[postmortembees]

Raking house locks is a) not difficult and b) not expensive. You don't need to be a professional to do that.

But also, bricks through windows are equally not difficult and not expensive, though they do leave a bit more evidence. When my neighbors have been burgled, this is the preferred method of entry I've seen.

[hutzlibu]

"But also, bricks through windows are equally not difficult and not expensive, though they do leave a bit more evidence"

But that would be loud. You don't want attention when breaking in. (Unless you are a fucked up junkie not caring about anything anymore)

But yes, my parents for example are paranoid about always locking the front door 2 times(and get angry if I don't do it when I visit), but have a glass door in the back. There are also glass cutters.

"Raking house locks is a) not difficult and b) not expensive. You don't need to be a professional to do that"

But you do have to make some investment. They are illegal to purchase (in most places), I would not know, where to start looking. And then you have to learn to use them. And I know someone who did play with those a bit - yet he still could not enter my door at all. So it is a barrier.

[OkayPhysicist]

> They are illegal to purchase (in most places)

Lockpicks are legal almost everywhere in the US.[0] Even in places where they aren't legal, they're not exactly difficult to obtain, given that a perfectly adequate rake can be made from any key that fits the target lock, and there are only ~3 keyways in common residential use.

[0] https://www.toool.us/lockpicking-laws.php

[autoexec]

> They are illegal to purchase (in most places), I would not know, where to start looking.

amazon. Not much of an investment needed https://www.amazon.com/Stainless-Steel-20-School-Toolbox/dp/...

[hutzlibu]

Not avaiable. (at least for me from germany)

[velosol]

If you're interested they're also available on Amazon.de https://www.amazon.de/LockCowboy-Transparent-Practice-Beginn...

[hutzlibu]

I wasn't planning to, but why not pick up a new hobby ;)

(It is indeed cheap)

[alphager]

If you're serious about getting into the hobby, don't buy the cheap chinese picks. They are a pain to use. Get something like this: https://store.spooxe.com/LOCKPICKS_SETS/KICK_START_LOCKPICKI...

[empiricus]

I got one lockpick kit as a gift, and found out I can open the door of my apartment in 20 sec with it as a complete beginner. The fun part was that it was not possible to open it from the inside. That was how I learned that the lock was mounted with the inside part on the outside (it was a rented apartment).

[brewdad]

> But that would be loud. You don't want attention when breaking in. (Unless you are a fucked up junkie not caring about anything anymore)

Pre-Covid, it didn't matter if you were loud. You and your neighbors were all off at work all day. So long as a thief felt confident there was no alarm to trigger, they could make all the racket they wanted and no one would hear.

Today, it's a little more risky but of the half dozen houses on my street I'd probably only hear one getting broken into and that's only if I were downstairs. Our homes aren't on especially large lots either (7-10k sq ft).

[hutzlibu]

But a thief does not know, if no one is there in the neighborhood, unless he is indeed professional and scouts the area in advance. Also in my area, there are plenty of old people always watching and listening ..

[jrockway]

The best locks offer is that you have to plan a break-in in advance; i.e., you have to have your lockpicking tools with you. That said, you can pick master locks with a paperclip; I've done it. So it's not much of a barrier.

That said, just because people have low-security locks on their house doesn't mean that better options aren't available. I have Medeco locks. They are harder to pick than what you get at the hardware store. So far, no break-ins from lockpickers! Also, I'll sell you a rock that keeps tigers away.

[maratc]

Number three is binding, we've got a nice click out of three!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fh6IHCr7uo

[jrockway]

It has a couple of spools. Step above the no-security-pins hardware store locks.

[ddingus]

Wait until an awful rainy night, then rock through window changes! Dog hears it and begins to bark per usual practice.

Dog owner gets up, yells at dog to shut up... because rain!

[naavis]

At least here in the Nordics no one uses easily pickable locks for house or apartment doors. Those kinds of locks are mostly found in cheap padlocks and maybe bike locks. Doors usually have Abloy locks or similar.

[rkagerer]

It's funny, I have the opposite problem. I have a particular door lock for which three different locksmiths have all failed to cut usable keys. The originals work fine, but the copies don't. The last set barely works, if you wiggle it around a lot and ram to get it in, but then it gets stuck in there and is nearly impossible to remove.

They've tried various blanks, and I've never gotten a satisfactory explanation from any of them. It's possible all my local locksmiths are inexpert.

[StillBored]

Its just a schlage or kwickset?

The pins in new locks have pretty tight tolerances for the first couple years until they wear a bit. Its likely they are just using older equipment which isn't sufficiently precise to cut them. Get a key that is exactly right, and works with a bit of wiggling, use it as your primary key for a couple months and it will work just as well as the originals. The slight variations in the key ways/etc will knock the edges off the pins with enough use. Assuming the key is cut correctly from the right blank, you might just need a bit of lube/oil on the key. If you can see variations by eye in the ramps/etc its likely the key is just wrong.

[hutzlibu]

Yeah, I have the same problem with some old locks. Impossible to get a copy for a key, because it does not meet some modern standard.

[sleepybrett]

want to post a picture anonymously? it may be that the biting is difficult. It may also be that one or more of the locks pins is sightly out of spec.