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SO TO SPEAK
Class opens door to lock-picking
Tuesday, March 29, 2011 03:06 AMThe Columbus Dispatch
COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Ethan Dicks of Columbus tries to pick a lock during a class at the Columbus Idea Foundry.COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Bill Sempf explains some of the inner workings of locks during a class that teaches how to pick them.COURTNEY HERGESHEIMER | DISPATCH
Ethan Dicks of Columbus tries to pick a lock during a class at the Columbus Idea Foundry.
I learned how to pick locks the other night, but your belongings are safe.I wasn’t too good at it.
Bill Sempf, the teacher, is far more accomplished; but he’s no threat, either.
The first rule of “hobby picking” is never to try it on a lock that you don’t have permission to pick.
“We’re not training the next level of burglars here,” said Sempf, 39.
About 20 people participated in his lock-picking at the Columbus Idea Foundry, 1158 Corrugated Way, a community workshop (www.columbusideafoundry.com) that teaches useful skills such as welding, soldering and blacksmithing.
Of what use is lock-picking?
A lot of computer security people learn it so they’ll understand just how vulnerable their equipment might be, even behind locked doors.
Picking is also an interesting intellectual exercise – “like solving a Rubik’s Cube in the dark,” said Sempf, a software developer and an author of programming books.
Many of his students were there because they relished the challenge.
“I enjoy puzzles – and this is just another kind of puzzle,” said Ethan Dicks, 44, of Columbus.
As Sempf explains it, most of our front doors are secured by pin-tumbler locks, which rely on a series (usually five) of tiny metal pins and springs to keep a cylinder from turning. When the key is inserted, it pushes the pins into a position that allows the cylinder to rotate.
Lock-picking is the art of moving those pins with the assistance of two thin metal rods instead of a key. (In the movies, the picker typically uses one rod and opens the lock in seconds; neither scenario is realistic.)
Sempf passed around a set of picks and a series of progressively more secure locks for the class to attack. I managed to pick the first one because it had only one set of pins. Beyond that, I wasn’t too adept.
Lock-picking might be something of a trend right now. YouTube offers a variety of how-to videos, and Locksport International – formed in 2005 to draw hobby pickers together – has several chapters, including the one in Columbus that Sempf organized.
The sport in the name indicates what lock pickers do for fun: They compete against one another in lock-picking games.
But don’t try this at home, or at least on your home. It’s easy to damage a lock while trying to pick it, Sempf said. Hobby pickers work with unmounted locks.
Sempf’s own front door has an exotic lock with 14 sets of pins and a key featuring a double row of teeth. It would be extremely difficult to pick – not that Sempf has any illusions about that protecting his property. A criminal would just break a window, he said.
Lock-picking is too slow for most burglars, said Columbus Police Sgt. Rich Weiner. Criminals prefer forcing a door or window open through cruder, faster means, such as prying with a crowbar.
Sempf’s fancy door hardware springs from a motivation other than security.
“It’s because I’m a lock geek,” he said.
Joe Blundo is a Dispatch columnist.
jblundo@dispatch.com
