Today a padlock. Tomorrow The Bank of England. Next week, the world!

I have never tried to do anything like this before, so I am a complete novice when it comes to lock picking.
I downloaded the instructions, (The link is in the product description) and read them first. The amount of picks seemed a little overwhelming to begin with. The instructions really helped me to understand what lock picking is and how a lock works with a key.

I have to say that despite all of the reading of the instructions, it still takes a little practice, but once I had the tensioner (see picture) in the right position and was holding it right the rest was actually quite easy, and the practice padlock only took a few seconds to pick. I definitely felt a strong sense of achievement once I'd finally grasped how to use the tools and successfully picked my first lock.

I am eager to buy some other padlocks to have a go at, although I imagine that they will be a fair bit more difficult to pick.

The tensioner pick (looks like a tyre iron) does feel a little flimsy and I was concerned about breaking it, but once used correctly it seemed to be fit for purpose. And I guess the whole point of lock picking like this is to be able to feel the movement of the lock through the tools as there isn't normally the luxury of being able to see the lock mechanism.

It would be nice if the tools were labelled in some way for us beginners, but otherwise it's cheaper way to start a new hobby, until we are a bit more proficient and can move on to a professional set.