N°52 Bad Boy
I’ve fallen in love with Locksport or, as some call it: Lockpicking – So that’s what this blog is about, especially Challenge Locks.
My YouTube name is Beercan Bushcraft, but Paul Springett nicknamed me Tinnie because he can’t say Beercan 😂 #Tinnie
I’m political sometimes. I am extremely interested in sculpture, and call myself a ‘garage assemblage artist’. Unwitting fashion guru 😆
I’m slowly copying over content from my Google Docs: Tinnie’s Challenge Lock Diary!
6 pin Lockwood 334B45:22 Dec 25
Lock given by Peter Lewis and made for my one hundredth challenge lock giveaway.
And the winner is?
Key pins 1, 2 and 4 are serrated. 3, 5 and 6 are standard. Chambers 1, 3 and 4 are undercut
Driver pins 1 and 4 are anchors. 2 and 5 are thin spools? 3 is a floating wafer spool and 6 is a nut, bolt and washer. There are no mods to the bible.
12 Mods; 9 pins. 1 core. Engraving. Key.
The Paul Springett Story
Paul Springett is a professional Locksmith who I find inspirational. He was the bloke who nicknamed me Tinnie. He is also the one who sent me the gorgeous Lockwood key blank.
5 pin Lori mortice cylinder: 21 Nov 25
Lock given to me by Lock Chuck. Made for Brett Sucks. First pick????
All key pins are serrated and all the chambers in the core are undercut.
Driver pins 1 and 5 are gin spools. 2 and 3 are spools, and 4 is a floating wafer spool.
12 Mods: 10 pins. 1 core. Engraving.
Red Balloons Story
99 Red Balloons is a crap song by Nena from 1984. Happy Days.
6 pin Yale mortice cylinder: 21 Nov 25
Lock given to me and made for PickSmith. First pick????
Key pins 1, 2 and 6 are serrated. 3 and 4 are sort of torpedos. 5 is a standard. Chambers 1, 2 and 6 are threaded. 3 and 4 are undercut.
Driver pins 1, 2 and 6 are floating wafer spools 3 and 4 are gin spools, and 5 is a standard. There are no modifications to the bible.
12 mods: 10 pins. 1 core. Engraving.
The Frida Kahlo Story
Frida Kahlo was a Mexican artist, painter, who died in 1954. She was forty seven! Anyway, she is one of my favourite female artists.
6 pin Yale Euro cylinder:28 Oct 25
Lock given to me by either Brett or Derek! Made for Roy Sammons, furst pick BrettSucks.
Key pins 1 – 6 are various forms of serration / torpedo! Chambers 2, 4 and 6 are threaded. 3 and 5 are undercut.
Driver pin 1 is serrated. 2, 4 and 6 are floating wafer spools. 3 and 5 are honey-dipper gin spools. Chambers 3 and 5 in the bible are threaded.
16 Mods: 12 pins. 1 core. 1 bible. Key. Engraving.
The Roy Sammons Experience Story
I suppose we all know who Roy is, don’t we! He is a much loved Locksporter and a supersonically generous bloke. I Love him.
What I wanted to do with this challenge lock is create a CL that pays homage to someone, obviously in this case Roy Sammons. He had made a couple of CLs: Sinner and “We don’t need no stinkin’ key”. After looking at them, I ‘blended’ them and made my versions of the pins – if you get my drift?
Opened by BrettSucks
6 pin ACE mortice cylinder: 26 Oct 25
Lock given to me by and made for LockChuck – Furst pick Brett Sucks.
Key pins 1 – 6 are all serrated. All chambers in the core are under-cut.
Driver pins 1, 4, 5 and 6 are all potato masher spools. 2 and 3 are gin spools. There are no modifications to the bible.
15 Mods: 12 pins. 1 core. Key (was a five pin, increased to 6). Engraving.
The Motörhead Story
I suppose Motörhead are a heavy metal / hard rock band, a genre that I’m not too keen on, but I really like “The Ace of Spades”. Listen to The Ace of Spades while picking Motörhead – see if you can pick it before it finishes: 2 minutes 45 seconds 😆
(please note driver pin 4 has been photographed upside down because it wouldn’t balance the correct way up)
5 pin Sterling half euro:15 Oct 25
Lock given to me by Derek and made for PickSmith. First pick BrettSucks then DotsLocks?
Key pins 1, 2, 3 and 5 are serrated and look like bullets 😆 4 is a type of Christmas tree! Chambers 1, 2, 3 and 5 are under-cut.
Driver pins 1, 2, 3 and 5 are ‘floating wafer potato masher spools’. 4 is a shallow T-pin. There are no modifications to the bible.
13 Mods: 10 pins. 1 core. Key. Engraving.
A Word of WARNING
Potato Masher pins are Not T-pins! When gutting watch out for pin orientation.
The Jethro Story
Jethro is a comedian from Cornwall. He is my type and I bloody love him. He tells the type of jokes that I used to tell in the 80s – where the fuck have those days gone!?
Opened by BrettSucks
Those effing springs 😆😆
5 pin generic brass euro: 12 Oct 25
Lock given to me and made for BrettSucks
Key pins 1 and 2 are serrated. 3 and 4 are T-pins and 5 is a sort of torpedo! There are no modifications to the core.
Driver pins 1, 2, 4 and 5 are potato masher spools. 3 is a tapered potato masher. There are no modifications to the bible.
12 Mods: 10 pins. Key. Engraving.
The Dr Watson Story
This lock includes my new pin the potato masher spool! It’s important to understand their orientation and positional order when gutting.
Dr Watson is Sherlock Holmes’ dear friend and ‘case biographer’.
Opened by BrettSucks
It will be Very interesting to see how Locksporters get on with picking this new pin.
Unknown 6 pin brass euro: 8 Oct 25
Lock given to me by BrettSucks. Made for Richard Jones the Welsh Lockpicker as a keeper.
All six key pins are serrated! No modifications to the core.
All six driver pins are tapered and there are no modifications to the bible.
15 Mods: 12 pins. Key. Engraving (plus an extra point for those effing wheels and blooming cab!)
The Ivor Story
Obviously this is a very stylised version of the original Ivor the Engine. The cab on my version had to allow gutting and I could have made a better job of it (I’m a little disappointed), I would have made another, but I didn’t have any more metal.
Ivor the Engine was a favourite animated cartoon, there are a couple of versions, I like and have linked to the first, original black&white version.
Ivor’s driver is Jones the Steem and all the time I was making the lock I had Richard Jones in my mind, it couldn’t have gone to anyone else!
The progress is painfully slow and I’ve still got ages to go – the cab isn’t finished, just offered up and it’s an absolute effing bastard! I want to get it finished this week.
Tinnie's Challenge Lock Blog 