What a 2-in-1 pick and decoder does, and how to choose the keyway
It reads the lock instead of the key. Which means the tool is chosen by keyway code, never by the badge on the bonnet.
A 2-in-1 pick and decoder reads the lock instead of the key. You pick the wafers and the tool decodes the cuts as you go, so you leave with the bitting written down. That is the whole trick, and it is why it belongs in the van.
What that gets you
You can cut a working blank with no original in hand and without pulling the lock out of the door. On a lockout or an all keys lost, that is the difference between an hour and an afternoon.
It also means you are not guessing at a bitting. You have read it off the lock.
Chosen by keyway, never by make
This is the part people get wrong when ordering. Each tool is ground for one keyway profile. An HU100 tool works on every lock using that profile, whatever badge is on the bonnet, and does not work on anything else.
So the question is never "which one for a Ford". It is "which keyway is this lock". Common profiles you will meet include HU100, HU66, HU162T, TOY43, TOY48, FO21, NSN14 and YH35R.
Identifying the profile
With a key in hand, the keyway code is often stamped on the blade or the head. Without one, the profile is read off the lock: the shape of the wafer channel and the position of the warding.
Every blank and blade listed here states its keyway code, so once you know the profile the ordering is unambiguous.
Buying order
Buy the profiles you meet weekly first. A full set is a large outlay and most of it will sit in a drawer, because the distribution of what actually comes through the door is very uneven. Add profiles as jobs demand them and the set builds itself around your area.
What we hold
We stock 141 Lishi tools, and 586 blanks and blades to cut once you have the code. The tool page states the keyway; the blank page states the keyway; matching the two is the whole ordering decision.
Practice on the bench
These reward practice more than any other tool in the trade. Work on a cylinder on the bench until the feedback is familiar, because reading a lock in a door, in the cold, with a customer watching, is not where the learning should happen.