Further Adventures with Coffee and Soap.

Last weekend I decided to make some more coffee soap. I made some refinements to the techniques I used last time.

 

·       Combine your various bits of soap in a microwavable bowl. Old soap can be crumbled. Newer or larger pieces are shaved into flakes.

·       Add some coffee grounds and mix.

·       Add sufficient water to cover the mixture. A little too much water is better than too little. Instead of water you can use any cold coffee that is with the grounds, or a mix of water and coffee. Neither water nor coffee need to be cool, for that matter.

·       Place bowl in microwave and heat for a couple of minutes.

·       When the soap appears to be softening and melting remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the contents to ensure coffee and soap are mixed.

·       Dump the mixture into a sieve or colander to remove the excess liquid.

·       Place the drained mixture on a sheet of Clingfilm. Wrap in Clingfilm and use to roll the mixture into a long sausage.

·       Flatten the sausage to form an elongated bar.

·       Allow to cool naturally.

·       Once cooler, cut the bar into smaller, more handy, pieces. Cutting the end of the bars square lets you stand the soap up on its narrow end, presenting more surface to dry.

·       Leave the soap to further cool and dry. It will be ready to use the next day.

 

Coffee soap does not produce a lot of lather but has a gentle abrasive effect. Give it a try!

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Seven Targets on The Head.

In a previous post I described the concept of learning in “chunks of seven”. Therefore, today’s post will be on seven target areas on an aggressor’s head. If you have read some of my books you will know that the head has numerous target areas. The seven I have selected have been chosen for their effectiveness and accessibility. Some have also been included since they are not as well-known as other targets.

1.       Bregma. The bregma is an intersection of sutures on the skull. For our purposes it can be regarded as the apex of the skull. Vulnerable to downward blows, unless the enemy is bent forward. Use a striking technique suited to bony areas.

2.      Glabella. The glabella is between and just above the eyes. When you see a TV evangelist knocking people over with “the power of god” he is actually striking the glabella. Not a miracle, just physics and physiology.

3.      Eyes. The eyes are protected by reflex actions and these can be exploited to make an attacker back off. Suddenly covering the eyes can be a useful “low-impact” technique. Feint at the eyes with a swift finger jab. See my books for a variety of techniques.

4.      Temples. For defensive purposes, the temple can be regarded as the area on the side of the head at a 45 degree angle up from the eye. This is sometimes described as a weak area of the skull. The bone here is not significantly thinner but it is flatter and even slightly convex, making it less effective at shedding force. Attacks include the palm heel, hammer fist and elbow.

5.      Chin. Blows that jerk the head backwards or to the side are more likely to result in a knockout. The palm heel uppercut, aka “chin jab” is a good technique, as is an upward elbow strike. If the foe is bent over a knee strike may be used.

6.      The Mind Point: “Qianzhen”. This is on the side of the jawbone, just in front of the earlobe. Feel around with your finger and you will locate a sensitive spot. A good target for palm heel, hammer fist or elbow strikes. Even when hit with the large surface area of a padded boxing glove a strike here can cause a knockout.

7.      Ears. Slapping both the palms onto a foe’s ears is a counter to various grabbing attacks. A palm heel strike to just one ear can also be effective. Ears can be painfully grabbed, pulled and twisted. An attempted rape or grappling attack may position an ear where it can be bitten. The ear marks a “target rich” area. If you cannot hit the temple, strike the ear or just above it. Right beneath the ear is a cavity with a major blood vessel and sensitive nerves.

Since I was limiting myself to just seven targets there were some alternates that did not make the final list.

The nose remains a good target. It is easily accessible and a relatively light blow can cause considerable pain and disorientation. It can be struck upwards, downwards, from the sides and inwards. In close range fighting it is going to be the primary target for a head butt. An upward palm strike to the nose will not “drive the bones into the brain” as many fiction writers maintain. It remains a good defensive technique, however.

Upward blows aimed at the nose have a change of hitting the mouth. Being hit in the mouth is unpleasant, but it also carries the risk of the striker’s hand taking a nasty injury. For this reason I selected the chin rather than the mouth for the above list.

A strike to the back of the head can be disorientating and potentially can be fatal. I would have included this area in the above list but attacking this area is relatively well known, so I opted to include the bregma instead.

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Another Win for Polaris!

One of my colleagues presented me with a padlock that had been cut from a locker. The end of the shackle was still locked into the body of the padlock. Much to my annoyance, I was unable to pick the lock. I think I must have tried most of my lock picks on this padlock, but it refused to yield.

I received the Polaris kit this weekend so I decided to try it against this padlock.

I decided to start with the four-hump Bogota. While this is a reasonably-sized padlock the key-way where the pins are is very narrow. The Bogota was not making enough contact. I decided to move on to the four-hump Sinusoid, rake no.5. A bit better, but still not opening. Rake no.7, the five-hump Sinusoid. This felt very different and the rake was clearly finding its way into the narrow key-way. A few seconds of rocking and scrubbing and the lock opened. This was a nice example of the tactile aspects of lock picking. Often you can feel what is “right” or “nearly right” and use this to guide your selection of rake or pick.

Yet another conquest for Polaris!

