This past Saturday I had the opportunity to sit with the guys from Mindset Labs to take Shay's 4 hour lock picking class. It was taught by Shay and his lock picking savant, Ben. My lock picking experience prior to this had been limited to fooling around with a Masterlock Padlock and paperclips assisted by the all-knowing YouTube. Needless to say, the lock never opened without the key. Post the 4 hour class and proper picks, I can pop the same lock in under 60 seconds. Additionally I spent the rest of Saturday trying my newly acquired skills picking all the locks in my house. Talk about a reinforcement to the quote that "locks are there to keep honest people honest.". If you ever needed another reminder about why you keep that pistol in your nightstand, try seeing how easy it is to break into your own house without just kicking the door off the hinges….I digress.
In a nutshell…this was a great course directed at the beginner. Eight students, some with past Mindset Labs experience and others, like me, new to the place. The entire class was conducted in a conference room with comfy chairs and A/C. Did I mention free bagels. Tools, for purchase later if you desired, were provided along with a basic understanding of lock anatomy/physiology. After a quick run through the tools we worked on basic technique. Shay started us on "old-school" technique, to reinforce how newer, shinier tools worked on the same principle of the older stuff. We started picking a single-pin lock and quickly progressed up to 5 pin locks. I'm pretty comfortable saying that I think by the end all of us had popped a 5 pin at least once. Additionally we had a quick run down of how to make your own tools if you needed/wanted to. Like most courses discussed in this forum, they gave you the basics and a path to get better, all you need to do is practice.
If you are interested in picking up this skill, or at the least spending 4 hours in relative comfort with some fun people talking s*^t and challenging yourself, this was a great 50 bucks. The only thing I regret is not signing up for the Escaping Restraints class that started right after lunch. A mistake I soon plan to correct. Thanks Shay. Great class. Great people.
Mike
In a nutshell…this was a great course directed at the beginner. Eight students, some with past Mindset Labs experience and others, like me, new to the place. The entire class was conducted in a conference room with comfy chairs and A/C. Did I mention free bagels. Tools, for purchase later if you desired, were provided along with a basic understanding of lock anatomy/physiology. After a quick run through the tools we worked on basic technique. Shay started us on "old-school" technique, to reinforce how newer, shinier tools worked on the same principle of the older stuff. We started picking a single-pin lock and quickly progressed up to 5 pin locks. I'm pretty comfortable saying that I think by the end all of us had popped a 5 pin at least once. Additionally we had a quick run down of how to make your own tools if you needed/wanted to. Like most courses discussed in this forum, they gave you the basics and a path to get better, all you need to do is practice.
If you are interested in picking up this skill, or at the least spending 4 hours in relative comfort with some fun people talking s*^t and challenging yourself, this was a great 50 bucks. The only thing I regret is not signing up for the Escaping Restraints class that started right after lunch. A mistake I soon plan to correct. Thanks Shay. Great class. Great people.
Mike
