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Can you get out of handcuffs with a bobby pin

You've probably seen many movies where characters succeeded in removing the handcuffs off their wrists. Some of them insisted they knew the secret method to move the wrists so that they could take off the handcuffs like usual bracelets. Obviously, it's a myth that is not worth believing, like many other criminal-related home security myths.

Nevertheless, have you ever wondered whether removing the handcuffs in other ways is possible? Or do you think only magicians have this ability?

The answer is yes. Anyone could possibly escape the handcuffs using handy materials with prior practice. However, how can it be so? Don't the manufacturers know their way of making handcuffs to change the mechanism? Actually, they do know and they don't change the mechanism because everything is not that simple. Let's talk about it in detail in the chapters below. We welcome you to read it.

How do handcuffs work

how to pick handcuffs
Before trying to take off the handcuffs, it's better to learn more about how they work. Prior to your practice, note that several types of handcuffs exist and may be produced in different countries. It influences their appearance, strength and time to pick them. They all require individual amounts of time to be picked, depending on their lock mechanism, material quality, keyway size and some other additional factors. The first important aspect is whether the handcuffs are locked to a single lock or to a double one. A double lock is intended to increase the security level, and if it's also set, you will have to pick up a single lock, then a double lock, and then again, the single lock.

However, it's impossible to unlock handcuffs without knowing how a handcuff key works. Basically, it operates like that – a person inserts the key into a handcuff's keyway to its stopping point and turns it towards the cuff's direction of travel to unlock them. The direction may be rather clockwise or counterclockwise and varies with each cuff. A double lock is set when one puts the tip on the top of the key into the horizontal slit in the cuff and applies pressure to the opposite side of the cuff's direction of travel.
how to pick handcuffs

Escaping handcuffs with a bobby pin

Now that you know a little bit more about the handcuffs working principle, you may take the real ones and a bobby pin to practice. However, it's okay if you don't have them and have no desire to get them, but practicing on real ones is the fastest way to learn how to do it properly in a few seconds.
Below, you may see the small instruction we prepared on how to release from handcuffs using a bobby pin in three steps.
Escaping handcuffs with a bobby pin
Step 1. Get a bobby pin and straighten it out, taking off the rubbing tips beforehand. Bend approximately about a quarter of an inch of a longer side down to the “L” shape. Insert this bent tip into an upper part of the keyhole and bend the metal backward. Remove the pin carefully and insert again halfway past the first bend, and fold it again to the opposite side so that the end of your future “key” would look like an “S” shape.
Step 2. Take a “key” you've just made and put it into the upper cut out of a keyhole. At this point, your main task is to find the lever that pushes the pawl of the handcuffs. Try moving the pin in different directions, turning it to the cuff's direction of travel until you feel the click so that it's the signal the handcuffs are open.

Step 3. If a double lock is involved, you will have to deal with it first. Why? Because a double lock is blocking the single lock mechanism from opening. Insert your makeshift key into the same upper side of the keyhole and turn it away from the handcuff's travel directions to release the single lock. This may be a bit difficult to do, so be patient. When you hear a click, extract the pick and re-insert it the other way one more time to unlock the single lock.
We encourage you not to worry if something goes wrong, as in any case, you may call emergency locksmith services to free your hands.
Escaping handcuffs with a bobby pin

Summing up

A good skill requires much practice, but time spent on it will always be preserved. If you decide you need to know how to do this trick, we'll be happy if this article is useful. We wish you never had problems with locks, but if you have, feel free to ask for help. Sure Lock & Key will be more than glad to assist you. It's what we do and we love what we do.

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