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Polaris Lock Rakes

I will admit, I have been looking forward to these ever since I heard about them several months back. Last night a review copy of the Polaris lock rake kit arrived. Here are some initial impressions:

The Polaris is the baby of Chris Dangerfield of UKBumpkeys. It is available from UKBumpkeys or their North American outlet, LockPickWorld.com. Polaris went on sale a couple of days ago and apparently are selling fast! Currently available at an introductory price with a 5,000 word ebook on raking techniques.

I was expecting the usual sort of pouch that lock picks come in. Instead the envelope contained a rather elegant-looking black wallet. As I opened the flap it was obvious that it had magnetic fastening.

Once opened, you are confronted by a suede interior and neat row of polished rakes, each in its own pocket. A flap to cover the points is thoughtfully provided, which is a nice attention to detail. On the far left an eleventh pocket holds a pair of turning tools, one TOK and one BOK.

Each rake is nicely polished and proudly marked “DANGERFIELD - POLARIS”. Each rake is also numbered, which is a feature I approve of. It can be useful to know you have already tried “no.4” or that “no.3” worked best on a similar lock in the past.

Polaris gives you ten rakes, and a very nice selection they are too!

Regular readers will know that I have wanted to try a double hump Bogota. Rake no.1 is a double-hump Bogota! No.2 is the more common but very useful three-hump and no.3 is a four-hump. These all made quick work of most of my test locks.

Recently I have worked on several locks that seem to respond best to a technique that is intermediate between single pin picking (SPP) and raking. I use a rake but need to concentrate on a particular group of pins. The two-hump proved useful on these locks, having a bit more room to move about. On the other hand, the three-hump seemed a fraction faster on locks susceptible to conventional scrubbing and rocking.

Rake no.4 looked very similar to the four-hump Bogota but the peaks are more rounded. This is a Cycloid rake. It resembles a Bogota but with slightly lower and more rounded peaks. No.5 is more symmetrical and you might think of it as a form of snake, worm or serpentine rake. It is actually a four-hump Sinusoid. These are both useful for locks where the Bogotas are too tall.

No.6 and 7 are five wave Cycloid and Sinusoid and appear to have a slightly lower wave-height, making them useful in locks that 4 and 5 are too high for.

So far, a nice, intelligent selection of rakes that nicely complement each other.

No.8 is a bit of a change of style since it is a ripple or jag, also known as an “L” or “city” rake. I think of this one as a “classic city”. I have at least two other kits with rakes of exactly the same profile. When I first started lock picking I was not particularly keen on jags. I did not then appreciate that they were not for techniques such as zipping or scrubbing. The correct way to use a jag is rocking. The no.8 is a fraction taller than some of the other city rakes I have. This is easily addressed with a little filing, but I doubt this is significant since jags tend to only be useful in taller, straighter keyways. When a jag does work, however, it tends to work very fast indeed! No.8 is no exception!

No.8 is the only straight-backed rake in the set, making it useful if you want to count the pins in a lock. Interestingly, I was able to use the straight back to rock open a mushroom-pinned practice lock.

You may have noticed that most lock pick sets seem to share the same assortment of picks? I have never seen another kit with rakes like no.9 and 10.  When I first saw them I thought of them as double-sided jags. Chris Dangerfield likens them to jiggler keys.
 

 

Like more conventional jags these can quickly open some locks by rocking. I have also had successes using them for gentle scrubbing. No.9 and 10 are fairly wide in places but I have opened some narrower, twisty locks by using the curves of the rake to probe around. Novel, but useful designs. Note that most of the rakes in this kit can be treated as double-sided. If they do not work one way up they may work inverted. Always worth trying.

I like the turning tools in this kit. Raking can be difficult with a TOK tool when used in the top of the keyway so try using it at the bottom. This suits some lock ways better than the other tool. When I first opened the wallet I was a little disappointed there was not more room for additional turning tools. Part of the reason for this is the turning tool pocket is on the wallet flap, so space is a little limited. You can probably fit a few more BOK tools in the pocket, and it would be useful to have a selection of different widths and thicknesses. Perhaps Dangerfield will release an add-on set?

I like the magnet feature of the wallet. It adds a certain “majesty” to opening it. It may have practical applications too. Turning tools and rakes can be “stuck” to either of the outer panels, useful when you need a hand free but cannot return the tool to its pocket. Will the wallet stick to a metal panel such as a locker door? It sticks to my fridge!

The kit comes with a 5,000 word ebook on raking techniques. I don’t know if that is a permanent component or just for the introductory offer. Since my set is a review sample I did not get the ebook. Knowing Chris’ experience and enthusiasm for raking I expect it to be well worth a read.

In conclusion, this is a really, really nice rake set. Classy to look at but also with a really useful selection of rakes. It has all of the rakes you might wish for and also some effective novel designs. It is, as advertised, just a rake set. If you want to learn SPP you will need some hooks and half-diamonds. A Serenity and a Polaris kit would be an awesome combination!

I would say, “add these to your Christmas list”, but I understand these are moving fast so the introductory offer may not last that long!

If you have enjoyed this article or it has been helpful to you please feel free to show your appreciation. Thank you.
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