new here and my first pickmaking try :D

[omelet]

I enjoy lockpicking and decided to try to make my own set of picks since the storebought ones wont last forever. I obtained some brick strap metal from a local construction site and made diamond and hook picks using a cutoff wheel on a dremel and a file. I read on here of people using X-Acto knife handles for pick handles so i just snapped off the end of the picks and viola! Here are some (low quality..sorry :/ ) pictures of my creations. I know its not much but just a first try, and they work great hehe





The lock pictured is an American Lock Company Series 1105 6 pin lock. I found this lock (lucky huh) and when I opened it I found that it could be taken apart. I did this when the cylinder was rotated, and when i rotated it back all the pins flew out all over the place! I found all the pins but one so now its a 5 pinner...but I realized if I want a slightly different challenge I just take it apart and switch the order of the pins (very carefully heh)

Glad to be here and hi to everyone

[omelet]

couple things i forgot to mention

the brick strap is kinda softer metal and easier to bend than my bought picks, but its easy to work with and seems to do the job. I guess it will just decrease its potential life using this metal, but it seems satisfactory to me (since its free and easy to reproduce). I did everything freehand and eyeballed btw

i thought it might be interesting to add that when I attempted to pick this lock with the hook pick I have made, it took me less time than it has ever taken using my storebought one (maybe 10-15 seconds). It was a great feeling

[raimundo]

Now that you are confident about making picks, you can make them of better metal. and when you dissasemble locks, work on a towel, the pins and springs won't bounce and roll away so easily on this surface.

[silent]

I must have good brickstrap here, all mine is very strong and flexible. I have it in such large amounts its sick.

[milligan]

I must have good brickstrap here, all mine is very strong and flexible. I have it in such large amounts its sick.

As do I. Mine is way too wide, and I have to take the dremel (cutting disk) to it. I also have to sand off the black coating. But I certainly have enough to produce a few hundred pick sets.[/quote]

[omelet]

i was mistaken... i had found brick strap beforehand and misplaced it. What I had also found and have used here is straps used to hold bundles of corrugated plastic pipes used in storm drains. I am not sure if it is similar material, but it is definitely easier to bend than my SouthOrd picks.

I also have a sick amount of these straps, plus I also found the xacto knife, so these picks were entirely free (except for the tools which I already had)

thanks for the towel advice raimundo, good idea

[Jenova]

good work buddy

[silent]

Theyrs a brickstrap about half as wide as the normal stuff, its perfect.

[Crypto]

Looks really nice, Good Job...

[zerogeek79]

hmm just how many of these " straps " do ya have? and do you mind of getting rid of a bit ? if so .... how much ?

and oh nice job on the first pick sets, mine were not so successful, they broke in a lock, luckily i had also made a hook pick aswell. the material i used was a hacksaw blade .... not the best thing in the world but ahh y not. i also used an air grinder ( similar to a dremel tool only powered by an air compressor and a few disks )

good luck w/ the pin swapping

[digital_blue]

zero: When you are grinding the picks, are you quenching them often? If you let the hacksaw blade heat up too much you will mess up the temper of the steel and get a brittle pick that will do unfortunate things like break off in locks. If you hold the pick in your hand as you grind it I find you have great incentive to quench often.

Just some thoughts.....

db

[Woodsmith]

Brickstrap, is in my opinion ideal material for picks, the problem here in the UK is that metal Brickstrap has largely been replaced with a kind of tough plastic braided strap, which is of course useless.
Regular hacksaw blades are a little too thick for European keyways so I find better results are to be had with junior hacksaw blades, and windscreen wiper inserts.

Experimentation is the key!