’d gone there anticipating spending some time in the Lockpick Villages, but had no idea my sporting interest would quickly turn into a bit of an obsession.

 

While I understand a lot about hacking and security, my husband has worked in the industry for years, and, as the sculptor Constantin Brancusi said when Rodin asked him if he’d like to be his studio assistant, “No other trees can grow in the shadow of an oak.”

 

I wanted some aspect of hackery that was all mine. I used to get a kick out of being the CAT-5 cablemaker in our house, and I suspected that my finer motor skills might also make me handy with lockpicking.

 

The guys at FALE got me started. They sat me down, showed me how a tumbler lock worked, then gave me practice locks of increasing difficulty. After a while, I was working my way through 5- and 6-pin basic locks with reasonable consistency, and they showed me how to shim handcuffs. Unfortunately, a bite from a strange chihuahua cut the day short (yes, that was me), and thus ended my lessons with the FALE guys.

 

Two days later the Defcon Lockpicking Village, run by TOOOL, opened up for the whole day. I bought some basic tools and started picking. While lingering at the table looking at all the goodies I could buy and wondering what they were for, I struck up a conversation with Jim, who would quickly become a friend and lockpicking mentor.

 

Over the next three days I mostly honed my skills at real-world tumbler locks, struggled with and then owned a Master padlock, and learned another technique for shimming handcuffs. I also taught utter newbies what little I knew -- as the Spanish say, in the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. The joy of picking that first lock, and every new first lock along the way, is a beautiful thing to both experience and behold.

 

Every day, I was sad to see the village close, and every morning I showed up again around opening time and stayed through ‘til closing. Jim and I chatted about getting more women into lockpicking, and then another new friend Jarrett suggested the name.

 

Of course the picking doesn't end when the village closes. In fact, I'm just getting started. This blog is about my experience of learning to pick -- the tips and tools that work for me, the order in which I proceed, and my perspective on the art.