The Open Organization of Lockpickers

Designed and produced by The Open Organization of Lockpickers, this ISO-compliant wallet-sized card can be kept easily on your person without hassle or fuss, but should the need arise for picks in a pinch, simply snap the card apart and you have a nine-piece toolkit at your disposal!

It should be noted that a number of other "credit card" pick sets pop up from time to time, but these others tend to either be interesting novelty items or overpriced and under-equipped. This TOOOL card is a genuine and fully functional lockpick set made of commercial-grade steel, not stamped aluminum or plastic.

If you'd like to obtain one follow this link to securitysnobs.com, as they have agreed to help us with the selling of this exclusive item.

Progressive Picking - Training Locks - $80

Some people place a lot of stock in learning lockpicking visually... you see sites selling "cutaway" or "see through" locks for training purposes. While we think that cutaway locks have a purpose (and some of the well-made ones are really beautiful works, indeed) these are more suited to learning how locks function than to learning how to pick them open, in our view.

Learning to pick is a skill achieved by feel more than by sight. One of the best ways to learn lockpicking, in our view, is to practice with cylinders of increasing difficulty. Our progressive kits are made using six "copies" of the same lock... most of which have had pin stacks removed. So you start out by getting a feel for the lock with just one pin stack, then you try two pins, then three, etc... by the time you've reached five and six pins, you're picking like a pro!

These progressive kits are available in easy, medium, and hard configurations. The difference between the "easy" and the "medium" is how much variation one sees in the "bitting" of the locks... the harder a lock is, the more highly varies the cut positions are on adjacent pin stacks. The "hard" locks are the same bitting as our medium set, but with spool pins inserted in key places, in order to teach you about picking those types of locks, as well.

Few outlets sell progressive training kits. The most popular site we've seen offers a mere five lock kit for $100.

Progressive Picking - Wafer Locks - $60

Like the progressive pin tumbler locks above, these are lock cores that have been specially prepared to allow you to practice and learn. Since a single wafer would be laughably easy, we start you with two in the first lock. Move on to three, four, and five... by that point you're opening just about every wafer lock you'll ever encounter!

Wafer locks are everywhere... on desks, access panels, and even cars. They're typically easy to rake (or jiggle) but sometimes can give you difficulty. This practice kit will make you a pro with them in no time.