The foundation of the craft. A tension wrench applies light rotational pressure to the cylinder while a pick manipulates individual pins one at a time. When a pin reaches the shear line — the gap between the plug and the housing — it sets. Repeat for every pin. The lock opens. This is how we start every test.
Forget finesse. A rake pick is scrubbed back and forth through the keyway while tension is applied — randomly bouncing pins until enough happen to set simultaneously. It's the brute-force cousin of SPP. Embarrassingly effective on cheap locks. We've opened Master Locks with a rake in under 10 seconds. More times than we'd like to admit.
A specially cut "bump key" — all cuts at maximum depth — is inserted one notch out from full insertion. A sharp blow transfers kinetic energy through the key to the driver pins, momentarily bouncing them above the shear line. In that split second of airtime, tension rotates the plug. The lock opens. It looks like magic. It terrified locksmiths when it went public in 2002.
Padlock specific. A thin metal shim — cut from a soda can in about 30 seconds — is slid down along the shackle into the locking mechanism. It depresses the locking pawl, releasing the shackle without a key. Cheap spring-latch padlocks are completely defeated by this. Double-locking padlocks require two shims, one per side. The shim disappears after opening. No trace.
The lock is never touched. Bypassing attacks the door, frame, or latch mechanism directly. Loiding (credit card or shim) slips spring latches. Under-door tools manipulate lever handles from outside. Door gap attacks reach thumb turns through gaps in poorly fitted doors. Sometimes the weakest point isn't the lock at all — it's the $12 strike plate attached with half-inch screws.
The spy method. A blank key is coated in a marking medium (soot, marker, lacquer) and inserted into the lock. When wiggled under tension, the pins leave tiny marks on the blank at the exact cut depths needed. The key is filed at those marks. Reinsert, repeat, refine. After several iterations, you have a working key — made from scratch, without ever having seen the original. It takes patience, skill, and good eyes.
Bolt cutters apply massive shearing force to a padlock shackle. A cheap 5/16" shackle folds in seconds. The measurement that matters is shackle diameter and hardness — Grade-5 boron steel shackles on locks like the Abloy Protec2 or Abus Granit 37 will laugh at most bolt cutters. We've bent the jaws on a cheap pair trying to cut a Granit. The lock won.
A drill bit aimed at the shear line destroys the driver pins, allowing the cylinder to rotate freely. It's methodical and quiet compared to other destructive methods. Anti-drill pins — hardened steel rods that spin freely and deflect drill bits — stop most attempts cold. A good cylinder will destroy several drill bits before yielding, if it yields at all.
The lock is fine. The door frame is not. A solid kick at the latch side transfers enormous force to the strike plate. Standard strike plates with short screws pull clean out of soft wood frames in one hit. Security strike plates with 3-inch screws into the stud change everything — at that point you're fighting the structural frame, not the hardware. Most residential doors are one decent kick from failure.
The final boss. An angle grinder with a cutting wheel goes through almost anything given enough time and discs. The only real variables are noise, sparks, and how many discs the attacker brought. Hardened steel slows it down and burns through discs fast — a quality Abus Granit will consume 4-6 cutting discs before yielding. In a real-world scenario the noise and sparks are the primary deterrents. Nobody ignores an angle grinder.