About Lock Picking
Lock picking is an age-old practice that has a myriad of modern applications. It is considered an art because of its difficulty and the skill level and finesse required. Read on for a little more information on picking a lock. Does this Spark an idea?
Identification
Lock picking is a way to open a lock without damaging any of the mechanisms and allowing for the key to still be used. It is a particularly non-destructive way of breaking a lock, and can also be very difficult to detect.
Function
There are several different purposes for lock picking of varying legality. The first is the completely legal. If, for instance, someone locks themselves out of home, it is perfectly legal to hire a lock picker. The second purpose, of course, is to break a lock without someone's knowledge or permission, which can be done with two main purposes. First, to access whatever the lock is guarding (be it the house, the contents of a safe, etc.), and secondly, for the thrill of beating the puzzle that is the lock. The latter tends to be more a victimless crime than the former.
Significance
Lock picking has so-called "hack value," which is related to the idea that some things are worth attempting solely because others believe them to be difficult or impossible. For example, an antique lock would not be difficult to pick, but the multiple layers of security--all different types of multimedia locks--at the FBI building would be very, very difficult. This significance is due in part to the psychological value of paramount intelligence, essentially that committing the act of breaking a lock that someone has put in place establishes your mental superiority.
Warning
Despite the "hack value" or enjoying the puzzle aspects of picking a lock, if you are doing so without the owner's permission, keep in mind that this is an illegal activity and, in some states, merely possessing the necessary tools (a lock-picking set) is a crime.
Types
There are several different types of tools in a lock-picking set, including one or two torsion wrenches whose purpose is to hold pieces in place during the methodical picking of the lock. There are picks in various shapes, like a half-diamond pick (which has a small metal half-diamond shape on the tip) and a hook pick (which has a hook on the tip).
Tags: About Lock, About Lock Picking, breaking lock, different types, hack value, Lock picking