Lock Noob defeats claimed unpickable lock for a second time

Lock Noob’s latest upload did more than add another open to the scorecard. By calling it “Foiled Again! Second Defeat of Works By Design’s Unpickable NPX Lock,” he put the claim itself on trial, because a lock that has been opened twice is no longer an internet boast, it is a problem that needs explaining. He thanked Works By Design for involving him in “this epic project,” credited ArtichokeTwoThousand for discussions about the lock, and singled out his friend RubberBanned for the impressioning file he used.

That matters in locksport because the second defeat tells you far more than the first. One opening can be luck, a fluke tool choice, or a narrow path through a design. A second opening, especially on the same NPX concept, starts to look like a repeatable weakness. Lock Noob’s channel is built around this kind of hands-on scrutiny, with a mix of techniques, tool reviews, dimple locks, antique warded locks, practice cylinders, vintage padlocks, and set reviews. Against that backdrop, the NPX video reads less like a trophy clip and more like a live audit of a security claim.

Works By Design’s companion video, “Making the most pickproof lock yet,” set the stage for that audit. YouTube lists it at 26 minutes 57 seconds and more than 5.3 million views about a month after upload. Riley Kolbow, who runs Works By Design, describes the channel as “Video projects about Design, Engineering, and more,” and Adam Savage’s Tested framed the lock as a “nearly unpickable mechanical lock” while focusing on Riley’s iterative design process and the common ways locks are attacked.

The hardware itself was built to invite this kind of pressure. Hackaday reported that Works By Design used a traveling-key system in which the key’s bow spins internal gears and the blade moves into position deep inside the cylinder, then sent copies of the lock to pickers for testing. ArtichokeTwoThousand also pushed the conversation further with a separate breakdown video titled “Works By Design’s Most Pickproof Lock Yet - Picked Apart,” which turned the lock into a broader community case study rather than a single creator’s showpiece.

That is why the second defeat lands harder than the first. An “unpickable” lock can survive hype only until the right picker, the right tool, and the right scrutiny meet it twice. After this, the NPX claim looks less like a verdict and more like a reminder that in locksport, public testing is the only language that really counts.