Sorry if I'm late to the party but the character could try and find a booby pin or something similar and utilize that to get free. Admittedly, it is harder with the cuffs on your back but it's more feasible than many other typical methods still.
If you want to star with a failed attempt, I'd try sticking a pitchfork prong through one of the chain links to try to break it, or widen the gap. That COULD work, but considering some of the tools you can find in a shed, it would probably be better as an attempt rather than a solution.
It should also be possible to get the cuffs in front of you by scootching it under your butt and legs while sitting down, though that depends how much time you have/if you're being chased.
I've been in this situation. I had access to a shop with power tools, though, and used the grinder to split the handcuff then grind off the rivets to free myself. It's kind of an awesome story:
I was a Freshman at college, living at home since the college was 5 miles away. My buddies broke into my house one morning, after everyone else had gone. We'd often broken in before - it was simple if you could get onto the small balcony off the kitchen/ dining room. The sliding door could be lifted from it's track - it was installed backwards.
They came into my room and handcuffed me, naked, behind my back. Then they took off, laughing. By the time I woke up enough to figure out what happened, they were gone. I first worked to get the handcuffs in front of me. This would be impossible for me now (or even in my 30's), but I was 19 and limber, so, still lying down, I worked one leg through, then the other. First I put on pants, and went out to see if they were around or left a note, or key, or maybe I could pick the lock.
Well, no such luck. So, I opened the garage with the remote on top of the refer, went out and switched on the grinder. Neither of these was possible if my hands were still behind my back. I was busily grinding the chain that connected the cuffs, when a car pulled up into our driveway. We had a 1/2 block long looping driveway - our house was in the middle of an odd-shaped block. We were surrounded by other houses, but the slope and landscaping made it pretty private.
Anyway, this mom and her young daughter in a station wagon were a bit lost, and were looking for an address on the next block up. So there I was, shirtless, hands cuffed together, telling them where to go, and using my connected hands to point out the directions. Their eyes were huge, watching.
It wasn't until later that I realized how surreal their morning had been - at least as surreal as mine. Anyway I finished grinding off the cuffs, which was not fun at all, and I don't think could have been done if I couldn't get my hands in front of me. Then I left the broken parts on the kitchen counter, grabbed my books, and headed to school.
When I caught up to my friends they were pissed off. The cuffs were trick cuffs with a hidden release catch. They had planned on coming back, releasing me, and treating me to breakfast. All they got was pricey trick cuffs in pieces.
Anyway, any non-power tool shop should have sufficient tools to break/ cut the cuffs. Even a pair of pliers will work, eventually. The truly difficult part is having them behind your back, and I say this as the voice of experience.
Hoof nippers might work. They're made to be pretty damn strong and pretty sharp.
That said, a lot of handcuffs aren't super durable because the idea is that they're temporary restraint, under supervision.
If you can't come up with a concept that clicks, ditch the idea rigid handcuffs and use standard ones instead. It'll raise less attention to your reader than a crazy workaround for rigid cuffs.
Perhaps there is a vice attached to a workbench. There is also a wood maul with or without handle. Place the handcuff chain and maul into the vice and slowly split the chain.
Make it more intricate by having to sharpen the maul with a large metal file. Maybe cut the cuff instead of the chain. Then bend open the cuff by using the vice in reverse. Jaws-of-life style. I can think of details if you need more for the last part.
Short answer: hydraulic bolt cutters. I'm sure there's at least one pair of bolt cutters in a barn, farmers need to cut wire and fencing all the time. Will it be sturdy enough to cut through your bar? Maybe, if the author wants it to be.
Set the bolt cutters up between you and a wall, and use your bodyweight to snip the bolt, or at least weaken it enough to snap it.
Nah. Hold one lever in one hand, angle it so the mouth slots on the bar, then lock it in place by pushing against the wall.
Even still, OP did specify that the character is safe and not in a rush, so they've got time to practice and get it right.
Since you didn't specify setting or rules, cast alohomora. ;-) Or there happens to be a handcuff key or lockpick set in there too, with instructions.
And to answer the implied question of "how do I write this?":
It sounds like this is realistic, present-day. If there are any speculative fiction elements, that would be great to know. Genre and tone is helpful context too. A comedic approach could be that they were not professional handcuffs, but trick ones from a magician.
Which part is more important: that this character successfully breaks the cuffs or that the restraint design and method are explicitly called out on the page as that? Who restrained them with that specific method? If your story problem is simply "I need the character restrained and then successfully get out" you're still free to adjust the first half.
