If you want to open a padlock and don’t have the key, you can almost certainly break it open with 2 big wrenches.
I only had 1 opportunity to try that yet, when removing a 20 year old lock some stupid kid left on my stuff and then forgot where I put the key, but man did it feel empowering.
You can practice this trick at any romantic bridge. Do you really think whoever etched their initials on the lock is still together and would notice? Please
You can shim a surprising number of them with a cut up soda can. If you’ve got the time, lockpicks are pretty easy to buy and a novice can pick most locks in less than an hour with a “raking” technique.
If you can’t defeat the lock, attack the mount. A lot of doors/drawers/cabinets use thin punched steel, or mild steel for the hasp/lock point. You can get through those in a few minutes with files, saws, pliers, etc.
My landleech padlocked the basement and attic of the house I rent. I keep a large screwdriver for exactly this eventuality. Something goes wrong in the basement and that lock point is done for. Just slip it in the gap around the padlock and pull. Will only take about 200N to rip the thing off the door and I can get way more than that with a little bit of leverage.
