# A Question on Escaping from . . .



## Sam (Apr 10, 2012)

. . . handcuffs. 

I have a character who's been handcuffed to the headboard of a bed and left there by someone playing a prank. My character is able to pick locks but has nothing at hand to do so. I've gotten him into this situation and I can't figure a way out of it. He's strong, but not strong enough to break the wood he's cuffed to. 

Any ideas?


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## Terry D (Apr 10, 2012)

It's possible to escape from handcuffs by brute force, if one is willing, or desperate enough, to do damage to the ligaments, tendons, and musculature of a thumb.  Just roll the thumb toward the palm of the hand and pull like hell.


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## C.M. Aaron (Apr 10, 2012)

Break the headboard? Or work the headboard loose from the rest of the bed, then carry the headboard around with you? It might be possible to work the headboard loose simply by shaking it back and forth vigorously and/or bouncing the bed a few inches away from the wall. How fiendish is the prankster? Would he/she have checked to ensure the headboard is securely fastened? Headboards are not designed to tie people down and hold them in place. Therefore headboards are not always securely fastened to the rest of the bed. It might only be fastened tightly enough to keep the headboard from falling over.   C.M.


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## Sam (Apr 10, 2012)

The headboard is part of the bed. It's all one. That's why I said he isn't strong enough to break it; you'd need to be a bodybuilder to do so.


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## Elvenswordsman (Apr 10, 2012)

Says you. If you ram your shoulder into anything hard enough, it'll break. As for getting out without a pick, chances are you're not going to. Handcuffs are meant to restrain, and unless he could force the handcuff enough to the left or right of the track that keeps it locked, chances are he won't get out.

Note: forcing a handcuff to the side works on most pairs of handcuffs, except military and police grade. I know from experience (never been arrested). So it all depends on the quality of the handcuffs.


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## Sam (Apr 10, 2012)

"If you ram your shoulder into anything hard enough, it'll break". 

You're ramming your shoulder into the newel of a headboard that isn't flimsily connected to the bed but rather all one part of a bed made from solid oak. The only thing you'll break is your shoulder. Besides, you can't get enough force or leverage to shoulder with enough power; unless you're a contortionist.


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## Terry D (Apr 10, 2012)

Sam,

Is your character cuffed with two sets of cuffs, or just one?  Both hands cuffed, or is one free?


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## Sam (Apr 10, 2012)

One set. One hand cuffed.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 10, 2012)

Come on Sam, it's fiction, you can do anything. 
"A rat suddenly runs across his foot, it is the pet rat of his girlfriend and taped to its back is a spare key for the cuffs that she has stolen from... "
"Those were not just any termites crossing the floor, they were the specially trained termite army of his old mate Aussie Jake, and they had come to eat him to freedom"
"The dumb idiots had cuffed him to the upright of the frame, a heavy steel tube, but he simply unscrewed the brass knob at the top and slid the handcuff off, then screwed it back, 'no point in enlightening the idiots'."

 Okay, so it is all a bit OTT, but lighten up a little and put some off the wall thinking in there and it might actually work.


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## Sam (Apr 10, 2012)

Why don't I have him use the battery-powered mini angle grider in his pocket instead, Olly? 

I want it to be realistic.


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## ppsage (Apr 10, 2012)

Doc Sportello, the always wasted detective in Pynchon's _Inherent Vice _always carried narrow strips of what was basically heavy cellophane stashed in various places about his person and garments against the day he'd have to face exactly this situation. When it happened, he'd been too high to reload, but he was such an indolent laundryer, that a piece was still available. He managed to work the pall slipping trick with both hands cuffed together by holding the plastic in his mouth after rolling around on the floor with the chair he was attached to to retrieve the tool which he'd shaken loose from a pocket seam (I think it was, maybe a cuff) by standing on his head against the wall. Doc was neither very strong nor particularly smart, but he had the advantages of usually feeling no pain and always being totally paranoid. Still, your guy could maybe do something clever to take precaution.


