My first attempt at building a pick.

by **1mrchristopher** » 7 May 2014 8:13

Last night I got a wild hair, and decided to try my hand at making a pick. My base material was windshield wiper insert, and my primary tool was a Thor brand bench grinder that has to be at least 60 years old, but hey, it was $5.00 at an auction sale, so I'm not complaining. At any rate it's pretty rough, but it does work. Picture follows so you guys can 'pick' it apart.

By the way, those expensive bosch wipers have some awesome metal in them.

by **GWiens2001** » 7 May 2014 15:50

No picking it apart... you did a nice job! Also like the extra groove to hold the pins.

The Honda and Ford factory wiper blades have great inserts, too.

Gordon

by **1mrchristopher** » 7 May 2014 23:56

Thanks for the encouragement. It was a completely spontaneous enterprise - no template, no real plan, just the sudden idea to go build a pick. I do think that some sort of handle would make it easier to hold, but I'm fairly well pleased with my first ever pick, enough so that I've got it in my case.

by **KPick** » 8 May 2014 14:10

+1 Gordon

It's a good pick. I made a pick and then I decided that I really am not any good at making them so I just stuck with professionally made picks. LoL I took a file and I filed off a windshield wiper for about an hour or two trying to get a perfect shape, but the only accomplishment I had was making a pick with crappy feedback. LoL. I guess it's the metal it was made out of. It wasn't stiff enough to conjure up a good response.

This other time I made a Pagoda from a windshield wiper insert, and it turned out okay at best. Turns out that the bumps were too rounded.

by **cuttinedge1** » 8 May 2014 14:31

Heat shrink tubing is a great beginner handle. The pick looks great!

by **1mrchristopher** » 8 May 2014 16:32

I hadn't thought of using heat shrink. I've got a small selection of that, could probably even double it up if one layer didn't do the trick. Thanks!

by **billdeserthills** » 8 May 2014 22:47

Your pick looks very much like the hpc hook I use,
I always wonder how many files would get worn out making that grand master pick set?

by **KPick** » 9 May 2014 21:58

billdeserthills wrote:Your pick looks very much like the hpc hook I use,
I always wonder how many files would get worn out making that grand master pick set?

LoL If it were in my hands and I had to make one, it'd probably be over 20 files. I'm sorry, but I have to stress the point, that I really suck at making picks. :lol:

I'd probably lose a finger with my impatient self.

by **Luissen** » 10 May 2014 9:13

I've never made a pick in the serious intent of using it, other than as a proof of concept. the washer blades I find in my area are kinda thin and usually brittle

by **1mrchristopher** » 10 May 2014 23:06

If I'd been doing this with nothing more than files, I fear I would have given up in frustration. First because what files I have are ill suited to removing that much material from such thin stock, and second because I do not have a vise on my workbench. I have a really sad vise in the van, and a table top vise that I use in the house, but neither of those would be very helpful if I wanted to build a pick. Hopefully in the next month or two, I'll have brought in enough that I can splurge on a better vise for the van, and give myself the old one for the garage. I hate being a man of terrible vises!

by **Luissen** » 20 May 2014 13:11

I found a big pile of wipers on the side of the road walking home yesterday, but man was I disappointed with what I found... All of them were pitted and crummy, almost whippy thin. there was a pair plastic-metal strips inside the rubber instead of a workable piece.

as for the pick you made, it looks nice

by **1mrchristopher** » 24 May 2014 22:38

Thanks Luissen. Not satisfied with just having made one, and not owning a deforest, I decided to try my hand it one.

Not perfect, but I'm having good luck with it, and it's brought home the bacon twice now on the job.

by **GWiens2001** » 24 May 2014 23:13

You are getting good, MrChristopher! Nice angles on that DeForest. Thank you for sharing.

Gordon

by **1mrchristopher** » 24 May 2014 23:24

A word of advice to anyone who wants to build a pick: Do all of your file work BEFORE you temper. I can tell you two things about this particular pick. 1 - it's got great feedback. 2 - it took 3 times longer to make than it should have, because after I roughed it out on the grinder, I tempered it, not even thinking about the fact that I had file work left to do. I think I'll be picking up another set or two of needle files next time I go to Harbor Freight.

by **KPick** » 25 May 2014 1:36

Ahhh. The great deforest pick. The love of my pick set. You can fit in many places, but never into my "home made" spot.

My first attempt at building a pick.

My first attempt at building a pick.

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