Every place I look and every forum I find, people say that beginners should stay far away from it-- but of course they have it themselves and it works great. People who are deep into the hobby worry about beginners getting into fundamentals, when the majority just want something to get them further towards the initial learning curve that 99% of the world will never start. This offends those who have sunk so much time and money into their hobby/career and invalidates that effort. So "experts" say to start with the hard way, people with moderate interest won't, and the hobby/career stays more exclusive.
Thanks for the comment. It’s all about having fun, it’s a hobby after all. No one gets to tell anyone else what the right way is to have fun :). You are right! The video is just my opinion and is “true for me” but that doesn’t mean it has to be “true for you”.
Also, just my experience, lockpicking is not a community that wants to “stay exclusive” - I find it to be rather the opposite and are very happy to have people join in the fun - if Lishi picks is a pathway into this hobby then I fully support that.
@@JonLock I appreciate your response. It reminds me of the Chord Buddy for the guitar, and how I received one a decade ago but was told by family not to use it because I wouldn't get the fundamentals. Instead, I never used it or learned the fundamentals. Not the same tool, and for a different job, but I see the same learning curve.
@@JonLock Personally ordered two of them myself from Alibaba a while back. I feel it helps me to visualize the distance between pins, how much I need to move picks in differnet directions, etcetera. Sure it isn't perfect in teaching, but it helps to get an understanding from which you can somewhat get better groundset on where to go from there. It has truly helped me by using them, but I also keep them incase I'm in a pinch and just need the easy and quick way out.
The same people who didn’t learn on plastic locks are the ones who talk crap about them but everyone who’s learned on one speaks very highly of them. I hope I never become so ignorant like some of these people that gatekeep the hobby giving horrible advice to new pickers. The lishi helps a ton in learn to pick. I’m grateful for all the threat learning tools very have now.
I noticed people that have a lot of experience picking locks say they don’t think it makes it that much easier. But someone’s like with two month of experience I’m telling you right now it’s worlds easier. You can see what’s happening on the inside of a lock on the outside as if you’re picking a cutaway. I can’t speak for security pins with lishi but regular pins are night and day easier. I love my lishi so much. It didn’t take away my love of regular picking and it’s very fun to use and makes it so much easier.
Same exact thing on my sparrows spool cutaway. Pin number 2 always falls in a false set in the last pin that needs to be set but when you go to push past the binding you get no feedback whatsoever you have to manually let off your tension bar you get zero counter rotation. Oftentimes you'll overset it, because without the counter rotation it's hard to tell how much pressure you're putting on the pin. I don't know if that's just a tolerance issue or what. I don't have a leash yet but it's the same thing with picks.
Hey Jon Hope all is well Great video I have used this for a while,it takes time to get the feel Now I have never encountered that issue on spools,if tension is too heavy ,I can see the locks ability to counter rotate being much more difficult,just my thought Great tool for decoding and learning pick placement but again some time is needed especially on the tension aspect,these tools can be easily damaged Appreciate your content Stay well
Great video. I personally enjoy Lishi tools and am adding them to my arsenal just to have. I recently tried the KW1 Lishi on my front door deadbolt which is loaded with spool and serrated pins and it picked very quickly. Personally, I love the Peterson or Genesis pick sets and single pin picking but it's noce to know the Lishis are there if needed. Thanks for sharing, have a great weekend.
would the SC4 work as well, since the Sparrows Cutaway's cylinder can go up to 6 pins ? I know there are some issues with the SC4 not getting in correctly in many SC1 locks.
Don't buy them from LPL's website. I bought the SC1 and a kwikset one (forgot the name of it) on Alibaba directly from the manufacturers for $40 each including shipping. Got the cheapest shipping and they both arrived in around a week; one in 5 days and the other in 9 days. Considering it gets cheaper the more you order, he's making a fortune of each sale.
@@rfish2 While I agree, I'm happy to help support him to, considering at the time, one was $40-$60 from LPL and that was without shipping. I paid $13-ish for each and if I had ordered 500 units, it would've been $7 each. I could be misunderstanding how much money goes into it all (warehouse, employees, website, etcetera), but $33 made off each sale seems a bit excessive.
@@mrgw98 since we have no understanding of his shipping, fulfillment, handling, opex, customer support, returns, lost items or the customer acquistion cost, I wouldnt draw the conclusion that he is making an exorbitant margin. No need to judge a small entrepreneur trying to make a living.
I agree! I dont think that lishis are good tools for beginners as too much raking without SPP. You have to learn how to place the pick, how specific feedback feels and how the special behavior of pins looks like. Too much help at the beginning will block any real increase of skills and this "aha" moment when you learned something new by making the real experience would be missing. Also way to expensive and limited to just a few keyways and most pickers wont need the decoding option
Thanks for your comments... I think you are spot on - you might learn to get good at the lishi, but that's not going to translate into any other skills needed to SPP. Fun tool, but just falls into the "cool, but doesn't really fill a needs gap" category for me.
It is a great tool for locksmiths. mainly for automotive locksmithing and ( in my opinion as a locksmith) not worth the money for home and residential locksmithing and lock picking. MOST OF ALL , NO GOOD FOR A NEWBE LOCK SPORTERS!
He does - but they have been around for much longer than since he started selling them. Also “pro tip” - order them on eBay straight from China at a better price.
![[1428] Inside Perspective: Picking Spool Pins](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Cqd9DPrgi3g/mqdefault.jpg)
![[1428] Inside Perspective: Picking Spool Pins](/img/tr.png)
Every place I look and every forum I find, people say that beginners should stay far away from it-- but of course they have it themselves and it works great. People who are deep into the hobby worry about beginners getting into fundamentals, when the majority just want something to get them further towards the initial learning curve that 99% of the world will never start. This offends those who have sunk so much time and money into their hobby/career and invalidates that effort. So "experts" say to start with the hard way, people with moderate interest won't, and the hobby/career stays more exclusive.