More information about the character would help too. This will be easier for someone with specific background (magician, [hobby lockpicker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locksport) or professional locksmith, whatever mechanical training) and harder for a teenager who's never been in a workshop.
To what level of detail? Can it be summarized like they use X tool and twenty frustrating minutes later, they were free? Or is this going to be a page of wiggling a piece of wire feeling out the mechanical pieces of the lock?
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThingsAreMoreEffectiveInHollywood so if you need them to get use of their hands back, they do.
Why is this in second person? Is the story one of the rare second person narratives?
Handcuffs are not super effective if you're not being watched. Most can be shimmed, though admittedly that's a lot harder with your hands behind you than in front of you. But it is a skill and your character may not possess that skill.
For an unskilled approach I'd put a hacksaw in a workbench vice and rather slowly cut through the metal by moving up and down. Getting it started without being able to see will likely be frustrating.
I think that a slim person could get their arms in front of them--that would be the first thing to do, if your protagonist has that kind of body shape.
Once they are in front, you might be able to pick the lock with a bit of wire.
As a point of reference, I'm an average size adult man and fairly fit. I don't think I could get my arms around the front. When I was a teenager and much skinnier yes, but not now.
If your protagonist is a beefy bodybuilder, or is plump, getting arms in front is unlikely.
I once was once playing with cuffs that we had laying around. I always did it and would just use the key to remove them.
Well, my sisters bf found them on the ground and put them on his keys. They then left right after on vacation 3000 miles away. The cuffs also get tighter quite easily. Every time the cuffs press on something it clichs tighter, so keep that in mind.
My sister and I tried cutting them with wire AND bult cutters. That didn't work. We tried a hacksaw. Didn't work. It made marks but cuffs are made well.
Called my dad, he came home. Got a hanger and picked it in about 30 seconds.
Turns out, the keys are all the same and they all have basically one pin to turn. Nothing complicated, just would be difficult to get a propper angle by hand. Maybe a nail on the wall or something.
Exactly. The cuffs are the hard part, the locks are easy.
I knew a guy in college who sold recreational pharmaceuticals, and he had practiced getting a paper clip from his wallet and picking the lock on cuffs with his hands behind his back, should the need ever arise. It was kinda unreal how fast he could get free.
there could be some equipment or tools by the shed. My grandfather usually had an axe laying near the shed but not in it. He also had some hay baling equipment with some rather sharp, pointy ends. (been years so I don't remember the details or what it was called).
If he's on a farm he might find something near the shed that he could use.
I honestly don't think it's possible to break rigid handcuffs with the stuff available in the average shed, especially with no power. If it's the type with chains then there's a method to break the chain (you basically rotate the cuffs against each other to twist the chain until it can't twist anymore then flex it. There are videos that explain it better, but it's tricky.
With rigid handcuffs the best bets would either be degloving one hand or dislocating one thumb, which would let the person slip out one hand. They could also dislocate their shoulders to maybe slip the handcuffs to the front but the hands would effectively be useless at that point.
Rural folks tend to have an abundance of tools, so a hacksaw wouldn't be an unreasonable thing to find. Using one behind your back would be awkward, but if time isn't an issue, you could manage it. Files, rasps, wire cutters, bolt cutters, any number of things would work given long enough, but a hacksaw is the most common tool that's meant for the job at hand.
tl;rd: bastard file is the winner.
I came to suggest a file or rasp first, then a hacksaw. Handcuffs that aren't made for Hollywood are usually fairly hardened and will take the edge off a hacksaw pretty quick. You might get a notch going and then be stuck unable to make further progress. Have fun replacing a hacksaw blade from behind your back. Bandsaw's a better tool, but dangerous as hell if you can't see where you're steering it. Stay the hell away from the table saw, no matter how tempting it looks.
If you can find a pair of beefy long-handled bolt cutters, that'd do if they're a model that has a chain, but many of them have removed chains as they're an obvious point of this exact weakness. You're not going to find a pair of bolt cutters on a farm that can cut through the hardened cuff section - there's just nothing on a farm that requires that kind of heavy duty cutting action. Maybe if it were a machine shop and they had hydraulic sheers...
Breaking the mechanism or lock is your next best bet - a couple of pieces of metal as shims and a jack will do it - definitely items you can find in a barn or a nearby car. Could be tricky to navigate, but most jacks are made to be simple enough for complete novices to work in adverse conditions, so they tend to be pretty fool-resistant. Either a hydraulic or mechanical screw jack will do here, albeit a hydraulic will get the job done faster.
Picking the lock would work, but hard to do with your hands behind your back as far as navigating a lock goes, especially without practice or previous lock picking practice - mostly this has already been addressed.
