As with traditional lock picks, using the correct amount of turning force and varying the amount of force on the lock has a great deal to do with how successful you are at picking the lock.Īfter the lock has been picked, the two levers are used to decode the lock by way of the scale on the side of the main body of the tool. After the turning force has been applied, the Lishi’s two levers are used to manipulate the individual tumblers in the lock until the lock is picked. Just as with conventional picking tools, applying turning force to the lock is as important, and maybe more important, than manipulating the tumblers. The hinged panel on any Lishi tool is used to provide turning force to the lock during the picking process. I made keys to a similar vehicle a few weeks ago, and I was done in 10–15 minutes. The first thing I did after that job was to order the correct Lishi tool. So, you must have the correct Lishi tool for each vehicle that you plan to use it on.Ī few years ago, I got trapped into making a key to an older Mitsubishi for a friend, and when I discovered that I didn’t have the proper Lishi tool, I spent a miserable couple of hours fighting a door panel and one horribly positioned bolt on a rainy day when the temperature was just above freezing. This would include modern Ford and Lincoln vehicles, Jaguar, Land Rover and a few others. ![]() For instance, the HU101 tool is designed to work on locks that use the HU101 keyway. Original Lishi makes a variety of tools, and not all of them are 2-in-1 tools, but for the purpose of this article, please assume that I’m talking about only the 2-in-1 tools when I say “Lishi tool.” These tools are designed to operate on a specific keyway, and the part number of the tool typically reflects that keyway. Now that you know how much I love my Lishi tools, let me describe what they are and how they work, just in case you never used one. Picking locks to unlock a car is a lot of fun, particularly when I see damaged doors from the attempts of others. The Lishi 2-in-1 tools have pretty much eliminated the necessity to pull door panels, and I rarely use a car-opening tool. (Image 2) As far as I’m concerned, my Lishi tools are as important to my business as my van or my key machine. When I found myself out in the field again having to earn a living from my skills, the Lishi 2-in-1 tools made it a lot easier than it might have been. For the rest of the day, I amazed other locksmiths by picking and decoding a four-track Honda ignition! That was a huge ego boost, and I left that show with a selection of Lishi 2-in-1 tools for the most common locks. ![]() With practice, I learned how to decode that lock correctly. Sadly, the cuts that I came up with were close but not exact. After I picked it one more time back to the key-pull position, I could remove the pick and, more important, insert the working key into the lock without damaging the lock. When I tried to turn it back to the original position, the split tumblers once again dropped into the wrong slot, but I was expecting that. I then practiced decoding the lock and wrote the cuts that I read. I chose to pick it in the original direction and soon had it picked completely. After thinking about it for a few minutes, I realized that some of the split tumblers had dropped into the wrong slot, and I decided that I’d have to pick them free to finish picking the lock or turn it back to the key-pull position. When it first picked, the lock turned only a few degrees, stopped and wouldn’t turn back. Rushing in where angels fear to tread, I decided to see whether I could pick it. In looking at the picks that I had to play with, I discovered that one was for four-track Honda locks (Image 1), and we also had a Honda ignition lock. The next morning, things got off to a slow start, as they usually do on Sundays. By day’s end, I felt pretty good about my abilities with these cool new tools. During the show, I spoke with people who had more experience and slowly learned the “correct” technique for using the tools. As the day went on, I practiced and demonstrated what I had learned until I could pick any of the locks that we had in the display. Soon, I got the feel for picking that particular lock and moved on to General Motors 10-cut and Chrysler eight-cut locks. Surprisingly, I was able to pick it in short order. With only the vaguest notion of how they were supposed to be used, I started trying to pick a Ford door lock with one. I was more than a little surprised, because I never had heard of them before that moment. About a half-hour before the show opened, I was shown an assortment of new-at-that-time Lishi 2-in-1 tools and told I’d be demonstrating them during the show. I first encountered Lishi 2-in-1 tools at a trade show sometime around 2007 when I worked for Lockmasters.
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