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## Terry D (Apr 10, 2012)

1.  Pick lock with prong of belt buckle.

2.  Pick lock with wire scavenged from;  A.  Picture hanging on wall.  B.  Lamp within reach (overhead light?)

3.  Tear apart innerspring mattress, or box spring and use material gleaned from there.


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## JosephB (Apr 10, 2012)

Every headboard we have, even an antique bed, is attached to a frame in a way that a strong person could break it apart. So just make it some kind he can break. Is this super-strong bed somehow essential to your plot? If not, just change it.



Terry D said:


> 1.  Pick lock with prong of belt buckle.



Nope. He's wearing sweatpants.



Terry D said:


> 2.  Pick lock with wire scavenged from;  A.  Picture hanging on wall.  B.  Lamp within reach (overhead light?)



He's in Amish country -- pictures are forbidden and no electricity.



Terry D said:


> 3.  Tear apart innerspring mattress, or box spring and use material gleaned from there.



Well, of course, that wouldn't work. You see, it's a foam mattress!


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## mr_smartiepants (Apr 11, 2012)

Is he lying flat on his back? If so how about this:

Character is able to throw feet over head onto the head board bracing it against the wall with his feet, or if bed is not against a wall then he would still be able to apply some type of pressure against the board.

If the character is able to brace himself against the headboard in such a way that his feet is pushing the board in one direction while pulling with all of his might in a different direction, the combined stress and strain could cause the wood to crack and/or split allowing a character with weaker physical capabilities to escape by hammering away at the board once its cracked with his feet or by repeatedly pulling at the chains until the combined effort splits the wood.

It could be possible to use the chains that link the handcuffs as a crude saw if the wood is of poor quality.

If it were me I would try to use my feet to my advantage either kicking the board until it breaks or by the way I described above if possible. Even if someone has weak arms they can still have pretty strong legs.


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## JosephB (Apr 11, 2012)

I know what the deal is -- some chick handcuffed Sam to the headboard and stole his wallet -- and he must have posted this from his smartphone. Same thing happened to George on Seinfeld.


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## Olly Buckle (Apr 11, 2012)

Sam W said:


> Why don't I have him use the battery-powered mini angle grider in his pocket instead, Olly?
> 
> I want it to be realistic.


Realistic ! I thought you wrote action novels? The battery driven angle grinder is a great idea, didn't Mr Bond have one of those hidden in his watch? 

Seriously though, I did say I was going a bit OTT, but if you wrote him into it surely you can write him out. How about a steel bed-frame with brass knobs, the moron terrorists (or whatever they are) cuff him to the upright not realising the knobs unscrew and allow him to slide the handcuff up and off the frame? Honestly, I went to see the best exotic marigold hotel the other day, it has been sold out , but some of the plot devices in that are really bare and awful, things like the mother who is anti the girlfriend until the aged servant gives her a half min. lecture, or the xenophobe who gets over it all just like that when she meets the untouchable cleaner's family. Or consider stuff like Jane Eyre, where she takes a random coach ride, walks out onto a moor, and finds the house where her cousin lives, or because the porridge is burnt the whole school falls ill and starts dying. I wonder if maybe our biggest mistake is thinking up decent plots, it means the plot goes straight over the head of the average moron reading it. Keep it simple and exciting, and if it is impossible you are exercising their imagination, they want to believe, so they will.


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## SeverinR (Apr 16, 2012)

There are power lifters that as part of their act pop handcuffs for fun. 

If the bed is solid oak and well made, there is no way the bed will fail without tools. If typical store bought, the rails are held to the headboard by pegs, even if screwed in tight, they will eventually slip.

One hand cuffed, allows for great manueverablility. He might be able to push the bed to a phone, pulling a solid oak bed would be difficult.  

Movies and books: book;Geralds game(S.King), movie: Bounty hunter

My bed is made with 2x8 rails with dual 2x4 corner posts, it doesn't creek when I get in or out(should have replaced the box though), it will not come apart very easily. (Wife(now ex) destroyed our previous bed by dropping the mattress on the corner post.) So I built one that could handle this. Very heavy.

Each joint of the bed is a weak point, all he needs is one failure and the rest is severely weakened.

If the bed is indestructable (without tools), and he isn't strong enough to pull apart the cuffs. Moving the bed and calling for help is one way. Not sure I see any other.  
If its at the girlfriends house, maybe a nightstand with hair supplies, part being hair pin?


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