#LearnLockpickingWithAlice lesson 2: Tension tools and pick grip.
Remember when I said turning tools are the most important part of your kit? Well, that's because it's easier to open most locks with a good turning tool and a trash pick than vice versa.
A good turning tool fits the keyway with almost no wiggle room. It shouldn't obstruct your working space, and it should be as easy to apply tension as to remove tension. The two figures below show a tool that is slightly too thin and one that is just right for this lock. The thinner tool sits at a greater angle to the keyway, and when tension is applied, it tries to slip into the small gap in the warding at the very bottom. This makes it dig into the lock's housing and, which both diminishes feedback and gives less control over the core.
The correct turning tool can be easily inserted and removed, but doesn't easily fall out. It will typically form a right-angle to the keyway, and it won't wedge itself into any little nooks or crannies when tension is applied.
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Pick grip: The third image shows my preferred pick grip—pinched between pointer finger and thumb, resting on the side of the middle finger. This gives you great control for a variety of picking and raking techniques. When inserted into a lock, your middle fingertip should touch the front of the core. Touching the lock with your middle fingertip, while resting the pick on the side of your middle finger, gives you several advantages:
- Consistency — you can measure along your fingertip so, without looking, you know how deep the pick is in the keyway, and that you haven't accidentally changed its orientation to the lock.
- Leverage — you can gently rock the pick or rake using your middle fingertip as a pivot. This helps you consistently apply the correct lifting force to the pins and reduces chance of oversetting pins. It also makes dealing with counter-rotation easier when working on spool pins.
- Feedback — you'll feel much more feedback as you work in the lock. When a pin sets, you'll have a chance to feel it in your (correctly-sized) turning tool, along your pick, and in the fingertip/nail of your middle finger where it touches the lock's face. With practice, when a pin drops you should be able to tell which one by where it strikes the shank of your pick—you'll feel it closer or farther from your middle fingertip, and if you know the length and position of the pick-tip, then you know which pin fell.