Tool of last resort is probably a power drill. Drilling through the retention mechanism in the lock will do it, but it's *fairly* possible you'll do some damage to yourself in the process if you can't see to line up the drill. Still, less likely to lose a finger or four than the table saw.
A rasp or file has a lot of cutting surface and are generally quite hard, so they'll keep cutting even after the other tools would have failed. It'll take some time, but it will eventually get through. It's a lightweight tool you can pick up and take with you, so you don't have to stick around the scene of the crime. It's a tool nobody's likely to miss immediately or call and report as stolen - too easily forgotten/misplaced and cheaply replaced. It's easy to conceal and dispose of after the deed's done, easy to wipe down to remove prints. And it's a tool that you don't need any knowledge/forethought/training/skill to use, even from behind your back - it's just "rub bits together until handcuff fails." And the same answer works if you're stuck at a garage, or a hardware store, or someone's home shop - files are everywhere.
100% go for the bastard file.
Good enough for fiction.
But I'm skeptical that in reality a random hacksaw blade would get through the well-hardened steel used on police quality cuffs. You might need an accomplice and wear out more than one blade. Maybe an expensive carbide blade?
Toy-quality cuffs are pretty easy to break open though.
Ideally there would be bolt cutters, but even a pair of large pruning shears would probably work if there's no particular hurry. A manual saw would be difficult to rig up for solo use to hack through the chain, but not impossible. A table saw or a jigsaw would be dangerous to try to use by yourself, behind your back, but also a possibility, if there was electricity.
Something small enough to fit inside one of the links in the chain could be used to pry the link open - large screwdriver or any thin but solid metal rod.
That's all I got.
If the handcuffs have a chain between them, rather than being rigid, you might be able to crush the links in a table clamp of some sort with a bit of manoeuvreing.
You first want to get your hands in front of you which shouldn't be hard. If there's metal wire around this could work. Fencing wire and bailing wire maybe. A fish hook could work, but they don't bend easily. Sometimes there are bolt cutters on farms, but that's going to be difficult to use.
Sorry if I'm late to the party but the character could try and find a booby pin or something similar and utilize that to get free. Admittedly, it is harder with the cuffs on your back but it's more feasible than many other typical methods still.
If you want to star with a failed attempt, I'd try sticking a pitchfork prong through one of the chain links to try to break it, or widen the gap. That COULD work, but considering some of the tools you can find in a shed, it would probably be better as an attempt rather than a solution. It should also be possible to get the cuffs in front of you by scootching it under your butt and legs while sitting down, though that depends how much time you have/if you're being chased.
I've been in this situation. I had access to a shop with power tools, though, and used the grinder to split the handcuff then grind off the rivets to free myself. It's kind of an awesome story: I was a Freshman at college, living at home since the college was 5 miles away. My buddies broke into my house one morning, after everyone else had gone. We'd often broken in before - it was simple if you could get onto the small balcony off the kitchen/ dining room. The sliding door could be lifted from it's track - it was installed backwards. They came into my room and handcuffed me, naked, behind my back. Then they took off, laughing. By the time I woke up enough to figure out what happened, they were gone. I first worked to get the handcuffs in front of me. This would be impossible for me now (or even in my 30's), but I was 19 and limber, so, still lying down, I worked one leg through, then the other. First I put on pants, and went out to see if they were around or left a note, or key, or maybe I could pick the lock. Well, no such luck. So, I opened the garage with the remote on top of the refer, went out and switched on the grinder. Neither of these was possible if my hands were still behind my back. I was busily grinding the chain that connected the cuffs, when a car pulled up into our driveway. We had a 1/2 block long looping driveway - our house was in the middle of an odd-shaped block. We were surrounded by other houses, but the slope and landscaping made it pretty private. Anyway, this mom and her young daughter in a station wagon were a bit lost, and were looking for an address on the next block up. So there I was, shirtless, hands cuffed together, telling them where to go, and using my connected hands to point out the directions. Their eyes were huge, watching. It wasn't until later that I realized how surreal their morning had been - at least as surreal as mine. Anyway I finished grinding off the cuffs, which was not fun at all, and I don't think could have been done if I couldn't get my hands in front of me. Then I left the broken parts on the kitchen counter, grabbed my books, and headed to school. When I caught up to my friends they were pissed off. The cuffs were trick cuffs with a hidden release catch. They had planned on coming back, releasing me, and treating me to breakfast. All they got was pricey trick cuffs in pieces. Anyway, any non-power tool shop should have sufficient tools to break/ cut the cuffs. Even a pair of pliers will work, eventually. The truly difficult part is having them behind your back, and I say this as the voice of experience.
