WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:01.800 Good morning everybody. 00:01.800 --> 00:06.440 My name is Stephen and I am representing the Kansas City chapter of TOOL. 00:06.440 --> 00:11.300 And today we're going to do a really short video for you on cuff stuff. 00:11.320 --> 00:13.300 We're going to talk about handcuffs. 00:13.300 --> 00:15.340 We're going to tell you the different pieces of them. 00:15.340 --> 00:17.980 We're going to tell you about the key and how the key works. 00:17.980 --> 00:20.060 We're going to tell you how the inner workings work. 00:20.060 --> 00:25.720 And we're going to tell you how, if you don't have a key, to get yourself out of a nice pair of handcuffs. 00:25.720 --> 00:28.640 Now, this is going to be a disclaimer first. 00:28.640 --> 00:39.580 Remember, if the police put you in handcuffs because they're arresting you or detaining you, it is very ill-advised to get yourself out of the handcuffs. 00:39.580 --> 00:44.060 If you do that, we take no responsibility for that, number one. 00:44.060 --> 00:49.340 And number two, you're going to find yourself in a much worse situation than you were in before. 00:49.340 --> 00:52.780 This is just to be used for fun. 00:52.780 --> 00:59.180 This is not to be used to get yourself out of handcuffs if you have been detained or arrested by the police. 00:59.180 --> 01:02.640 Again, TOOL takes no responsibility for that. 01:02.640 --> 01:11.060 We are merely here to teach you the inner workings of the various locking mechanisms that exist in the world and their various flaws. 01:11.120 --> 01:15.480 So, let's start with a very simple pair of handcuffs. 01:15.480 --> 01:18.480 A handcuff is made up of multiple different pieces. 01:18.480 --> 01:20.880 This is the ratchet arm. 01:20.900 --> 01:25.460 Now, the ratchet arm is what swings and allows it to go around your wrist. 01:25.680 --> 01:28.260 We also have the housing. 01:28.400 --> 01:30.360 We have the little keyhole. 01:30.500 --> 01:35.920 Inside of our housing, we have what's called the pawl or the P-A-W-L. 01:35.920 --> 01:46.600 It is a set of teeth that actually is what causes your ratchet arm teeth to lock in and not be able to be pulled free. 01:46.820 --> 01:50.880 Now, underneath your pawl, you're going to have a spring. 01:50.880 --> 01:55.620 The spring is what allows the pawl to be compressed down to let you out. 01:55.620 --> 02:04.180 And it's also what pushes the pawl back up in order to make sure that the handcuffs don't get tighter or don't get looser. 02:04.180 --> 02:05.620 That's the whole point of it. 02:05.620 --> 02:08.180 So, let's take a look at our key. 02:08.320 --> 02:10.560 This is a handcuff key. 02:10.560 --> 02:11.860 It's very, very simple. 02:11.860 --> 02:14.680 You see, it's very small. 02:14.680 --> 02:16.380 It's made of solid metal. 02:16.380 --> 02:19.900 And all it has is just this one little notch in here. 02:20.060 --> 02:26.660 Now, that's because inside of here, what we have is we have a little metal lip. 02:26.760 --> 02:34.520 So, what happens is when you insert your key, your key is going to connect onto that metal lip. 02:34.700 --> 02:38.000 And as you push it down, it's compressing the spring. 02:38.000 --> 02:43.880 And it's what allows your handcuff ratchet arm to freely spin. 02:44.220 --> 02:51.860 Now, you can see that when I let go of it, now the pawl engages your ratchet arm. 02:51.860 --> 02:53.620 And you can hear the little clicks. 02:53.740 --> 02:55.760 And that's what's keeping it in there. 02:55.760 --> 02:59.620 So, what you've really got is you've got little teeth that are down in here. 02:59.620 --> 03:02.220 And you've got teeth that are on your ratchet arm. 03:02.220 --> 03:07.640 Your ratchet arm teeth are going to engage your pawl teeth. 03:07.640 --> 03:09.380 And they're going to set in. 03:09.380 --> 03:15.480 When you try to pull it backwards, it doesn't work because the teeth are interlocking. 03:15.580 --> 03:19.320 That's what keeps you safe from being able to get out of them. 03:19.320 --> 03:24.260 But it's also what tries to keep you safe from being able to further ratchet it down. 03:24.260 --> 03:27.720 That way, you know, you don't get it too tight around your wrists. 03:27.820 --> 03:35.140 Now, if for some reason we find ourselves without a key, let's say we find ourselves maybe handcuffed to a bed. 03:35.140 --> 03:37.420 I don't know your situation and I don't judge. 03:37.440 --> 03:40.200 So, what would we use in that case? 03:40.360 --> 03:45.040 So, one of the main tools that we would use is a very simple lock pick. 03:45.040 --> 03:46.900 And this is just called a lifter. 