One of my colleagues presented me with a padlock that had been cut from a locker. The end of the shackle was still locked into the body of the padlock. Much to my annoyance, I was unable to pick the lock. I think I must have tried most of my lock picks on this padlock, but it refused to yield.
I received the Polaris kit this weekend so I decided to try it against this padlock.
I decided to start with the four-hump Bogota. While this is a reasonably-sized padlock, the key-way where the pins are is very narrow. The Bogota was not making enough contact. I decided to move on to the four-hump Sinusoid, rake no.5. A bit better, but still not opening. Rake no.7, the five-hump Sinusoid. This felt very different and the rake was clearly finding its way into the narrow key-way. A few seconds of rocking and scrubbing and the lock opened. This was a nice example of the tactile aspects of lock picking. Often you can feel what is “right” or “nearly right” and use this to guide your selection of rake or pick.
Yet another conquest for Polaris!