Peterson Picks vs. Southern Specialties

[Davis]

Zeke, how do you find the thickness of the Government Steel Picks? I mean, do you find it necessary to use their Slender picks on highly paracentric keyways (such as Yale, or others)?

Also, I've read on here that some people think the rubber handles detract a bit of the feel for the inside of the lock; what has your experience been here? Thanks.

Thanks to everyone for the helpful input. It looks like Peterson is more popular; I guess you get what you pay for.

Davis

[zeke79]

I like the old blue plastic handles better than the rubber as they have much better feedback. The government steel has much better feedback than their old spring steel picks so the government steels picks with rubber handles have almost as good feedback as the plastic handled spring steel picks. I find the thickness on both the spring steel and the stainless steel to be just fine. I don't care to much for their slim line picks as they are so thin they seem to deflect in your hand quite a bit. Their DCAP picks on the other hand are great. They are made of government steel also and are very strong even though the shafts are very small. The government picks are also much smoother than the old spring steel picks were. Some may feel that the standard spring steel peterson picks are too thick but once you are used to them they are find in almost all the keyways I have ran into except the most paracentric locks I have ran into. I can only think of one lock the petersons have not worked in and that was an old evva keyway padlock. It was too thin for any of my picks, even my slim line peterson picks which are only .015" thick which is very thin. The lock was even too tight for my DCAP picks and my LAB picks so it is one that I have never been able to open.

Your best bet is probably try each brand of pick you are debating between and try them each for a good while to give them each a fair shot.

Zeke79

[thelockpickkid]

I will personally guarantee HPC picks, buy a set of those, around 50 dollars or so, if you don't like them after a month, I will buy them back.

[zeke79]

Sorry to bring up an old post but while searching for something else I found this thread. One thing I wish was that peterson would offer their DCAP picks with both the textured (thicker) rubber and plastic handles so they have more of the same feel in my hand that I am used to with their spring steel plastic handled picks that I always use.

[nostromo]

I'm afraid Locksport is a gearhound hobby, "The Locksmith". You'll have to spend a lot of time with the various pick sets to see what you favor in handles, tip profile, steel, and shank for various situations. Is there a Locksport group anywhere near you that you can spend a little time trying the various picks before you make a purchase?

Richard at SoSpec was kind enough to do me up a pickset with a variety of the rippled / laminated handle combinations and I ended up favoring the plain laminated handle. It did not feel as heavy as the double laminated rippled handle, a bit more responsive. The rippled handles do sort of give you a different feel in the hand if you can turn them over, but that's only the ball rakes, really.

I mentioned the 'gear hound' aspect of the hobby? Well, after you check out these two you still have the composite rubber covered, mild banana shaped plastic handles with vacuum deposition coated tips like Klom, the plain plastic handled $6 hook pick set from Deal Extreme, Lishi auto picks, HPC carbon steel and computer patterns, rocker picks, jigglers, Falle sweeps, Raimundo's Bogota Rake . . .

So far that's just pin and wafer locks. How about lever tumblers? Safes? I love it!

And there are all kinds of specialty manual picks, mechanical picks, and electric ones. And automobile lockouts. Bypass tools. And if you start getting interested in coming up with your own methods, there are machinist type tools to get into the locks and / or make your own tools.

It's a great hobby!! A lifetime hobby. You'll never be bored. You'll probably settle on a few favorites, but ya just GOTTA try out the other stuff!!

[LocksmithArmy]

nostromo brings up a great point. even after deciding between these two companies which you like there are still tons more to try out...

thats part of the reason i started my website... it will help people decide which picksets they want to try..

if you have not seen it mr nostromo you should check it out http://www.locksmitharmy.com

the picks are here:
http://www.locksmitharmy.com/lock-picks.php
click manufactured picks for the reviews ive been working on.

[drop dead fred]

Thats a good site you have locksmith army lots of info and some good lockpicking sites i didnt know about

[Schuyler]

So I'm fairly sure this won't influence anyone decision one way or the other, but I was just watching an episode from the 4th season of Bones & Agent Booth totally used Southern Specialties picks to open a door. So, you know, good enough for Hollywood at least

[pjzstones]

So I'm fairly sure this won't influence anyone decision one way or the other, but I was just watching an episode from the 4th season of Bones & Agent Booth totally used Southern Specialties picks to open a door. So, you know, good enough for Hollywood at least

did he use a tension wrench, or just stick the pick in and wiggle?
i was watching an episode of dexter and his brother used a south ord snake rake to break into dexter's apartment. all he did was stick the pick in and turn though.

[wakeboard1290]

I saw that same episode; Dexter rocks Hollywoods portrayal of lockpicking is rarely realistic, and often neither is a customers idea of what you have to do to open a lock without a key

[eppiotic]

Yeah the Ice Truck Killer :b.

He had a tension wrench and put the pick in and slightly wiggled it from side to side lol.

I LOVE that show.

[wakeboard1290]

I laughed out loud when I watched it cuz he wiggled the pick side to side, and everyone I was watching it with looked at me like I was crazy because they don't know I pick locks. They just assumed that's 'how ya do it'

[Josh K]

In case anyone is interested, the "Government Steel" Peterson uses appears to be Inconely 713. Interesting (and tough) stuff. I do love the stainless picks.

[LocksmithArmy]

neato, good to know

[Wizer]

Does anyone know if there are on-line shops in EU that would sell Petersons?
All I can find are in US, and I don´t want to pay taxes and customs. These picks are expencive enough without those.