Lockpicking has become a trademark skill of hackers all across the world, and is regularly taught at hackerspaces and maker faires. But a lot of the time, the sets have already been made or bought online somewhere. However, [Sean] has demonstrated how to create a lock picking set with ordinary paperclips in the video embedded at the end of this post. Wikihow also has these awesome instructions on how to build them.
What’s great is that the material for these picks are easily found. There are other ways to fashion a set together. For example, street sweeper bristles can be used. And electrical metal tape is a good material as well, but these paperclip sets are, by far, the most accessible. Pretty much anywhere that has office stationary supplies will have mounds of these little metal clips lying around.
But how well do they work? Have you made a paperclip lock picking set before?
1.Collect your materials. Most of what you need to pick a lock with a paperclip is easily accessible. You only need three different things. The paperclips, one to act as a lock pick, one to act as a tension wrench, and a pair of pliers to shape the paperclips.Two big paperclips, one to act as a tension wrench, one to act as the pick. There is no upper size limit, but you want to make sure that the width is not slim enough that it will fit into the lock and that the height is tall enough so that you can insert it into the lock while still holding onto enough length to turn them.Grab a pair of pliers to shape the two paperclips. It's easier to use pliers than your hands.
2.Unfold the first paperclip into the lock pick. To do this, unfold the large edge of your paperclip twice until a straight portion juts out. You will be inserting the straight part into the lock to use as a pick.
Some locksmiths also put a tiny upward bend into the tip of the pick. This is to depress the pins inside the lock but is not strictly necessary.
3.Make your tension wrench. Take out both bends in the jumbo paperclip until the paperclip is two straight wires with a curve at the end. Press the curved end down with a wrench. Make a 90° bend in the curved end that's about 1 centimeter (0.4 in) long.Alternately, you could unfold an edge of your paperclip until a straight portion sticks out at a 90° angle. This is a basic tension wrench that is workable but not ideal.
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