Wooden Picks?

[femurat]

I think it's an idea worth trying out. Two types of wood come to mind as most likely to work. Ash and Hedge. Both are available at my fathers farm, I think I'll give it a shot.

How about making a try with bamboo too? I think it's much more effective than wood but unfortunately it's very difficult to find here.
Cheers

[TorontoTonto]

Ah bamboo never even crossed my mind, yeah thats a very strong wood indeed. Good thinking.

[datagram]

How about making a try with bamboo too? I think it's much more effective than wood but unfortunately it's very difficult to find here.
Cheers

I have lots of bamboo available, I can try this. But having made a few tools out of bamboo, I can already say that I do not think it will work. Bamboo is great when together, but is basically just tough string when you take it apart.

dg

[TorontoTonto]

Alright, so it looks like we have a few people making tools now, if you have any success feel free to post your projects in here so we could take a look at them. Even if you don't have success let us know how it went or what troubles you ran into, we could throw some more ideas around maybe find a solution. After my current project i am going to maybe try with some stained hardwood and possibly core it with a rod of sorts or type of varnish.

[tuscarora]

Although wood is a nice material to work with, and I love my wooden handled picks and wrenches I really can't see much any advantages of using it for the tip. Being a softer material than metal you just won't get as accurate feedback from it, and with such a small sliver of material I don't think acoustics would even come into it. The possibility of it denting, compressing or splintering and getting stuck in the lock, or inbetween the pins seems likely too.

To me the whole thing smacks of reinventing the wheel - there's a reason why you can't buy wooden picks. After all, if they worked they'd be very easy to mass produce by laser-cutting sheets of hard wood.

It could be an interesting woodworking project, but in the end I reckon you'd be better off spending the time practicing making other tools!

Good luck anyways

[femurat]

... Bamboo is great when together, but is basically just tough string when you take it apart.

dg

You're right! When I was young I loved to play with bamboo... but now that you mention it I remember what happened when I cut it. If you keep the gnarl it's strong, if you cut it the fiber loose its strength.
So back to this project I think it can be used with success as "amplified" handle!
The metal bristle is the pick, and a piece of bamboo is the handle! Hoping the cylinder is a good acoustic box.



Cheers,
femurat

[PoRT55]

what about rattan? I guess it would probably be similar to bamboo..

[freakparade3]

Bamboo is pretty tough to come by in Iowa....... If anyone ever decides to make a pick out of corn let me know, I can help....

[TorontoTonto]

I like the tablet throw together femurat. I think its a good idea to get some "amplified" picking. Any ideas of how or what to use as filler inside the bamboo to hold the pick in?

I know rattan is used for training of sorts but my only experience with it is from the SCA and i know it hurts and it is def. strong. Although i am thinking it might just have similar properties to bamboo.

Well there is already corncob pipes freakparade. Maybe your on to something?

[datagram]

You're right! When I was young I loved to play with bamboo... but now that you mention it I remember what happened when I cut it. If you keep the gnarl it's strong, if you cut it the fiber loose its strength.
So back to this project I think it can be used with success as "amplified" handle!
The metal bristle is the pick, and a piece of bamboo is the handle! Hoping the cylinder is a good acoustic box.



Cheers,
femurat

Femurat,

Heh, I actually was going to do this and post as a surprise Bamboo should be a good handle, but I'm not sure about how feedback will flow through. Fixing the pick in the bamboo will also be a bit strange, I have a few things I can experiment with, though.

In any event, I will be trying making picks and handles both out of bamboo this week, will post results soon.

dg

[datagram]

Welp, bamboo tipped picks are definitely out of the question, snapped with just a feather touch and I wasn't even under 0.040 yet.

In other news, the bambo handles are actually pretty awesome:

http://lockwiki.com/index.php/Image:Loc ... handle.jpg



dg

[TorontoTonto]

Welp, bamboo tipped picks are definitely out of the question, snapped with just a feather touch and I wasn't even under 0.040 yet.

In other news, the bambo handles are actually pretty awesome:

http://lockwiki.com/index.php/Image:Loc ... handle.jpg



dg

That looks amazing, seems the excitement got the better of you. i have to ask though what did you use to maximize feedback but yet still hold the pick in?

[femurat]

datagram, your bamboo handled pick is very cool!
My idea was to keep both the knot of the bamboo, because if you cut the knot the fibers are free to move and loose their shape. Am I right? Anyway this couldn't happen for a while.

TorontoTonto, to fix the handle I was thinking about friction. You have to choose a piece of bamboo with the hole of the same size of the metal handle. A little less is better. Then you shove the pick inside it, forcing it till it's tightened. Could this be enough? Otherwise you could try to put a drop of superglue on the pick end before inserting it, this could be an harder fixing technique.

I'm so sad I don' have a piece of bamboo to play with at the moment When I'll find it I immediately start making one!

Cheers

[datagram]

The bamboo is stuffed full of clay, but filling it with glue may be a better solution. I'm going to look into different kinds of finish to put on the pick to make sure it has a bit of longevity, any suggestions?

Femurat, having both joints is not ideal. I made one before this just to test that the clay would work using the full joint, but it was much longer than it needed to be, making it not as comfortable as the shorter version. Ideally, your little finger should rest just above the knot at the bottom (this seemed to be the most comfortable). You can also try to do the reverse, having the knot at the top, but the knots are NOT hollow, and I didn't want to carve through an entire knot. It also seemed like having the knot above would be a bit uncomfortable if that is where you like to place your index/middle finger.

The hardest thing is finding a nice piece of bamboo :/

dg

[wardmichael]

Bamboo is pretty tough to come by in Iowa....... If anyone ever decides to make a pick out of corn let me know, I can help....

I might try that as soon as I find a nieghbor growing some corn. I doubt it will work, but what the heck, its worth a shot.