Having a lever handle lock on your door makes your life a bit easier because of its simplicity in terms of locking and unlocking it. It also features a sleek design that goes with most home aesthetics.
However, losing the key to your lever handle lock might become a nightmare, especially when you are in a hurry. Damaging or breaking your lock might not be the best option you want to take.
Lucky for you, in this article, I will show you how to pick a lever handle lock in these quick and easy steps.
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Ways to Pick a Lever Handle Lock
There are different ways to pick a door handle lock. It all depends on the skills that you have and the materials that are available to you.
The following are the processes you can do to pick a handle lock in multiple ways:
With a bobby pin, you can unlock a pin-tumbler lock with a lever handle. To unlock a lever door handle without a key, follow these steps:
- Take a bobby pin and separate the two ends of the pin.
- Make a 90-degree angle on one of the two bobby pins by bending it.
- Remove the rubber end of the bobby pin by pulling it away from the bobby pin.
- Form a hook out of the straight end of the bobby pin by slightly bending it.
- Take your second bobby pin and bend it straight away until it forms a 90-degree angle.
Note: For locks with lever handles, you can also use the lever handle to apply tension instead of the second bobby pin.
- Insert the second bobby pin inside the lock’s keyway with its bent end.
- Rotate the bobby pin to one side so that it will apply tension. This will serve as your lever.
- Insert the first bobby pin and locate the seized pin. A seized pin is harder to set than the others.
- Try to set the seized pin until you hear an audible click.
Note: After setting the seized pin, the lock will turn slightly and another seized pin will be created. Keep the pressure on the second bobby pin.
- Locate the next seized pin and set it until all of the pins are set.
- The door will automatically unlock with the pressure on your second bobby pin. And that’s how you pick a door knob lock.
With a credit card, you can only unlock lever handle locks with slanted latch-style hooks or spring-loaded lever. To pick a door lock when locked out using a credit card, follow these steps:
- Prepare your card. You can use different types of card as long as it is flexible but firm enough not to break.
Note: even though most people say that you can unlock a lock with a credit card, do not use a credit card you cannot afford to lose as it might get damaged in the picking process.
- Slide your card in between the door and the door frame. Make sure that half or a third of the card is slid between.
- Wiggle the card until it positions itself right between the door and the jamb, and it intercepts the door latch.
- If the card cannot go in between, try wiggling the door until the card is perfectly positioned between the latch and the jamb.
- Slightly push the door during the process to open it.
Remember that this process will only help you open the door but will not, in any way, unlock the lever handle lock. Release the lock from the inside so you can get out of the room after.
If you cannot unlock your lever handle lock with a key, you can always opt to do lockpicking with hooks. Follow these simple and easy steps to do it:
- Prepare a thin and flexible hook and a sturdy tension tool.
- Insert your tension tool inside the keyway and turn it clockwise. Keep pressure on the tension tool, or else the pins cannot be set.
- With your hook, locate each seized pin and lift them one by one. A seized pin is harder to set and will create another seized pin if one is set.
- With the pressure on your tension tool, the lock will automatically unlock itself. If not, recheck the pins if there are unset pins.
If you are locked out from your bedroom door lock with a lever handle, you might want to try picking your lock with a paperclip. Follow these steps to pick a push-lock door knob with a paperclip:
- Prepare a paperclip by opening a paperclip all the way and twist and bend it until it makes a 90-degree angle. This will serve as your tension tool.
Note: If the paperclip cannot be bent easily, you can make use of a needle nose pliers.
- Take another paperclip and open one side of the paper clip and twist the opened end until it forms somewhat like a key. This will serve as your rake.
- Slip your first paper clip into the keyway of the lock from the outside.
- Turn the tension tool clockwise and keep pressure on it.
- Take your second paper clip and stick it inside the keyway with the straight end.
- Set the pins inside starting with the seized pins.
- Continue applying pressure to your tension tool until all of the pins inside the lock are set.
- The lock will automatically unlock if the pins are all lifted up.
You now know how to unlock a push lock door with a paperclip.
Conclusion
Needless to say, you should only do lockpicking to the locks you own. Instead of viewing lockpicking as an evil-doing, view it as a handiness skill you should improve.
You will never know when you are going to be locked out again. Knowing how to pick a lever handle lock will prove to be useful in the future.
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