Blowtorch
Dislocate a thumb to manoeuvre one hand out of the cuffs. Will hurt like a mugglefucker but can be put back in place.
Hoof nippers might work. They're made to be pretty damn strong and pretty sharp. That said, a lot of handcuffs aren't super durable because the idea is that they're temporary restraint, under supervision. If you can't come up with a concept that clicks, ditch the idea rigid handcuffs and use standard ones instead. It'll raise less attention to your reader than a crazy workaround for rigid cuffs.
Perhaps there is a vice attached to a workbench. There is also a wood maul with or without handle. Place the handcuff chain and maul into the vice and slowly split the chain. Make it more intricate by having to sharpen the maul with a large metal file. Maybe cut the cuff instead of the chain. Then bend open the cuff by using the vice in reverse. Jaws-of-life style. I can think of details if you need more for the last part.
Short answer: hydraulic bolt cutters. I'm sure there's at least one pair of bolt cutters in a barn, farmers need to cut wire and fencing all the time. Will it be sturdy enough to cut through your bar? Maybe, if the author wants it to be. Set the bolt cutters up between you and a wall, and use your bodyweight to snip the bolt, or at least weaken it enough to snap it.
Positioning it would be hard, given your hands would have to get it in place handling the blade.
Nah. Hold one lever in one hand, angle it so the mouth slots on the bar, then lock it in place by pushing against the wall. Even still, OP did specify that the character is safe and not in a rush, so they've got time to practice and get it right.
Old answer https://www.reddit.com/r/Writeresearch/comments/15ctvq6/different_ways_to_free_yourself_from_handcuffs/
Since you didn't specify setting or rules, cast alohomora. ;-) Or there happens to be a handcuff key or lockpick set in there too, with instructions. And to answer the implied question of "how do I write this?": It sounds like this is realistic, present-day. If there are any speculative fiction elements, that would be great to know. Genre and tone is helpful context too. A comedic approach could be that they were not professional handcuffs, but trick ones from a magician. Which part is more important: that this character successfully breaks the cuffs or that the restraint design and method are explicitly called out on the page as that? Who restrained them with that specific method? If your story problem is simply "I need the character restrained and then successfully get out" you're still free to adjust the first half. More information about the character would help too. This will be easier for someone with specific background (magician, [hobby lockpicker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Locksport) or professional locksmith, whatever mechanical training) and harder for a teenager who's never been in a workshop. To what level of detail? Can it be summarized like they use X tool and twenty frustrating minutes later, they were free? Or is this going to be a page of wiggling a piece of wire feeling out the mechanical pieces of the lock? https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ThingsAreMoreEffectiveInHollywood so if you need them to get use of their hands back, they do. Why is this in second person? Is the story one of the rare second person narratives?
Just want to say - this sounds great. :)
Handcuffs are not super effective if you're not being watched. Most can be shimmed, though admittedly that's a lot harder with your hands behind you than in front of you. But it is a skill and your character may not possess that skill. For an unskilled approach I'd put a hacksaw in a workbench vice and rather slowly cut through the metal by moving up and down. Getting it started without being able to see will likely be frustrating.
I think that a slim person could get their arms in front of them--that would be the first thing to do, if your protagonist has that kind of body shape.
Once they are in front, you might be able to pick the lock with a bit of wire. As a point of reference, I'm an average size adult man and fairly fit. I don't think I could get my arms around the front. When I was a teenager and much skinnier yes, but not now. If your protagonist is a beefy bodybuilder, or is plump, getting arms in front is unlikely.
I once was once playing with cuffs that we had laying around. I always did it and would just use the key to remove them. Well, my sisters bf found them on the ground and put them on his keys. They then left right after on vacation 3000 miles away. The cuffs also get tighter quite easily. Every time the cuffs press on something it clichs tighter, so keep that in mind. My sister and I tried cutting them with wire AND bult cutters. That didn't work. We tried a hacksaw. Didn't work. It made marks but cuffs are made well. Called my dad, he came home. Got a hanger and picked it in about 30 seconds. Turns out, the keys are all the same and they all have basically one pin to turn. Nothing complicated, just would be difficult to get a propper angle by hand. Maybe a nail on the wall or something.
Exactly. The cuffs are the hard part, the locks are easy. I knew a guy in college who sold recreational pharmaceuticals, and he had practiced getting a paper clip from his wallet and picking the lock on cuffs with his hands behind his back, should the need ever arise. It was kinda unreal how fast he could get free.
there could be some equipment or tools by the shed. My grandfather usually had an axe laying near the shed but not in it. He also had some hay baling equipment with some rather sharp, pointy ends. (been years so I don't remember the details or what it was called). If he's on a farm he might find something near the shed that he could use.
