JesusMeister

At the Dutch Open Lock Picking Championship, Arthur Bühl emerged as the champion. No one picks locks as well as he does. Well, almost no one.

“Did you lock the front door, honey?”

“Yes dear, we’re all safe for the night.”

Ya, right.

Not if it is July and you live in Sneek, Netherlands. Sneek is a little village north of Amsterdam, and the home of the most recent Dutch Open Lock Picking Championship. Packs of lock-picking experts descend on the little village for a friendly competition that pits the world’s best locks against those who scoff at them.

You have to have padlock prowess, deadbolt dexterity and combo-lock cunning.

To understand how the legends of lock picking slip past most security measures, just picture the key to your home. It has various ridges and valleys, and each corresponds to a pin inside your lock. When the key is inserted, the pins are moved out of the way to a depth corresponding to the cut of your key, and the lock can be turned and opened. Standard lock-pick tools include a pick or a “rake” to move those pins out of the way and a tension wrench to turn the lock open while the pins are held in place....