I tried grinding down a saw blade today and found that the business end of the pick bends far too easily. Is there something I did wrong? Do I need to heat up the blade to a cherry red first and then grind it down?

The blades seem strong and flexible at first, but after grinding they get flimsy pretty quick.

Are you getting it hot when you are grinding?

If it gets any hotter than a yellow colour you are starting to make a noticeable change in the structure of the material,

You should be quenching in clean cold water every second,

Other than that maybe your blades arent good enough, are they bi-metal blades? most of those are not suitable for pick making,

With the picks you have made you can heat them to a red, get them as bright as you can without actually melting them, then dunk them in clean cold water and make sure you stirr them until cold,

Now polish up the surfaces until they are shiney,

Now reheat the picks until they go a dark yellow colour and then again straight away dunk the picks in the cold water and stir until cold,

This will reharden them,

Be careful when doing the last heating as the picks can go yellow by simply waving the blow lamp over them again,

Do not walk across the room to quench you materials, the longer you leave the heat in the work the more damage you can do to the structure, make sure your water is next to the grinder but away from any electrics,

Hope this helps,

I don't know if they are bi-metal blades or not. They were pretty cheap. They are Stanley model #20-027. about $3.50 USD for 4 blades.

Of course, I'm not expert when it comes to grinding. My new diamond dremel bits were too small. I got a set of various size fittings (can't remember what they are called) so I can use the small bits. Hopefully that solves the problem. I had planned on using my bench grinder to cut away most of the metal, and using the dremel on the pick end and to debur.

I also didn't read all the instructions about transferring toner to the blades. I tried doing it with normal paper. So instead of doing it that way, I cut the templates out with an xacto knife, glued them down to the blade, and traced them with a sharpie. Not as accurate, but for most of the picks it should work.

Thanks for the instructions on hardening the blades.

I'm so bad at following instructions.

The first time I tried to grind a pick, I wasn't quenching with water at all. For safety, I used vice grips to hold the saw blade. I never realized how hot it was getting.

This time I quenched with water when necessary and cut a decent hook pick. No template this time. I guess a hook is simple enough I don't need one.

When grinding, I try to hold the pick close to the thin area with my bare hands (if safe). The instant I feel any warmth at all, into the quench it goes. Remember, the thinner the pick, the faster it will heat.

some of you guys must have so little to do to spend so much time making "picks" that whichever way you look at it are likely to be sooo inferior to what you can buy. I mean it must take hours to make a pick similar and only similar to one you can purchase specifically for the job for a couple of quid. do any of you actually work as locksmiths or is this just a bit of fun. Im sorry if i sound like im having a go, genuinely im not. I just find it amazing that anyone would have so much time to mess about making something thats probably never going to be that effective.
All coments on this very welcome.

well considering that this is a hobbiest site... I'd say there are some lockies here....
You should note that your opinion of 'inferior' is scewed, I have used most every professionally made lockpick on the market and the best I have ever used were homemade (rai's and LN21's)

I would like to see you use either a bogota by rai or picks made by Andy and dare call them inferior to a southord or otherwise, your findings would be the absolute oppisite infact.

Also alot of people enjoy making picks, just as (hard to believe) some like making art or crafting jewellery or pretty much fabricating anything

I am a homebrew collector and a competitive picker. I will never turn to a commercially made pick first. I have had the pleasure of using very fine picks from a great many manufacturers and they simply do not compare.

if, for no other reason, the finishing process people put well made homebrews through makes them superior.

Not exactly what you were hoping to see when you noticed your sticky got bumped, eh?

Not really although i would have done had i read the post history first,

Im glad its helping some though,

Personally i make picks rather like others that simply cant be bought for any money but hey what do i know its not as if im a locksmith

I've always found handmade was better than mass produced with any product. Any idiot can stand at a machine cutting out parts. The ones that take the time to make everything perfect by hand are master craftsman, they put everything into their products because they care about the results and the quality.

Bought ones also need hand finishing anyway so bought ones are worse than homemade ones as homemade versions are finished properly before being passed off as useable picks,

Wizard, you should google alt.locksmithing, you have wandered off course, your site is alt.locksmithing.

You should check the slideshow by clicking on Kaotic's graphic above on page 2 of this thread. Those picks are som NSB's baby. You would never find as nice a pick mass produced.

I build pcs as another hobby besides picking and some other things, and love the satisfaction of creating/building a custom PC the way I want it, much more than buying a prebuilt rig Even if it only need a few tweaks, it just isn't mine unless I built it from scratch. Our homebrew pics are a work of art and provide a means of expressing ourselves. So far I have made some torquing wrenches from windshield wiper bladesI have some ideas for picks for certain locks that I would have to make because the mass produced ones would not be so specific. I did buy my first set from Southord and like them. Now that I have watched the video and read this post. I feel more prepared to venture into picks.

Thanks Shrub for such a detailed post! You have been more help to me than the video which was good as well.