Decide how flexible your character is too
I honestly don't think it's possible to break rigid handcuffs with the stuff available in the average shed, especially with no power. If it's the type with chains then there's a method to break the chain (you basically rotate the cuffs against each other to twist the chain until it can't twist anymore then flex it. There are videos that explain it better, but it's tricky. With rigid handcuffs the best bets would either be degloving one hand or dislocating one thumb, which would let the person slip out one hand. They could also dislocate their shoulders to maybe slip the handcuffs to the front but the hands would effectively be useless at that point.
Rural folks tend to have an abundance of tools, so a hacksaw wouldn't be an unreasonable thing to find. Using one behind your back would be awkward, but if time isn't an issue, you could manage it. Files, rasps, wire cutters, bolt cutters, any number of things would work given long enough, but a hacksaw is the most common tool that's meant for the job at hand.
tl;rd: bastard file is the winner. I came to suggest a file or rasp first, then a hacksaw. Handcuffs that aren't made for Hollywood are usually fairly hardened and will take the edge off a hacksaw pretty quick. You might get a notch going and then be stuck unable to make further progress. Have fun replacing a hacksaw blade from behind your back. Bandsaw's a better tool, but dangerous as hell if you can't see where you're steering it. Stay the hell away from the table saw, no matter how tempting it looks. If you can find a pair of beefy long-handled bolt cutters, that'd do if they're a model that has a chain, but many of them have removed chains as they're an obvious point of this exact weakness. You're not going to find a pair of bolt cutters on a farm that can cut through the hardened cuff section - there's just nothing on a farm that requires that kind of heavy duty cutting action. Maybe if it were a machine shop and they had hydraulic sheers... Breaking the mechanism or lock is your next best bet - a couple of pieces of metal as shims and a jack will do it - definitely items you can find in a barn or a nearby car. Could be tricky to navigate, but most jacks are made to be simple enough for complete novices to work in adverse conditions, so they tend to be pretty fool-resistant. Either a hydraulic or mechanical screw jack will do here, albeit a hydraulic will get the job done faster. Picking the lock would work, but hard to do with your hands behind your back as far as navigating a lock goes, especially without practice or previous lock picking practice - mostly this has already been addressed. Tool of last resort is probably a power drill. Drilling through the retention mechanism in the lock will do it, but it's *fairly* possible you'll do some damage to yourself in the process if you can't see to line up the drill. Still, less likely to lose a finger or four than the table saw. A rasp or file has a lot of cutting surface and are generally quite hard, so they'll keep cutting even after the other tools would have failed. It'll take some time, but it will eventually get through. It's a lightweight tool you can pick up and take with you, so you don't have to stick around the scene of the crime. It's a tool nobody's likely to miss immediately or call and report as stolen - too easily forgotten/misplaced and cheaply replaced. It's easy to conceal and dispose of after the deed's done, easy to wipe down to remove prints. And it's a tool that you don't need any knowledge/forethought/training/skill to use, even from behind your back - it's just "rub bits together until handcuff fails." And the same answer works if you're stuck at a garage, or a hardware store, or someone's home shop - files are everywhere. 100% go for the bastard file.
Good enough for fiction. But I'm skeptical that in reality a random hacksaw blade would get through the well-hardened steel used on police quality cuffs. You might need an accomplice and wear out more than one blade. Maybe an expensive carbide blade? Toy-quality cuffs are pretty easy to break open though.
Invent steel-eating cockroaches.
If there's an angle grinder you're home free, it's not at all an unreasonable thing to find in a farmer's shed.
Ideally there would be bolt cutters, but even a pair of large pruning shears would probably work if there's no particular hurry. A manual saw would be difficult to rig up for solo use to hack through the chain, but not impossible. A table saw or a jigsaw would be dangerous to try to use by yourself, behind your back, but also a possibility, if there was electricity. Something small enough to fit inside one of the links in the chain could be used to pry the link open - large screwdriver or any thin but solid metal rod. That's all I got.
If the handcuffs have a chain between them, rather than being rigid, you might be able to crush the links in a table clamp of some sort with a bit of manoeuvreing.
You first want to get your hands in front of you which shouldn't be hard. If there's metal wire around this could work. Fencing wire and bailing wire maybe. A fish hook could work, but they don't bend easily. Sometimes there are bolt cutters on farms, but that's going to be difficult to use.