Lock picking uses a rake and a tension wrench. You’ll need both. The pick’s purpose is to slide along the pins of the lock quickly and push them up into the cylinder. While doing this, the tension wrench applies slight pressure to the cylinder. It takes two hands. One applying pressure, the other sliding the pick back and forth. It would be very difficult to make a tension wrench out of a hairpin, because you’d really have nothing to hold onto to keep pressure applied. The best substitute for a tension wrench is a small screwdriver.
Use a pair of needle nose pliers to help you bend the hairpins if you’re having trouble.
You’ll hear a click whenever a seized pin is raised up all the way.
