Buy a better set, or make my own?

[Cochise]

Hi! I've been lockpicking for around a year now. I didn't do much yet, been playing with some cheap cylinder, repinning it and picking it. Opened some doors around the house and a couple of padlocks (including mine at school, forgot my key and they had to cut it, but i borrowed hair pins from some girl and saved my crappy padlock from being cut).

But now I want to get to do more stuff so i learn a bit more. I have a master no.5 (which is suposed to be 4 pin, but i think its three, and its so stiff i can,t really learn with it i put feather tension and pins seem to stuck, i've opened it a lot of times, but most times with really heavy tension.) I also avec a couple of cylinders, but really cheap ones. One has "Faultless" writen on the front dunno what brand it is. The other has "LSDA" written on it, but i dont have springs for it, i broke a lot of them in my first times opening them.

I have my pick set since april, its some cheap 5 piece set (which i lost the dual side tension wrench)
heres some pictures : http://www.2dayblog.com/images/2007/jun ... ckpick.jpg
http://edge.i-hacked.com/wp-content/upl ... g_1208.JPG

As a tension wrench, i'm using some rusty street bristle i found by luck while walking in the street, which i bent so i can use it as a tension wrench.

I have access to a grinder and dremel, and enough hacksaw balde to make myself a complete set.

Should i try and make my own picks? Or buy something quality before so i have an idea of what good picks are like?

[jamesphilhulk2]

make your own, there's plenty of high quality templates on here

[MacGnG1]

i would go buy some quality picks. they dont cost too much and are much better for beginners

[le.nutzman]

I think either way you go there are pros and cons. With making your own, you have complete control over the process from start to finish, but keep in mind if you've never done it before, don't be upset if the picks don't turn out the way you expected them to on the first try, like lockpicking, it's a learned process. Also with making your own, you get exactly the picks you want and alot of what you may not need or ever even use.

With buying from the masses, yea you get good quality and good quantity. So it really is up to you, either you want to invest in some time to make your own picks or you want to just fork out the money and buy some.

[Cochise]

Thanks for your replies guys! I think ill buy some tensions wrenches for now and maybe a good hook. I,ll invest in some locks instead and I'll be doing my own picks in january

[zeke79]

Personally, I would buy a set. That way if the pick happens to break, get lost, etc you can order a new pick that will be identical in feel. That way you don't have to make a new pick that is similar to your last pick but doesn't have quite the same feel as your old pick.

[jamesphilhulk2]

Personally, I would buy a set. That way if the pick happens to break, get lost, etc you can order a new pick that will be identical in feel. That way you don't have to make a new pick that is similar to your last pick but doesn't have quite the same feel as your old pick.

then again if he makes one and it breaks he just just make one which is cheaper

[zeke79]

I am not against making your own picks by any means as I make some of my own picks. Personally I find it is just best to start out with a full handle sized set to get a feel for your favorite pick. Then at some point if it breaks, it can be replaced with the exact same handle, tang, and profile so your picking style doesnt have to change at all to get used to a new pick. By all means if you want to make your own pick set do it, I was just pointing out a good reason to start out with manufactured picks.

I do agree with you james that making your own picks is much cheaper depending on the amount of free time you have. If you make enough picks, over time you can get the hang of reproducing picks with very good accuracy to a previous pick. There are pros and cons to either way you start.

[cppdungeon]

Sounds like a pick broke your heart zeke! I know how it is though, i home-brew mine, and its sad when one breaks, but its rare, and like zeke said, you can always make more. And its reaaallly cheap, once you have all the stuff. and if you like making suff, its fun too! anyways, if you have a grinder and dremel, use the grinder for the big bits, and smooth it down with the dremel. it also helps to polish your picks with a sanding disk.

--Cpp

[zeke79]

Sounds like a pick broke your heart zeke! I know how it is though, i home-brew mine, and its sad when one breaks, but its rare, and like zeke said, you can always make more. And its reaaallly cheap, once you have all the stuff. and if you like making suff, its fun too! anyways, if you have a grinder and dremel, use the grinder for the big bits, and smooth it down with the dremel. it also helps to polish your picks with a sanding disk.

--Cpp

Nope, I don't think I have ever broke a pick using it to pick a lock. I have bent up a homebrew pick using it for something besides picking locks but that doesn't really count .

My point was once you get a feel for a particular pick, if it happens to break and it was a purchased pick then you can replace it and have the exact same feel you had with the one that broke so no adjustment to a new pick is needed as is the case with alot of homebrew picks.

[Olson Burry]

I suppose it will be a case of how enthusiastic and creative one feels to making their own tools. Also the amount of time available to spend on this hobby.

What I have done is to buy, well, probably more picks than I would ever need from various places of differing quality and taken the bits I like from each, factoring them in to my own personal homebrews which I enjoy very much.

I would, at the very least, invest in a few quality individual picks, say a peterson short hook and half diamond and lets say a falle safe style medium reach hook. Or something.

At that point I found it easier to ascertain what "quality" meant and can engineer picks around the things I like.

I've been lucky enough to have never broken a pick that I really liked but I would say that if I'd made one that broke, it needed to be made again anyway, and this time it would be superior to its predecessor. Else an adjustment of technique would be in order.

Further, I struggle making tension wrenches. Some quality wrenches will be worth their weight in gold. Long, short, top and bottom tension wrenches for all sizes, it is my opinion that you really only need a few picks but you can never have enough wrenches.

[zeke79]

Some quality wrenches will be worth their weight in gold. Long, short, top and bottom tension wrenches for all sizes, it is my opinion that you really only need a few picks but you can never have enough wrenches.

I have said that many times before and agree with you 100%. If I had to choose only a few picks but could keep all the tension wrenches I want they would be my two bogotas made by rai and my peterson hook along with my large array of tension tools. The above statement by Olson Burry could not be more correct in my opinion.

[Cochise]

This is true about wrenches. I never had a good one and always had problems with tension. I used all sorts of things as tension wrench (key rings, hair pins, bent street bristles, the cheap dual sided wrench that came with my set).

I'll order some wrenches and build my own set in a month or two, once i can drive my car and all, because my parents don't necessarily like that hobby

[savs2k]

make your own to for now and once you get better and if you still have a big intrest in picks get a good set. Having a good set will give you a good idea on how your picks should be turning out. When I first started picking I made all my picks and tension wrenches. I thought I was making the picks wrong but it was the tension wrench holding me back. So like everyone else said a few decents picks and some GOOD tension wrenches will take you a long way.

[raimundo]

If you take Zekes advice on the commercial pick, why not buy two of a kind when you get them, then if you break or lose the pick during a job, you won't have to wait till the mail come to complete it. Just don't keep both sets together, so that they are not all lost or stolen in the same incident. Keep the backups at home.

I like wiper stiffeners for tensors, they come in a variety of widths and they have rounded edges that don't cut into the cylinder wall and jam the tension uselessly.