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Every authentic tool in the Lockpicked catalog traces back to one person: Mr. Li Zhiqin, a master engineer based in Qinhuangdao, Hebei Province, China, and the founder of Qinhuangdao Lizhiqin Tools Co., Ltd. Before his invention, picking a lock and decoding it were two separate, painstaking steps — and both depended almost entirely on a locksmith’s ability to “feel” what was happening inside a cylinder they could not see. Mr. Li changed that permanently. When you work with one of his tools, you are using the product of decades of obsessive precision engineering, built to replace guesswork with a visual, repeatable process that any trained professional can execute reliably.

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The Problem He Set Out to Solve

Before the 2-in-1 existed, automotive locksmithing had a fundamental gap. You could open a car door with a traditional single hook — but that only solved half the problem. If a customer needed a replacement key, you still had no idea what the internal wafer depths were. That meant pulling the cylinder apart or using a separate, cumbersome decoding tool as a second step.

The blind feel problem

Traditional single hooks require you to work entirely by touch. On modern high-security locks, the tactile feedback is so subtle that even experienced locksmiths could over-set a wafer or lose their position entirely.

The decoding gap

Opening the door solved only half the job. Without knowing the bitting depths of each wafer, you still could not cut a replacement key on the spot — costing time and often requiring disassembly.

Generic fit, imprecise control

Standard hooks are not engineered for a specific keyway. That generic fit introduces slop, making it hard to apply precise pressure to one wafer without disturbing its neighbors.

Inconsistent results

Raking and jiggling can work in seconds or take twenty minutes depending on the lock’s condition and the technician’s intuition — an unreliable foundation for a professional operation.

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How the 2-in-1 Was Born

In the late 1990s, Mr. Li had already released his first generation of Lishi single picks — precision laser picks that outperformed generic hooks. But he recognized that picking and decoding still required separate tools and separate steps. He spent three more years researching and developing a unified solution.
1

The keyway-specific blade

Mr. Li engineered each tool around the exact geometry of a specific vehicle keyway. When you insert a Lishi tool, it fits like a purpose-made key blank — zero wobble, zero wasted movement.
2

The calibrated lifting arm

A precision picking arm moves inside the lock, manipulating one wafer at a time. It is synchronized with an external pointer that tracks both the horizontal position (which wafer you are on) and the vertical depth of each movement.
3

Visual decoding at the shear line

Once the lock is picked and the cylinder rotates, the wafers are trapped at their set positions. Running the lifting arm across each station a second time lets the external pointer rest on a numbered scale — giving you the complete bitting code to read directly off the tool.
4

Cut a key without disassembly

You take that bitting code straight to your key-cutting machine and produce a working replacement key on the first attempt. No cylinder removal, no guesswork, no second trip.
The result was a technology Mr. Li called “positional lockpicking” — replacing tactile feel with visual certainty. His standard for manufacturing tolerance is 0.01mm, which is why the feedback from an authentic Mr. Li tool feels crisp and readable where a counterfeit feels mushy and ambiguous.

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The Lishi Ecosystem

Mr. Li did not build one tool — he built a platform. Each tool in the catalog is engineered for a specific keyway, which means the picking tip aligns perfectly with the target lock’s wafer stack from the moment you insert it.
The core of the catalog. Covers the vast majority of passenger vehicles on the road, from the HU66 for Volkswagen, Audi, Skoda, and Seat, to the HON66 for Honda, the TOY2 for Toyota, and the HU92 for BMW. Each tool is named for its keyway profile, making selection straightforward once you know what lock you are working on.
A dedicated line covering common motorcycle keyways. The same 2-in-1 logic applies — pick and decode in a single operation, then cut the key.
Mr. Li extended the platform to household locks. Tools like the SC1 and SC4 for Schlage and the KW1 and KW5 for Kwikset bring the same 0.01mm precision to the residential market.
Protective carrying cases, cut-away practice cylinders for training, and supporting hardware that rounds out a professional kit.
The ecosystem is deliberately modular. Once you understand how to operate one Lishi tool — how to tension, how to read the grid, how to identify a set wafer — that skill transfers directly to every other tool in the catalog. You master the method once, then apply it to thousands of vehicle and lock models.

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Mr. Li’s Design Philosophy

Mr. Li approaches tool design from the perspective of a craftsman who also uses what he makes. His philosophy comes down to one principle: replace uncertainty with information. A locksmith holding one of his tools should never have to guess. The graduated external scale tells you exactly where the picking tip is. The pointer tells you the depth. The tool’s fit in the keyway eliminates lateral slop. Every design decision serves the goal of giving you visible, readable certainty at every step of the job. That obsession with precision is why he holds a 0.01mm manufacturing tolerance as a non-negotiable standard. At that level of accuracy, the tool’s lifter arm tracks wafer movement with enough resolution that the decode you read off the scale will produce a working key on the first cut.

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Anti-Counterfeiting: The Face Logo and Orange Label

The market for Lishi tools is unfortunately full of counterfeits. A fake tool may look similar but is manufactured to much looser tolerances — the lifter feels mushy, the decode can be off by enough to waste key blanks, and the tip can snap inside a lock under pressure. Mr. Li uses two layers of protection to let you verify what you are holding:

The Mr. Li face logo

Every authentic tool produced at Mr. Li’s factory carries his trademarked portrait etched directly into the metal. This is the first thing to check. If the face logo is absent or looks poorly rendered, the tool is not from his factory.

Orange Label scratch-off code

Each tool comes with an orange anti-counterfeit sticker on the back. Scratch off the coating to reveal a unique code, then enter it at lizhiqintool.com to confirm the tool is a genuine factory product.
Do not use a tool you cannot verify. A counterfeit with misaligned tolerances will give you incorrect bitting readings, wasting key blanks and your time. Worse, a low-grade tip can snap inside a customer’s lock cylinder, turning a straightforward lockout into a costly repair job.

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Training: Mr. Li Teaches the Trade

Mr. Li is unusual among inventors in that he did not simply manufacture tools and step back. He personally recorded a series of training videos demonstrating exactly how his tools work — showing the picking process, explaining how to read the decode scale, and walking through the method step by step. Those videos are linked from product pages throughout the Lockpicked catalog.
If you are new to Lishi tools, start with Mr. Li’s own training videos before your first job. Watching the inventor demonstrate the correct technique — particularly how to apply tension and how to identify a set wafer by its feel and the pointer’s position — will shorten your learning curve significantly.

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How to Verify an Authentic Mr. Li Tool

1

Check for the face logo

Look for the etched portrait of Mr. Li Zhiqin on the body of the tool. It should be clean, precise, and clearly identifiable. A blurry or absent logo is a red flag.
2

Locate the orange sticker

Find the orange scratch-off anti-counterfeit label on the back of the tool. Every genuine tool from Mr. Li’s factory ships with one.
3

Reveal the code

Gently scratch off the coating to expose the unique verification code underneath.
4

Verify at lizhiqintool.com

Enter the code at lizhiqintool.com. A valid code confirms the tool was manufactured at Mr. Li’s factory and has not been previously registered.
Every tool sold through Lockpicked comes with its orange verification sticker intact, so you can confirm authenticity the moment your order arrives.