MICRO PICKS

I have a box of "failures" - Locks that I have not been able to pick. Some are because they are too small for commercial picks, some because the keyway is too restricted, while others just seem to refuse to be SSPed (Single Pin Picked).

One lock in particular has frustrated me since childhood, so eventually I lost patience with it and a few months ago I made a special pick to fit it. The result was that a lock that hadn't been opened for perhaps 40 years, opened in under five seconds. An incredible feeling, since I've had that lock since I was a child and was never able to pick it.

This made me realise that commercially-made picks are the right size for normal locks, but smaller locks, say under 40mm (about 1 1/2" for padlocks) are too small for normal picks and rakes. So I've been busy making lots of "micro picks" to try out. Some were failures, while others were wonderful. I've been optimizing their design, until I've got them about as good as I can - These are those designs.



They have come from designs I've seen over the years, especially inspiring were the various emergency credit-card pick sets that have been made and several rakes posted in this thread already.

You can just right-click on the picture to save the image. It should save as 600 x 900 pixels and should be printed out "original size" "1:1" or whatever your printing software calls it. To make sure, they outside of the red oblong should measure exactly 2" x 3" (or 51 x 76mm approx.).

These templates are only the "business ends" of the picks, so they can be transfered onto whatever metal stock you make your picks from, whether bristles, feeler gauge, hacksaw blades, etc. and you can use the design of handles that you prefer with them.

They are quite fine in places, so will be difficult to grind and file. I have found it easier to make the "teeth" or "top side" of the rake first by rough grinding first, then filing to the final shape. The flat side of the pick can then be ground.

They are suprisingly strong for how thin they are, but you will still need to be a little careful with them, they will break a little more easily than normal picks with them being so small. I have thickened the shafts in the places where most stress builds up, so they should be as robust as their size will allow.

These picks have allowed me to pick about 80% of my "failures" already. Even some larger locks have proved a lot easier to open with them. The problem is that although normal picks will fit in a lot of locks, they are slow to pick the lock because the keyway is so cramped, they become difficult to manipulate.

If you are fairly new to picking, these picks will not magically make you a better picker, rarther they are an extra set of tools for your kit that are especially helpful with smaller/restricted keyway locks.

Like the micro picks, gonna put a few together soon and see if that helps with feedback and manipulation in a curvy keyway. What sort of thickness stock do you use to make them? I'm hoping to be able to pick a lock that's been mocking me since I got it.

Oops, guess I should have put that in. I use 0.025" thick stainless steel (actually stainless steel type 301 - It's the stainless used in wiper blades).

The reason for not using any thinner steel, is that the picks will be quite narrow in places, if you make the steel thin as well, you will find they fatigue and break too quickly.

The picks being just slightly thick doensn't seem to make any difference I've found. I guess the lock makers face the same problem with making the keys to fit in them - Make a small and/or highly-restricted keyway too thin and the keys for it become too fragile.

I forgot to add this to the templeate photo of pad / comb picks.
I am in the process of making some spare picks and have found old jigsaw blades are perfect for the job, both in strength, size and almost no off cut/wasted material to file off.
regards Paulpablo

anyone got any templates of a key extractor set

hi, first of all i'd like to give a massive 'THANKYOU' to mjwhit for his template collection, and also to all of you that have taken the time to upload the original templates throughout the site. i have only been interested in lockpicking for the past 2 weeks, in which time i have purchased a 5 piece set (SouthOrd C500 slimline set) as well as numerous cheap padlocks to practice on. All these padlocks have been opened with my purchased picks (after a bit of trial and error (lockpicking for the new millenium vid has given me a good basic intro)), but i was very interested in making my own, so i bought a £10 rotary tool kit from Focus and 10 hacksaw blades from the £shop in my town. ( i also bought 5 diamond blades from ebay for £7 delivered) i have now made 12 extra hmade picks which i use all the time and now don't bother with the SouthOrd set. i think i have the 'bug' now and will hopefully after a hell of a lot of practice, be as good as some of you guys.In a couple of years obviously, tho' the amount of information and help that is available on this site is fantastic. So i would also like to thank all of you in advance for all the useful information i know i will acquire from here.

Would someone have any templates of dimple picks? Or how to make?

Please yell out if I have not given anyone full credit for there work or wrongly given someone credit.
organisme de credit

+1 for the dimple pick template.

I recently got a mul-t-lock and I'm having an hard time picking it. With a very small diamond I can manage 3 pins... I can easily set the outer pins, then it's hard to center the picktip under the inner pins. I think this is just because I don't have the right tools.
I'm planning to make a specific pick, and I'm wondering how to shape its tip. A close up picture of the tip of the special tool for mul-t-lock pick could help me enough.

Thanks

there's a youtube vid of someone picking a mtlock with a half diamond and a small hook, he uses the hdiamond to open up the outer pins and then the hk to finish off the insiders. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_type=&search_query=mul+t+lock+picking&aq=f think its one of these. good luck.

Thanks christmas8371, I found the video you referred to.
I use the same technique with an half diamond, but I can easily manage only the first 3 pins. The last 2 pins (the inner pins) are so hard to set this way that I gave up. Now I can try to finish my job with a hook thanks.
Anyway I found some pictures of the commercial picktip in the advanced area (thanks to cool-arrow), so I'm planning to build a hybrid pick...

Cheers

I recently read through the thread and didn't see much discussion on which templates were "better". Aside from the fact that you'd have to learn to use them (or "feel" them), does anyone have a favorite design(s)?

Personally, I had heard the Faille picks were expensive, is this because of their construction or because the design works? (It would make more sense for construction in my opinion, just thought I'd ask) Just asking because I liked the different curves that they had -- I had been unable to pick a few locks b/c I didn't have something that would raise the pins as I liked .

So, request for the full set of Faille picks, if anyone has them?

HI; About that template printing problem. Can you not just scan the lock picks themselves at actual size and then post them pics ?
seems to me that should work.
But the Southord Slimline template is at the right size. http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p251 ... /mouse.jpg
I have a book somewhere I think that has templates in it. If I can find it I will scan them and post them.
Note: do not buy cheap china saw blades. Like from harbor Freight. They are very soft and just bend. the toilet snake or sink type work good. Or I used Sawsall blades. They ain't cheap but good.

The problem is DPI, as in scanning and printing resolution. If DPI is the same in both, the print will be actual size. If the DPI is different, the print is either bigger or smaller.

That is why it is good to have a ruler in the picture or small text saying the DPI of the scan, so that everyone can print it at the proper size.