Personal project · physical security
Locksmithing
Making master keys easier to understand.
Learning how physical security works
Locksmithing is a personal interest: a way to explore physical security, learn how things work, and enjoy a different kind of technical problem. It also gives me another perspective on the safeguards people rely on every day.
Sharing the learning
I teach lockpicking to kids and adults at security conferences. It’s a hands-on way to explore physical security together and make room for people to ask questions as they learn.
A classroom question became a worksheet
In December 2024, I took an ALOA locksmithing class as part of working toward becoming a registered locksmith. The master-key material was difficult for some people to follow, so I started building an Excel worksheet during class to make the relationships easier to understand.
The aim was a practical teaching aid: something people could work through alongside the lesson. I later shared the draft workbook on my former website.
A small tool for explaining an idea
This project brings together hands-on learning and a recurring part of my technical work: finding a clearer way to explain a complicated relationship. It grew from a question in a classroom into a resource to share.
A reference for students
The introductory presentation I’ve shared with students is TOOOL’s Intro to Lockpicking, credited to Deviant, Preston, and Nite 0wl. It gives students material to revisit after a session.
Retained v2 PowerPoint · 107 slides · file last modified June 12, 2018. Presentation credits: Deviant, Preston, and Nite 0wl / TOOOL.
View presentation onlineDownload original PowerPoint (107 slides)
The original workbook
The draft is version 0.1 from December 2024. The original file is being recovered for this page; a download is not yet available.