Pocket Pen Pick Set... What James Bond Wished He Had.

[jondoe]

I’ve been searching around on this site for quite some time and after learning so much decided it was time for me to make an attempt to give back. I wanted to make a pocket pen pick set. I first searched for some ideas. The most common pen pick is this http://www.lockpickshop.com/SO-212.html. If you keep searching you’ll come across this http://www.hpcworld.com/Picks/p_vips14.htm. If you look deep within the depths of the internet you’ll come across this beauty http://www.electromax.com/lockpicking.html. This final pen pick design is what I based my homebrew on.
My first step was to find a suitable hollow body pen that can house the picks. After searching around I came across this http://www.sharpie.com/enUS/Product/Sha ... arker.html. I picked one up at Target for around 10 bucks.
After I found a good host I needed to figure out how I was going to couple the body of the pen to the piece which was to hold the pick. I wanted to find a way to screw the two together as the Sharpie already has threads built into it. However, I realized that an x-acto no.2 (for searching purposes… exacto, xacto, x acto, ex-acto) knife is approximately the same outside diameter as the inside diameter of the sharpie shaft. In other words, they pressure fit together nicely. I proceeded to cut the x-acto no.2 knife about 1 inch below the knurling.
When making your picks I recommend making the base of the pick in the same shape as the base of the x-acto blade. It makes for a very snug fit and will not move around when picking. When you have finished making your desired picks and tension wrench/es simply put everything together. Remember, it is all pressure fitted. I recommend closing everything up in this order: 1. Place the x-acto tip firmly into the cap of the pen. 2. Place the picks inside the shaft. 3. Place the end of the x-acto tip (which is now affixed to the cap) into the shaft.
I took some pictures because, well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words. Hope this helps!

[InsertPickHere]

That is seriously cool! SO everything fits together in that one pen? Looks like a lot of picks to cram in there but none the less that is still amazing!

Thank you for sharing this.

[jondoe]

Yes, they all fit inside. It is overkill, but I was practicing my pick making skills.

[FreemasonAFAM]

VERY Sweet! I have got to put one of these together as soon as I find the time to build a few picks.

Two quick questions: How long did it take you to assemble everything once you had all the pieces? How do you get the picks out of the pen body, I would imagine they are pretty well packed in there?

Thanks for sharing this idea - keep 'em coming!

[Legion303]

That's just beautiful. I made a concealed pen set too, but mine's more of a ghetto MacGuyver style, while yours definitely lives up to the debonaire James Bond ideal. Well done.

-steve

[jondoe]

VERY Sweet! I have got to put one of these together as soon as I find the time to build a few picks.

Two quick questions: How long did it take you to assemble everything once you had all the pieces? How do you get the picks out of the pen body, I would imagine they are pretty well packed in there?

Thanks for sharing this idea - keep 'em coming!

It probably took several hours to grind the picks and cut the x-acto knife. There are 10 picks and 1 "tension wrench" inside and that quantity fits tightly enough not to rattle and loosely enough to dump out when turned upside down. I first had less picks and tried to line the inside with paper, fabric or another material to stop the rattling. However, I just threw some more picks in there and it all worked out for the better.

[jondoe]

That's just beautiful. I made a concealed pen set too, but mine's more of a ghetto MacGuyver style, while yours definitely lives up to the debonaire James Bond ideal. Well done.

-steve

Thanks! I have a beautifully made Woolrich Elite Tactical Jacket that has a perfect spot on the sleeve for that pen. It goes everywhere I go and has already helped several people out.... or, "in" rather.

[Mutzy]

Nice work man. Looks the goods.

[BIGORNEX]

Well done job, really!
Congratulations!
But I have a question:
The tension wrench goes there in the tube also ?, if so, is it not a bit to short ?
Sorry for my poor english, my native language is french...

[UtahRootBeer]

i vote for a sticky of this or a rewrite then sticky the how-to. i think this is a very good job of a emergency pick. how about it mods?

[jondoe]

Well done job, really!
Congratulations!
But I have a question:
The tension wrench goes there in the tube also ?, if so, is it not a bit to short ?
Sorry for my poor english, my native language is french...

The tension wrench certainly could use an extra inch. However, I don't believe it would fit. Actually a shortcoming of my first trial is that there is only 1 tension wrench in there. Next time I will add another tension wrench or two with different widths for different key hole placements.

If anybody can think of a way to make a clip for the pen that can double a tension wrench, please post!!

[tjweaver84]

I have an idea for a clip that can be used as a wrench. The cheap grease pencils we use in the navy just kind of fit tight around the end of the pencil and you can slide it right off. If you made something that attached like the penclip in the picture below you could make the other end into a wrench. You could make the 90 degree bend so it goes into the pen (like the fattened area on most clips) or have it along the plane of the clip so when it is in your pocket it looks like a little "L". This type of clip though would be best for top tensioning since you wouldn't want the tip pf the wrench being too long or it would catch on stuff more.


If you look at the higher end of this clip you can see it is an open loop. The grease pencil is in the background and the clip just slides on and off of the metal peice you see on the pencil.

[tjweaver84]

hmm my website is having fits and isn't wanting to let my images be viewed without going to the site so here is a link to that picture of the penclip.


http://www.tjweaver84.com/random.php

[jondoe]

I have an idea for a clip that can be used as a wrench. The cheap grease pencils we use in the navy just kind of fit tight around the end of the pencil and you can slide it right off. If you made something that attached like the penclip in the picture below you could make the other end into a wrench. You could make the 90 degree bend so it goes into the pen (like the fattened area on most clips) or have it along the plane of the clip so when it is in your pocket it looks like a little "L". This type of clip though would be best for top tensioning since you wouldn't want the tip pf the wrench being too long or it would catch on stuff more.


If you look at the higher end of this clip you can see it is an open loop. The grease pencil is in the background and the clip just slides on and off of the metal peice you see on the pencil.

Thanks for the idea! I'm going to look into that tomorrow.

[raimundo]

The clip will help, the design of that sharpie pen is made to get lost, the thin smooth ends will fall out of a pocket at the first chance, to keep an item like this longer, wrap a rubber band around it, so it cant slide so easily the shape of it allows it to slip between objects that it would be blocked by if it had flat ends. The shape is optimized for getting lost in couch cushions, for just getting lost.
If one had a special pencil pocket, that would help a lot, some shirts do have them. a clip or a pin that is used every time would also help this unit survive in the wild. in keeping track of this item always put it in the same place so you will know if its accounted for at all times.