Phil online

A neighbor threw away a pair of Master brand padlocks, the kind you always used in school on your locker. She said she had lost the combination for both of them. My son had heard about a technique for picking them, and so had Google. It turns out there are several videos on how to crack these locks in under 15 minutes. Here’s the first one I found:

YouTube Master Lock Picking Video

Long story short, I cracked the first lock pretty easily using the instructions in the video.

Hint not found in the video: I noticed that the lock hasp moved more on 0-2-24 and on 4-2-24 than any others I tried up to that point. So I assumed that the 2nd number was 2. This left me with 8 numbers to try. 36-2-24 was the combination. It took me about 2 minutes to crack this lock.

I set out to crack the 2nd lock. The “notch” numbers were all the same, so I didn’t have to write anything down. Huh, that’s weird. Then I noticed the serial number was the same on both of these locks. Could it be the same combination?

Yes, it could. And it is.

I Googled for a serial number database for Master Locks because surely someone has noticed this before. (There can only be 4000 different combinations.) But I didn’t find it. Time for a Master Lock Wiki?

Does anyone reading this have Serial Number 910368? What is the serial number and combination to your Master lock?

Update: Apparently not.  I have come across another lock with a “serial number” 910368.  Its combo is 37-3-24.  So it’s not a serial number or combo number reference.  What is it, a model number?