Defeating the DOM IX
Last week I was forced to drill a Dom lock on a real lockout. I always feel bad when doing so ,even when sometimes it’s the only option (like glued locks etc.)
I’ve already covered the Dom locks in my blog and they are very hard to pick but possible. The trouble is on a real door when you lose the comfort of your vice and most of the time there’s a lock protector which makes it harder to tension.
I spent a few good hours on finding a better solution to this lock and found out that the foil is the best way. However there might be some problems when using this method.
I have five different locks and three of them pick very easy, one lock will pick but it will be impossible to remove the key after, I suspect the higher cuts( pin number 5) is going far too deep in the foil key , and the last lock will not pick and when I’ve looked more into the lock I’ve discovered that where it should have been pin number one it went all the way to the last pin for some reason. Also with this lock it is better to use pliers as bigger forced is needed.
To overcome those problems I’ve cut a substantial amount of the key and since there isn’t a complex warding the key is working much better now and will go on very smoothly.
Here is a video on how it’s done.
Also here’s a quick look on my new lock training borad I’ve made this week.
Keso 2000 Foil Picking
About a year ago I had a great meeting with Toools members from Holland and we even made a video together .
In the video I demonstrate a very cool dimple foil pick :
Lately I’ve decided to try more dimple locks with the foil method and I’ve had some good results(and some bad..)
The big problem with dimple foil is that in some key ways it will tear the foil and it will be very hard to introduce a key that the foil won’t bend at some positions,also a deep cut near a low-cut can cause a problem.
The first lock I tested was a Keso 2000 ,this lock can be impressioned and picked but it would be very hard on a real door ,a simple solution is needed in here.
I first tried to use a Keso blank to try foil but that didn’t work as the foil failed to enter the key way.I then tried some different blanks and different cutting of the key and found out that I can use a smaller shape blank and use a few layers of foils on a key meaning that if the first foil layer isn’t working after a few seconds then a second or even a third layer will open the lock.
Here is a video of the Keso foil picking
I have 6 other Keso locks which ALL of them were opened in a very short time ,this tells me that this method of using a smaller key is working .
Also I stand correct Keso are made in Switzerland and not in Italy.
This is the key after the picking
I’m currently working on some other locks like Kaba etc. I will keep you posted.
Dom Dimple Locks
Here is a quick view on 2 Dom locks I got
The top lock is a Dom ix 5 HT (Hope I’m not wrong)
The lower one is Dom ix 10 ,those are very good locks made in Germany
The Dom ix 5 is very interesting as it got a sort of a trap pin and since it’s a very old lock I guess this is where the idea came from
Also it has one of the most nastiest bottom pins I’ve ever seen!
Those pins have 2 rounds that can move inside of them (like a brasless)
The ix 5 lock contains 5 pins and 5 side pins
Here is the back of the plug with the other side pins,those pins will not effect picking but they are great for master keying .
I did managed to bump this lock a while back though
The other Dom lock is the ix 10 which looks very hard to pick.
The ix 10 contains 10 pins which are divided into 2 very close rows
The pins are rounded to the shape of the plug
Also there is plate cover on the other side of the plug which I belive is there so the plug can rotate smoother
Here are 2 of the bottom pins
I can safely say that the best way to pick this lock is via foil picking ,only trouble I see is the extracting of the key after,also the low pins might get overset (they would look like pin number 5)
I will try to test a few different methods with those fantastic locks ,will keep you posted
For much more information I would advise to read Han fey’s fantastic articles about Dom locks
http://toool.nl/images/c/c0/Dom-ix.pdf
Raf's lockpicking world 