Advice for Bogota materials wanted.

[Tinypick]

I recently managed to collect a handful of bristles that a street sweeper left on the roadway. I found almost immediately that the metal was very brittle- I broke several trying to make 90 degree bends in tension wrenches. I found that it bent easily using heat.

Fast forward a couple of days. I found Raimundo's excellent instructions for making the Bogota picks. I followed the instructions and the pick turned out beautifully.

However- I managed to break the pick the first night, snapping it off in a padlock.

I know I'm a bit ham-fisted in my picking attempts, but my guess is that the material I'm using is a tad too brittle to use to make a thin rake like the Bogota (seems to work fine for tension wrenches and hook picks).

Does anyone have a similar experience? I was wondering about hardening the metal using heat, but my gut feeling is that it would just become more brittle- I'm certainly no metallurgist so I'm not sure.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

[MortimerDuke]

There are tutorials on the board for making picks using wiper blade inserts and hacksaw blades. I prefer wiper inserts, because they require less preparation and I am lazy. My guess is that picks made from hacksaw blades are more durable, though.

[Tinypick]

Yes I have considered the wiper blade inserts as possibly being more durable. I originally followed Raimundo's instructions as closely as possible to duplicate his results, and because the sweeper bristles were easier to get ahold of in the middle of summer.

I'm unsure if the problem is materials, or just technique (a combo of both i'm sure!).

On a side note- I did manage to jam the end of my pick into my index finger sanding it. Works well for drawing small amounts of blood or stabbing tiny zombies.