Lock Picking Glossary: Every Term a Beginner Needs

Locksport has its own vocabulary, and most guides use it without explaining it. Every term below links to where it matters in the shop or the guides. Start with how to pick a lock for beginners if you have never held a pick.

Lock mechanism terms

Pin tumbler lock

The most common lock type: spring-loaded pin stacks that must all be lifted to the shear line for the plug to turn. Padlocks, Euro cylinders, rim cylinders. Learn it on a transparent padlock.

Plug and housing

The plug is the rotating core the key goes into; the housing is the fixed body around it.

Shear line

The gap between plug and housing. When every pin stack's split sits exactly on it, the plug turns. The whole of lock picking is about reaching it one pin at a time.

Key pin, driver pin, spring

A pin stack from bottom to top: the key pin (touched by the key or the pick), the driver pin (blocks the shear line when no key is present), and a spring pushing both down.

Keyway

The slot the key enters. Its shape (warding) decides which picks fit. European cylinders often have narrow, paracentric keyways — the reason our picks are 0.5–0.6 mm.

Warding

The ridges inside the keyway that force the key's profile. Paracentric warding overlaps the centre line and makes picks work around it.

Euro cylinder / Euro profile

The standard door cylinder across most of Europe. Practise on a transparent Euro cylinder.

Rim cylinder

The cylinder of a night latch, mounted through the door. Included in several of our transparent sets.

Wafer lock

Flat spring-loaded wafers instead of pin stacks; cabinets, mailboxes, cam locks, older cars. The easiest family to open. See wafer locks.

Dimple lock

A pin tumbler with a flat key and pins set horizontally; common on European front doors. Needs flag picks. See dimple lock picks.

Disc detainer lock

Rotating discs with gates and a sidebar instead of pins; Abloy, ABUS Granit, most quality bike locks. See disc detainer locks.

Tubular lock

Pins arranged in a circle around a central post, opened by a round key; vending machines, laptop locks. See tubular locks.

Picking technique terms

Tension (torque)

The light turning force applied to the plug that makes pins bind. The most important variable in picking, and the one beginners get wrong by using too much. See tension wrenches.

Tension wrench / turner

The tool that applies tension. BOK (bottom of keyway) L-wrenches, TOK (top of keyway) pry bars, twist-flex wrenches.

Binding pin

Under tension, the one pin that resists more than the others because its hole is slightly off-centre. Always the next pin to set.

Binding order

The sequence in which pins bind on a given lock. Fixed for that lock; learned by feel.

Set (a pin)

To lift a pin's split to the shear line so the plug rotates a fraction and holds it there. You feel a small click.

Over-set

Lifting a pin too far so the key pin crosses the shear line and jams the plug. Fix: release tension and start again.

Single pin picking (SPP)

Setting pins one at a time with a hook. The core skill; the only technique that counts in the belt ranking from yellow belt up.

Raking / scrubbing

Moving a wavy pick rapidly in the keyway under light tension so pins bounce to the shear line. Fast on easy locks, useless on security pins. See rakes.

Rocking

A gentler rake motion pivoting the pick like a seesaw; the standard Bogota technique.

False set

The plug turns a little and stops — usually a spool pin's waist catching the shear line. Feels like an open; is not.

Counter-rotation

The plug pushing back against the wrench when you lift a spool past its false set. The signal to let the wrench move slightly while you keep lifting.

Feedback

What the lock tells you through the pick and the wrench: binding, clicks, give, counter-rotation. Everything in picking is reading feedback.

Bypass

Opening a lock without manipulating the mechanism as the key does: shims, combs, jigglers. See shims and bypass tools.

Bumping / pick gun

Transferring a sharp impulse to the driver pins so they jump above the shear line for an instant. Bump keys and pick guns. Works on standard pins, fails on security pins.

Decoding

Reading pin heights to cut a key — Lishi-style 2-in-1 tools. A locksmith skill, not a belt skill.

Pins and security features

Standard pins

Plain cylindrical drivers. Rake and pick easily.

Security pins

Drivers shaped to catch at the shear line: spool, serrated, mushroom, gin bottle. See security-pin practice locks.

Spool pin

A driver with a narrow waist that gives a false set and counter-rotation.

Serrated pin

A driver (or key pin) with several grooves; each clicks like a set.

Mushroom pin

A driver with a tapered waist; a softer spool.

High-low pinning

A very short key pin next to a very tall one; needs a deep hook to reach without over-setting the neighbour.

Repinning

Taking a lock apart with a follower and replacing pins — to change the key, or to build practice locks. See repinning kits.

Follower

A rod the diameter of the plug used to push the plug out while keeping driver pins and springs in the housing.

Progressive pinning

Building a practice lock with 2, then 3, 4, 5, 6 pins as you improve. See progressive practice locks.

Tools

Hook (short, medium, deep, gem)

The single pin picking tool; profiles vary by tip height and shape. See hooks.

Half-diamond

A triangular tip usable as a light rake and as a pick in tight keyways.

Snake, Bogota, city, wave rake

Rake profiles: gentle wave, triple peak, jagged skyline, deep wave.

Flag pick

A dimple-lock pick with a small rotatable flag at the tip.

Jiggler / try-out key

Pre-cut blanks rocked in wafer locks. See jiggler keys.

Shim

A thin curved piece of steel slid down a padlock shackle to release the latch.

Cutaway lock

A real lock with part of the body machined away to show the pins. See cutaway locks.

Transparent / clear lock

A working lock in an acrylic body; the beginner's first lock. See transparent padlocks.

Pinning tweezers, pin tray, vise, cylinder stand

Repinning and bench accessories. See accessories.

Community terms

Locksport

The recreational picking and study of locks, on locks you own. Clubs: TOOOL (NL, international), SSDeV (DE); online: r/lockpicking.

Belt ranking

The r/lockpicking difficulty ladder from white to black belt. Explained on the belt ranking page.

Challenge lock

A lock re-pinned by another picker to be as nasty as possible, sent to you to open.

LPL

The LockPickingLawyer, the YouTube channel that brought more beginners to the hobby than anything else.

Going equipped

The UK offence of carrying tools for burglary outside your home. Why UK pickers keep picks at home — see legality by country.