Brute Force: Prying Doors

[Psychlonic]

Prying

This is the alternative side of the coin from ramming. If the door swings towards you rather than away, prying becomes the optimal brute force opening method. Technically, you can still ram a door open that swings outward, but it's largely inefficient. Instead, we want to try to force the door to open the way it's designed to.

Before prying, consider the basic mechanical principles behind what you're about to do. Prying works on the idea that force is multiplied as the length of your lever increases. Therefore, a massive wrecking bar is more effective than a screwdriver. Unfortunately, a good wrecking bar usually exceeds five feet, which is larger than is practical. Hence the downside of prying - it requires equipment. Equipment that you must strike a balance between effectiveness and size with.
To begin prying a door, insert your prying tool of choice into the gap between the door and it's frame on the side you open it from. While technically you can pry open a door on the same side as the hinges, it's incredibly inefficient and you aren't going to do it without some sort of device helping you out. It's best to insert above the knob/handle about halfway between it and the top of the door for your first try. This will exert the best balance of force while not risking the door flexing beyond the amount your tool can continue to pry with.
Should you succeed, you'll produce a fairly loud snapping sound as the door pops out of the frame or busts it entirely. As with ramming, success is dependent on the frame strength and door flexibility. If you fail, you can try one of two options. The first option is to place your prying tool closer to the locks and attempt to directly force the door away from the frame. The second option, which is much more effective, is to bring the tool to the highest part of the gap, still staying on the side of the door, and prying the corner away from the frame.

You'll probably notice on a lot of doors that as you pry from the top corner, the door will separate from the frame considerably, but you'll be unable to pop the door open because you can't pry any further back with your tool. What you'll need to do is find objects you can use to wedge between the door and the frame to keep the door separated, then move your tool down. Your multitool might work well as a jam if nothing else is available. Pry some more, you might run into the same problem. Keep moving down and adjusting your wedges as the door separates farther and farther from the frame, until finally it pops free. And it will indeed pop with a fairly loud report. Remember that the more effort it takes to pry a door open, the louder it will likely be.

Some places might employ doors with lips on them that cover the gap between the door and the frame. This might not necessarily be a problem though, because chances are it's either solidly attached and you can just pry it outward instead, or it's going to bust off and reveal the gap anyways. If it seems flimsy, you need to ask yourself if such a tell-tale piece of evidence is worth it.
As with ramming, prying is only going to be effective on a hinged door, so don't bother trying to pry open bay doors and such (unless of course you have a jack or other device that exerts massive force).


Some things to avoid:
- Don't pry a door that swings away from you. You'll just embarrass yourself.
- Don't ram a door that swings towards you, unless your objective is to dislocate your joints. Enough force can do it, but just don't unless for whatever reason you have to.
- Don't pry with soft or brittle materials. If anything, use these as jams while you pry closer and closer towards the lock on a tough door.
- Don't pry on the same side as the hinges. Again, you're just going to embarrass yourself.

Some unorthodox ideas to ponder when all else fails in a must-complete scenario:
- Give a man a large enough lever, and he can move a planet. If you need serious prying power, fashion yourself a serious lever using whatever you can.
- Hydraulic presses will pry open doors that you can't. In a brute force scenario where stealth takes a back burner, this could be a viable option if you have the means to move it around.
- Kevlar balloons are another high force prying device meant to separate door and frame. It's also another cumbersome set-up, and it's uses are definitely specialized.
- In certain locations, you may find expedient prying tools, such as shovels, stout branches, and other objects. If it works, it works.

Also like ramming, prying should be avoided and you should instead pick up on more advanced techniques that are quieter and require lighter and smaller tools. Remember that a door that only has a knob locked and can be effectively pried open can also typically be shoelaced instead, and shoelacing is much quieter and requires significantly less cumbersome resources to accomplish. Finally, as with ramming, there's always the chance you're going to damage the frame in a visible manner.