"Hanging" File strips? aka Bored at work

[psychofish]

Anyone ever try to make a pick out of the hanging file metal strips that all the offices seem to have laying around? Comparing one to my SouthOrd picks I have on me right now the thickness looks just a hair thinner than the factory picks, but the width is the same size as the SouthOrd handle. I don't know how high of quality the metal is, but it may be worth a try I think. What's the hive's thoughts?

[nostromo]

Sorry, the metal's not stiff enough. But if you have plenty of time on your hands, what the heck? Give it a whirl.

[psychofish]

Eh, I'll pass then. All the time in the world would be useless if I had to extract one of my broken picks. I'll go back to my little world, these disk desk locks hate me tonight, everything I can find that fits in there has been used as a rake to open and close them.

[raimundo]

you could make a few samples and see, maybe the metal, if too soft, could be hardened by a heat and quench if its not too hot,
I have tried this metal years ago, its acceptable, but not preferable.

[dallalama]

ive made picks out of this stuff ,one ones ive use are great for any type of rake L and S ,but hooks tend to bend a little ,but the good thing about it ,is you can bend it straight back in to shape, i have not broken one yet,so i will continue to make picks out of this stuff ,ive been meaning to have a go at tempering some picks ,but there are never enough hours in the day

[psychofish]

Yeah I just saw your post and the photos. They look nice, good job man. I didn't try them out since we got hit with some rain and there was the annual panic to get new windshield wipers which meant I got a handful of blades of all different widths to cut into much smaller sharper pieces.