Thanks for the comment. It’s all about having fun, it’s a hobby after all. No one gets to tell anyone else what the right way is to have fun :). You are right! The video is just my opinion and is “true for me” but that doesn’t mean it has to be “true for you”.
Also, just my experience, lockpicking is not a community that wants to “stay exclusive” - I find it to be rather the opposite and are very happy to have people join in the fun - if Lishi picks is a pathway into this hobby then I fully support that.
@@JonLock I appreciate your response. It reminds me of the Chord Buddy for the guitar, and how I received one a decade ago but was told by family not to use it because I wouldn't get the fundamentals. Instead, I never used it or learned the fundamentals. Not the same tool, and for a different job, but I see the same learning curve.
@@JonLock Personally ordered two of them myself from Alibaba a while back. I feel it helps me to visualize the distance between pins, how much I need to move picks in differnet directions, etcetera. Sure it isn't perfect in teaching, but it helps to get an understanding from which you can somewhat get better groundset on where to go from there. It has truly helped me by using them, but I also keep them incase I'm in a pinch and just need the easy and quick way out.
The same people who didn’t learn on plastic locks are the ones who talk crap about them but everyone who’s learned on one speaks very highly of them. I hope I never become so ignorant like some of these people that gatekeep the hobby giving horrible advice to new pickers. The lishi helps a ton in learn to pick. I’m grateful for all the threat learning tools very have now.
I noticed people that have a lot of experience picking locks say they don’t think it makes it that much easier. But someone’s like with two month of experience I’m telling you right now it’s worlds easier. You can see what’s happening on the inside of a lock on the outside as if you’re picking a cutaway. I can’t speak for security pins with lishi but regular pins are night and day easier. I love my lishi so much. It didn’t take away my love of regular picking and it’s very fun to use and makes it so much easier.
Same exact thing on my sparrows spool cutaway. Pin number 2 always falls in a false set in the last pin that needs to be set but when you go to push past the binding you get no feedback whatsoever you have to manually let off your tension bar you get zero counter rotation. Oftentimes you'll overset it, because without the counter rotation it's hard to tell how much pressure you're putting on the pin. I don't know if that's just a tolerance issue or what. I don't have a leash yet but it's the same thing with picks.
The lishi is great for locksmiths because you can decode the key cuts
Totally agree - the decoding for locksmiths is great! If you’re not making keys then I like regular lock picks for just picking…
Hey Jon
Hope all is well
Great video
I have used this for a while,it takes time to get the feel
Now I have never encountered that issue on spools,if tension is too heavy ,I can see the locks ability to counter rotate being much more difficult,just my thought
Great tool for decoding and learning pick placement but again some time is needed especially on the tension aspect,these tools can be easily damaged
Appreciate your content
Stay well
Great video. I personally enjoy Lishi tools and am adding them to my arsenal just to have. I recently tried the KW1 Lishi on my front door deadbolt which is loaded with spool and serrated pins and it picked very quickly. Personally, I love the Peterson or Genesis pick sets and single pin picking but it's noce to know the Lishis are there if needed. Thanks for sharing, have a great weekend.
mostly that's all I use them for is decoding after picking.
I was curious about how the Lishi felt to pick with, seems like it's probably more for locksmiths than lock hobbyists, great video
would the SC4 work as well, since the Sparrows Cutaway's cylinder can go up to 6 pins ?
I know there are some issues with the SC4 not getting in correctly in many SC1 locks.
Don't buy them from LPL's website. I bought the SC1 and a kwikset one (forgot the name of it) on Alibaba directly from the manufacturers for $40 each including shipping. Got the cheapest shipping and they both arrived in around a week; one in 5 days and the other in 9 days. Considering it gets cheaper the more you order, he's making a fortune of each sale.
Love lpl, so no hard feelings for me personally to also support him. His channels has brought me so much joy, Im happy to support him.
@@rfish2 While I agree, I'm happy to help support him to, considering at the time, one was $40-$60 from LPL and that was without shipping. I paid $13-ish for each and if I had ordered 500 units, it would've been $7 each. I could be misunderstanding how much money goes into it all (warehouse, employees, website, etcetera), but $33 made off each sale seems a bit excessive.
@@mrgw98 since we have no understanding of his shipping, fulfillment, handling, opex, customer support, returns, lost items or the customer acquistion cost, I wouldnt draw the conclusion that he is making an exorbitant margin. No need to judge a small entrepreneur trying to make a living.
Great video agree 100% terrible tool for a beginner. Investing in good picks and something like a cutaway is a far better use of money
Agreed. For 80 bucks you can get some pretty good picks/tensioners instead of a lishi
I agree! I dont think that lishis are good tools for beginners as too much raking without SPP.
You have to learn how to place the pick, how specific feedback feels and how the special behavior of pins looks like.
Too much help at the beginning will block any real increase of skills and this "aha" moment when you learned something new by making the real experience would be missing.
Also way to expensive and limited to just a few keyways and most pickers wont need the decoding option
Thanks for your comments... I think you are spot on - you might learn to get good at the lishi, but that's not going to translate into any other skills needed to SPP. Fun tool, but just falls into the "cool, but doesn't really fill a needs gap" category for me.
It is a great tool for locksmiths. mainly for automotive locksmithing and ( in my opinion as a locksmith) not worth the money for home and residential locksmithing and lock picking. MOST OF ALL , NO GOOD FOR A NEWBE LOCK SPORTERS!
thats the tool lockpicking lawyer sells
He does - but they have been around for much longer than since he started selling them. Also “pro tip” - order them on eBay straight from China at a better price.
Ur tension is to hard. Soften up on it.