Tools for making picks

[Heliox]

After an inital pick buying debacle I've decided that, for now, my best course of action is to make my own picks. It seems to be cheaper that way. Here's what I'm using.

dremel tool
wide aluminum oxide bit for grinding
bullet shaped felt bit for polishing
polishing compound
plumbing snake from home depot
big vice grips
600 grit wet/dry sandpaper
sharpie marker
round sandpaper discs for the dremel


I start out cutting 5" sections of plumbing snake with the vice grips. Actually, I score it with the vise grips then break it off. you have to really crank on them to get the cutter to score it deeply enough to keep it from bending instead of breaking. If it bends, then you've either got a bent end or bent butt. either way, not really welcome.

After obtaining a 5" pick blank, I round off one end to a semicircle and deburr it with the grinder. This allows me to hold it in my hand more comfortably than if it had a sharp newly cut corner. I then take a sharpie and place a mark across the blank abotu 1.25-1.5 inches from the end opposite the rounding i just did. this tells me where the shoulder of the pick is going to be.

i take the aluminum oxide bit and grind away until the pick is the shape i want. for more detailed picks (king/queen/rakes. etc.) I use a second aluminum oxide bit. the rough shaping tends to wear the bit down fairly quickly, so if I need sharp angles, I need a new bit that hasn't had it's corners rounded.

Once the rough shaping has been completedI take a fine grained sandpaper disc and deburr all of the cut edges. once completed, i use the 600 grit sandpaper to polish all surfaces as much as possible. I've found that by sanding everything lengthwise, i can get a better polish and a better feel initially in the lock. the cuts in the pick usualy have to be sanded perpendicular to the pick because there isn't enough room to get much of a stroke. For the tighter radius cuts, i wrap a strip of sandpaper aroud a pick blank until the sandpaper radius matches the size of the area I'm sanding.

Once the sanding has been completed, I use the bullet shaped polishing bit and the dremel polishing compound (overpriced. at $2.50 jewellers rouge is the same stuff and runs 3x as much for about 10x as much product) I polish all surfaces being sure to spend lots of time on all areas that will touch the pins. This leaves me with a nearly mirror finish that glides very smoothly across the pins and through the keyway.

I've noticed that with the dremel, I have trouble keeping the pick aligned with such a small bit. this leads to the pick periodically sliding off the bit and leaving unpolishable grind marks in the sides of the pick and nicks in the corners. They don't seem to affect the use of the pick adversely that I can tell, but it would be nice if I could get a single perfect pick completed without those flaws.

I'm left with a pick that slides in and out of the lock very easily, has great responsiveness, and transmits feedback to my hand without the feel being dulled by friction. It takes about 15 minutes to complete each pick. Maybe a bit longer to complete a king/queen due to the precision needed. I think I could significantly reduce that time if I had an adequate bench grinder with a polishing mandrel and disk, though the lack of precision in polishing might cause more problems than the speed would solve. A second person to polish and sand while I grind would help a grat deal as well since the process of changing bits and tasks lead to too much downtime and taks switching overhead.

My next project will probably be to get some brass sheeting to make profile templates for my more favorite picks. This would allow a quick comparison between the pick and the ideal design. being made from brass, It would allow me to be more precise with the design and also allow hundreds of uses before needing replacement. I don't plan on going into businesswith this, but I do know a number of people who don't get into lockpicking simply because of the difficulty in selecting and ordering picks and the cost of a good set.

[Dodgy_Dodgerson]

What dremel bit do you use for carving the material? Because my current process involves using a "TUNGSTEN CARBIDE CUTTER" which is very slow, and almost burns the metal, which is not good.

Thanks,
Dodgy

[Heliox]

As I said, I use their wide aluminum oxide bit for the grinding. I tried the carbide cutter, but it seems to be quite unsuitable for these purposes. it's not responsive and requires too much pressure to get into the metal which makes it difficult to thin out areas lengthwise.

http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/bi ... lor=009933

For the polishing, I'm using
http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/bi ... lor=CC9900

with the

http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/di ... lor=cc9900

polishing compound. (Interesting how dremel has capitalization problems with their color settings)

I think that the tungsten carbide cutter i'm using is:
http://www.dremel.com/productdisplay/di ... lor=009999
again, this one seem to suck for this.

I've tried other polishing bits, but the polishing compound is nto removeable from its container and the mount on the container is not big enough to get good coverage on the other bits.

[glasskey]

no need to get fancy..here is a photo of a home made pick and torque wrench made from jig saw blades.
(pliers, grinder (or file) and sand paper) nothing fancy but they work.

for a close up of this photo http://lockpick.texzn.com/home%20made%20picks%20lg.jpg
the small diamond shaped pick was inserted into a small piece of dowel rod and taped to protect tender fingers. without the dowel rod end they are small enough to fit in a wallet

[raimundo]

years ago, I made the common design picks hook diamond rake etc out of the foot long feeler gauges that can be bought from machinest suppliers in what ever thickness you want, I usually went for .020 through .028. You can score this accross with a carbide scriber made by 'general' where the carbide is mounted in an aluminum rod, Starret also maks a carbide scriber with a very acute point that can be used, but it will not hold up long in this heavy usage and its expensive. use a ruler to guide the scriber, and clamp that ruler down with a C clamp if necessary once you have scored the metal two or three time accross in the same groove, you can snap it off to length. I would recommend making two pick blanks for long handled pick and making a shorter pick blank out of the end that has the hole punched in it. this metal can be cut with a sharp new file, but I see that heliox has described a method that seems good except for the reliance on motorized tools, these can be dangerous to your eyes so wear eye protection, and remember to keep a cup of water near the grinding and quench often to avoid causing the temper of the metal from hardening. If a part of the metal hardens and another part does not, you may be causing breakage problems, Its better to leave the metal flexible so that it does not take a bend set or break.
the tools I recomend for making picks will require some experience to get the fine control, but they are files, flat and round and in various cuts for the rough shaping and the fine detail. I use wine bottle corks to keep the tang from being a problem, and in some of my fine controlled strokes, I am putting pressure on the file from a hand on the front of the blade as well as the hand pushing the tang. The trick of fileing is to control the file, do not let it skid and cause cuts that you do not intend, Go slow and have patience, watch the work so you do not go too far on any part of it. I do not hold the metal in a vise, I put the metal in a groove cut into the wood of a workbench, you can make this with a file or hacksaw blade, and for a lot of the work, I hold the metal in my left hand in the groove, file with the right hand. No I don't have three arms, obviously on this part of the work, I am pushing the file with only one arm. The best part about this method is that when you learn it, you can do it anywhere, with two files and some sandpaper, and a sweeper bristle, I can make a pick on a fencepost or stump if necessary. The more often you make them, the better the quality of the work and the faster the process. what took you an hour the first time will later take fifteen or twenty minutes.