What Is Lock Picking 101 Forum?

Updated

Lock Picking 101 Forum is an online community for people interested in lock picking as a hobby. Its stated purpose is to support "the fun and ethical hobby of lock picking," and it organizes discussion into boards that range from absolute-beginner questions to advanced techniques and professional locksmith topics. If you want to learn how locks work, find tutorials, or talk with other hobbyists, this is the kind of site you would visit. If you are looking for a commercial locksmith service or a place to buy tools directly, note that the forum itself is a discussion space; it links out to vendors and reviews rather than selling anything itself.

What you'll find on the site

The forum is structured as a set of topic boards. Based on the site's own board list, the main areas include:

  • Lock Picking 101 – FAQs, Tutorials, and General Information — described as "THE starting place for new members," with FAQs, instructions on how to pick a lock, product reviews, links to related sites, forum rules, and tool vendor links.
  • Got Questions? – Ask Beginner Hobby Lockpicking Questions Here — for general questions after reading the FAQs.
  • Pick-Fu [Intermediate Skill Level] — for people who have "picked all the easy locks" and want to develop techniques further, exchange tips, videos, and lessons.
  • Ask A Locksmith — public questions answered in a locksmith-oriented section, including a "This Old Lock" board for fixing or installing locks.
  • Hardware — sub-boards on locks, lock patents, lock picks, lock bumping, impressioning, pick guns, European locks and picks, and more.
  • Locksmith Business Info — training and licensing, running a business, keyways and key blanks, master keyed systems, electronic locks and access, and related topics.
  • Buy – Sell – Trade — member-to-member trading, including an "It came from Ebay!" board.
  • Advanced Topics — some boards are marked "Special Access Required," such as High Security Locks, Bypass Techniques, Safes & Safe Locks, and Automotive Entry & Tools.
  • Locksport Groups — local chapter and organizational boards for the sport side of the hobby.

There are also community features outside the main boards: a live chat on Discord, a Keypicking forum chat, and a Reddit r/lockpicking chat link.

Who it's for

The board names make the intended audience fairly clear:

  • Complete beginners who need the FAQ and basic instructions before asking anything.
  • Intermediate hobbyists who already open easy locks and want structured practice and technique discussion.
  • Locksmiths and people curious about the trade, including business, licensing, and hardware questions.
  • Locksport participants looking for local groups and organized hobby activity.

The recurring emphasis is on the hobby being both fun and ethical — the site frames lock picking as a legitimate pastime rather than a how-to for breaking into places.

How to use it

  1. Start with the Lock Picking 101 board. It is explicitly labeled the starting place for new members and holds the FAQs, tutorials, rules, and vendor links.
  2. Read the Forum Rules before posting, since the community is built around an ethical framing.
  3. If the FAQ doesn't answer your question, post in Got Questions? rather than in an advanced board.
  4. Once you can open basic locks, move to Pick-Fu for intermediate technique.
  5. Use the Search function and the "View New Posts" / "View Active Topics" links to check whether your question already has an answer.

A practical note: the site shows activity timestamps and last-post information on each board, so you can judge how active a section is before investing time in it. Some advanced boards require special access, so not every topic is visible to a new account.

What it is not

  • It is not a store. Tool and vendor information appears as reviews and links, not as direct sales.
  • It is not a substitute for professional help. The "Ask A Locksmith" section is a discussion board, not a service dispatch.
  • It is not a beginner-only site. The advanced and locksmith-business sections go well beyond entry-level hobby content.

If your goal is to learn the hobby from the ground up, the FAQ-and-tutorial board is the entry point. If your goal is to connect with other pickers or find local locksport activity, the community and group boards are where that happens.