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Mechanical Skills
Learning how to pull the pick over the pins is
surprisingly difficult. The
problem is that the mechanical
skills you learned early in
life involved maintaining a
fixed position or
fixed path for your
hands independent of the amount of
force required. In lock picking, you must learn how to
apply a fixed force
independent of the
position of your
hand. As you pull the
pick out of the lock you want to apply a fixed
pressure on the pins. The
pick should bounce up and down in the keyway according to the
resistance offered by each pin.
To pick a lock you need
feedback about the
effects of your manipulations. To get the
feedback, you must train yourself to be sensitive to the
sound and feel of the pick passing over the
pins. This is a
mechanical skill that can only be learned with practice. The
exercises will help you
recognize the important
information coming from your
fingers.