03:46.900 --> 03:54.100 Now, if we look at our lifter, we can see that it is very, very similar to our key. 03:54.100 --> 03:56.680 All it is, it's just a very simple hook. 03:56.680 --> 04:03.620 So, we want to mimic the motion of the handcuff key into the lock. 04:03.640 --> 04:25.800 So, we locate our lock, we take our lifter, we slide it into the very top, and all we're going to do is go up and to the right and twist just a little bit until we have engaged the metal lip in the pawl and compress the spring down, pushing the pawl back down in order to open our handcuffs. 04:26.060 --> 04:28.460 So, let me demonstrate that one more time. 04:28.520 --> 04:40.820 We're going to take our lifter, we are going to put it right into our keyhole, we're going to move it up and to the right, and then we're just going to give it a very simple and light twist. 04:40.820 --> 04:49.960 Once you feel it engage, all you need to do is pull the arm, the ratchet arm out, and then you can let go because now you've gotten yourself out of that. 04:49.960 --> 04:52.720 Now, you can really use a lot of other different picks. 04:52.720 --> 04:55.960 You could use a half diamond if you wanted, or really whatever one you have around. 04:55.960 --> 05:04.200 It just needs to fit properly into the hole and it needs to mimic what the key looks like, or as close as you can get to that. 05:04.200 --> 05:11.340 Because remember, all that exists within here is just a little metal lip and that is all that you are touching. 05:11.520 --> 05:25.380 So, as long as your tool can touch that lip and is strong enough to push it down and maintain the downward pressure while you pull the ratchet arm out, that's really all you need to be able to do that. 05:28.530 --> 05:36.810 There's also another way with which you can do that if you don't, for some reason, have access to the keyhole or you don't have anything that's going to work in there. 05:36.810 --> 05:38.790 And what we would use is called a shim. 05:39.010 --> 05:42.190 A shim is a very, very, very thin piece of metal. 05:42.190 --> 05:48.950 You can make them out of titanium, which lasts a lot longer, or you can make them out of a simple pop can. 05:48.950 --> 05:57.670 Now, if you're going to make them out of a pop can, just remember they're not going to last nearly as long because they are very, very, very thin, lightweight aluminum. 05:58.270 --> 06:07.790 So, in order for a shim to work, you're just going to stick it right down in between your ratchet arm and your paw. 06:07.790 --> 06:20.150 And what that shim is doing is it's pushing those teeth out of the way and it's making it so that there can't be a connection between the teeth on your ratchet arm and the teeth on your paw. 06:20.590 --> 06:30.670 Keep in mind that when you do this, you are most likely going to end up tightening the handcuff one to two notches as you push the piece of metal into there. 06:30.670 --> 06:44.850 So, if it's already very tight or you're already at the very end because you have small wrists or the person put them on too tight, this method may not work or it may put it in so tight that it starts to cut off the circulation and it starts to actually hurt you. 06:44.850 --> 06:46.830 So, please be aware of that. 06:46.830 --> 06:53.370 If you want to test it and play with it, make it multiple notches too big for your hand. 06:53.370 --> 06:58.790 That way, when you push the shim in and it locks it down a couple notches, you're not hurting yourself. 06:58.790 --> 07:01.830 You're just putting it right where it should be in the first place. 07:02.530 --> 07:10.110 So, that is a very, very simple overview of a handcuff, of how a handcuff works, and how you can get yourself out of one. 07:10.110 --> 07:22.650 Remember, the handcuff key is very, very simple and all you need in order to mimic it is a simple tool such as a lockpick lifter or a lockpick half diamond. 07:22.650 --> 07:24.890 Anything that mimics the key is going to work. 07:24.890 --> 07:26.790 It's going to be able to get you out of there. 07:26.790 --> 07:35.150 And once again, I will remind you, if you get placed in handcuffs by the authorities, please do not try to get yourself out. 07:35.150 --> 07:38.130 And we absolutely do not and will not condone that. 07:38.130 --> 07:40.690 You will find yourself in much worse trouble. 07:40.690 --> 07:55.470 If you have further questions about handcuffs, or you want to talk about some of the more advanced types of handcuffs, or even the international handcuffs, please find the right channel in the Defcon Lockpick Village and we would be more than happy to discuss this with you. 07:55.470 --> 07:56.790 Thank you so much for watching.