How to safely bend picks?

[theTastyCat]

Hi all - I've become immensely frustrated by some small padlocks I have as there is no way to get any of the tension wrenches in my SO 14-piece set to work. I just read on old thread about using top tension for such locks, which I had tried, but just as the thread says, normal tension tools don't stay put. I had thought about trying to buy a tension wrench with a much shorter bend that would lay flush with the lock, and behold, that was mentioned too.

So - I would love to put a 90-degree bend in the non-business end of one of my SO tension wrenches. What's the best way to do this? Can I just throw it in the vise and bend it over, or should I heat it first?

Many thanks.

[Theist17]

Depends. What's it made of?

If it's spring steel, like from a wiper blade, then go nuts.

If it's a street sweeper bristle, then you should definitely heat it up first, but I'll leave it to our more able metalworkers to tell you how that's done.

Schuyler has a great video on making your own tension wrenches on youtube. He uses wiper blade inserts, a lock cylinder, some needlenose pliers (I think) and diagonal cutters to make his, and it takes something like five seconds for him to make a double-ended one.

[theTastyCat]

It's this set here:

http://www.southord.com/Lock-Picking-To ... XS-14.html

I'm not adverse to trying to make my own, but I'd love to make a usable tension wrench from one end of my existing kit so I don't have to add another tool to it!

I suppose the long end of the L-shaped tension wrenches are long enough that if i did break off 1/4" from the end in my attempt, it really wouldn't be the end of the world. If I'm not mistaken, two of them look identical anyway.

[criminalhate]

Just go to town.


You should be able to put a small bend in it with no problem.

[raimundo]

bend it cold, heat is difficult to handle, you are working with a very small piece of metal, and any plier or vice that you use to hold it hot will quickly heat sink it and draw the heat out.
these sort of problems mean that when you heat, you get very uneven results, you could have part that is too brittle to use and the other end of the piece could be annealed,

generally do not look to heat as a really useful tool in pick making, its not unless you have an oven that can finely control heat then you can just make money in the heat treating business, a very tricky business too.

[WolfSpring]

Depending on the lock you want to use it on just grab a pair of pliers and put a 1/4-3/8 inch bend 1/4 works great for americans and other non laminated locks but is often to short for the rivits on a laminated lock. You wll find as you skill increases you will have more tension wrnechs in your kit than picks eventually. Sometimes you need to make a wrench for a specific lock that will not work or be used on others, thinner wiper blades for smaller locks, twist flexs for less tension. I like the narrower wiper blades 1/8 inch accross as the "wedge" in a key way instead of extend past it, I find when it is wider than the key way they have a tendancy to slip out when you are tryng to upick a false set. THe best way I've found is a pair of flat nose pliers, I specifically use a Gerber Multi Tool and use onthe the very tip and put the edge of the wiper blade or existing tension wrench handle flush to the piers and bend, and it's usualy a perect 1/4 inch bend and fits greatly for most non-laminated locks. After you master TOK(top of keyway) you'll not go back to bottom unless it's a 2 second rake lock.

[theTastyCat]

Great replies - I really appreciate the wisdom. I'm going out to the shop momentarily to try to modify a tension wrench. Then, cheapo chinese padlocks, you will be MINE!!!!!!

[theTastyCat]

Well, I bent the first one too little and the wrong way, and when I corrected it, it broke, but it doesn't matter since it's long. So then I did it the right way but a bit too long, so I did another wrench a bit shorter. Not bad. Managed to open one of my padlocks that I never had before. Also, got further on my Schlage deadbolt then I ever have before. Top tension it is! It's pretty fascinating - I pick and pick until it feels like nothing is binding, but the lock won't open. I can even take the tools out of the lock, and the pins don't reset until I put the tension wrench back in and rotate the cylinder. I think I identified my first security pin, possibly spool - I really DID feel the cylinder rotate backwards as I continued to raise the stack. Practice, practice, practice!