How did Houdini learn to pick locks?

Answer 1

Houdini was mostly self taught about locks. One thing he did was purchase many of them and figure out how they operated. For his big challenge performances on stage he always required the devices be left on exhibit at the theater from the time the challenge was made until the date of the performance. While they were at the theater all devices using locks were taken to his backstage workshop and taken apart to see how they worked and any special picks (or even a duplicate key in some cases) needed were made before the lock was reassembled and the device put back on exhibit.

A little known fact about handcuffs made prior to 1920 that he took advantage of in his handcuff escapes is that all cuffs of the same make and model used the same key! Houdini frequented pawnshops and early in his career had purchased at least one set of every make and model of cuffs available at the time, so he only had to inspect the cuffs and know right away which key to hide on his person prior to the escape (so he rarely had to pick cuffs).