How a Lishi works

A Lishi is a pick and a decoder in one tool. It picks a lock open pin by pin, then reads each pin's depth so you know how its key is cut. Here's what happens inside the lock while you work, which Lishi you need for the locks on UK doors and cars, and how to use one.

What is a Lishi?

Lishi tools are the invention of Zhi Qin Li, Mr Li for short, and they started with car locks. His first tool was a decoder for the HU66 lock used across Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda and more. He then combined the pick and the decoder into the Lishi 2-in-1, which picks the lock open and reads every cut in one tool, and auto locksmiths have carried them ever since.

Lishi went on to make pin tumbler tools for popular American locks. For the Yale profile, the keyway you'll find on a huge number of UK front doors, our door tools are Dangerfield Lishi-style tools made for 5 and 6 pin Yale-profile cylinders. They bring the same pick-and-decode idea to the lock on your front door.

The parts of a Lishi

• The bladeShaped to slide into one keyway, so it sits exactly where the key would.
• The tension armTurns the plug gently while you pick, so you don't need a separate tension wrench.
• The picking needleMoves to each numbered pin position and lifts one pin at a time.
• The decoder gridNumbered marks that show how high each pin had to go. That's the key's cut depth.

How to use a Lishi, step by step

Car locks use wafers instead of pins. Wafers are flat sliding plates, and a car Lishi lifts each one to its open position, then reads its depth on the scale.

Which Lishi do I need?

Each tool is made for one keyway and one lock format, so start with the lock in front of you. Look at where it sits on the door, then at the key: cuts along the edge of the blade, or round dimples drilled into its flat face.

Rather tap through it? The finder asks a couple of quick questions and shows you the one that fits.

See every Lishi we carry

Why a Yale-profile Lishi fits other brands

A Lishi doesn't read the name on the lock. It follows the keyway, the shaped slot the key slides into, and the spacing of the pins behind it. Our Yale-profile door tools are Dangerfield Lishi-style tools made for 5 and 6 pin Yale-profile cylinders. Other brands keyed to the same Yale-profile key often take the same tool, so match the key profile and the pin count, not the logo.

Each Yale tool comes in a Euro version and a rim version. Each version's blade, scale and tension arm are made for that cylinder type as it's fitted in the door, so pick the one that matches your cylinder.

1. Name the format. A barrel through a uPVC or composite door is a Euro cylinder. A round lock on the outside face of the door with a night latch behind it is a rim cylinder.
2. Check the keyway. Try a standard Yale key in the keyhole. If your key profile matches, that's your starting point. Then check the pin count.
3. Check the pin count. You'll find it on the cylinder or its key card, or count the cuts on the key as a guide. Each Yale tool is made for five and six pin cylinders.
4. Dimples on the key? Then it's a dimple lock, and that includes the Yale Platinum 3 Star and Superior 1 Star. Choose the dimple tool made for that profile instead.

Genuine Lishi or Dangerfield Lishi-style?

Want to go deeper? Read about our Yale Lishi-style picks for Euro and rim cylinders, from Mr Li's first car decoder to the Dangerfield Lishi-style tool for your door.

Words you'll meet

Keyway

The shaped slot you push the key into. Locks from different brands are often built on the same keyway, and one brand can use several, so match the slot and the key, not the name on the lock. Each Lishi is made for the keyways named on it, so pick the one built for your slot.

Euro cylinder

The keyed barrel on most uPVC and composite doors in the UK. It runs right through the door and is held in by a long screw in the edge of the door.

Rim cylinder

A round cylinder that sits on the outside face of the door and works a night latch on the inside, the classic Yale-style front door lock.

Dimple lock

A lock whose key has small round dimples drilled into the flat face of the blade instead of cuts along its edge. Dimple tools are made for one named profile each.

Plug

The round core in the middle of the lock. It's the part that turns when the right key is in.

Pin count

How many pin stacks sit inside the lock. Check the pin count on the cylinder or its key card, or count the cuts on the key as a guide.

Shear line

The thin gap between the plug and the lock body. When every pin is lifted to split exactly at that gap, the plug is free to turn.

Tension arm

The part of the tool that turns the lock's core gently, the way a key would. That light turning pressure is what holds each pin once you've lifted it to the right height.

Decoder

Once the lock is open, read each pin's depth on the numbered grid. Those readings give you the key's cuts, so a key can be cut to match on the right blank.

Key code

The list of cut depths along a key, one number per pin. The readings follow the numbered positions marked on the tool, and a key can be cut to match them on the right blank.

Cuts

The dips along the edge of the key. Each dip sets the height of one pin in the lock, so counting them gives you a guide to the pin count.

Wafers

Flat sliding plates that do the job pins do in a house lock. Car door locks usually use wafers, and a car Lishi lifts each wafer to its open position and reads its depth on the scale.

New to lock picking?

A Lishi is a brilliant way to learn one keyway in real depth, and it still runs on the basics: light tension and feeling for the pin that binds. If you've never picked a lock, a beginner lock pick set and a clear practice lock let you see exactly what the pins are doing, and the tension and feel you build there carry straight over to the Lishi.

Prefer to learn from pictures? The Beginners Visual Guide has 178 pages and over 200 colour illustrations, so you can see each step before you try it on a lock.

Or start free with our simple online guide to picking locks.