Sparrows Vorax Kit

[ghostpicker]

Just bought this set recently and this not a review or to slander sparrows because i think they make great products worth more than the price.

But i am disappointed in the items that came with it like the flat bars with a tubular tension tool sort of like the ones in the orion set, the flat bars themselves were nice but the comb ends were new to me and had no luck using them and a piece of paper would've tensioned a tubular lock better than the one in the kit way too thin in my opinion.

The case is really nice they recently came out with it's the same as the sherman case just new look but the sherman itself could use a update to store tension wrenches and picks more neatly like their comp case did.

The set comes with 6 tension tools (3 twisted straight and 3 double ended)

And the sandman which i haven't used yet but i do have an octorake i love so i bet the sandman will be just as effective!.

So aside from a nice case and the sandman this is a overpriced wizwazzle set minus the many tension tools so up to you to try it for yourself just sharing my thoughts.

[ghostpicker]

Forgot to mention that they do include the ssdev hooks for challenging keyways or high security stuff

[Joshua904]

Did you ever get to use the sandman? I've been trying to find reviews but haven't been able to. Just curious if it's worth it compared to a typical snake.

[jbrint]

Did you ever get to use the sandman? I've been trying to find reviews but haven't been able to. Just curious if it's worth it compared to a typical snake.

My wife picked up for me the Sandman, King/Queen and Rook Set plus the set I originally bought had the Octorake and between all of them I have had 0 opens (even on locks I can look at and open). They all seem so big and forceful to me as picks, and maybe I am not doing something correct but I just haven't had a lot of luck with them and do not even try to use them anymore. I would love to see some videos of folks having luck with these.

[kwoswalt99-]

Did you ever get to use the sandman? I've been trying to find reviews but haven't been able to. Just curious if it's worth it compared to a typical snake.

My wife picked up for me the Sandman, King/Queen and Rook Set plus the set I originally bought had the Octorake and between all of them I have had 0 opens (even on locks I can look at and open). They all seem so big and forceful to me as picks, and maybe I am not doing something correct but I just haven't had a lot of luck with them and do not even try to use them anymore. I would love to see some videos of folks having luck with these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqu_pVtYoU8

[RumballSolutions]

King, queen, knight and rook are all variations on "rocker" picks of varying profiles. You will see the same principles applied using the majestic/HPC computer rakes/picks or the French manufactured "Magic Keys".

Sometimes called "jiggler" or "tryout keys", though I feel the use of tryout keys is erroneous as try out keys are in fact keys cut to a group of common bittings.

Rocking and jiggling are just another technique in the toolbox and like any other they take time to learn. If you are a heavy handed picker you may struggle with rocking as it relies on deftness and not strong arming to work. You'll find it generally works well on cheaper, lower tolerance locks with extreme variations in bitting or locks that are pinned to fully exploits MACS.

[jbrint]

King, queen, knight and rook are all variations on "rocker" picks of varying profiles. You will see the same principles applied using the majestic/HPC computer rakes/picks or the French manufactured "Magic Keys".

Sometimes called "jiggler" or "tryout keys", though I feel the use of tryout keys is erroneous as try out keys are in fact keys cut to a group of common bittings.

Rocking and jiggling are just another technique in the toolbox and like any other they take time to learn. If you are a heavy handed picker you may struggle with rocking as it relies on deftness and not strong arming to work. You'll find it generally works well on cheaper, lower tolerance locks with extreme variations in bitting or locks that are pinned to fully exploits MACS.

Im pretty light handed and understand the concept but just haven't had any luck with these. I have some SouthOrd jigglers that open almost every KW and variant as well as master and some random cores I have on hand.

[RumballSolutions]

King, queen, knight and rook are all variations on "rocker" picks of varying profiles. You will see the same principles applied using the majestic/HPC computer rakes/picks or the French manufactured "Magic Keys".

Sometimes called "jiggler" or "tryout keys", though I feel the use of tryout keys is erroneous as try out keys are in fact keys cut to a group of common bittings.

Rocking and jiggling are just another technique in the toolbox and like any other they take time to learn. If you are a heavy handed picker you may struggle with rocking as it relies on deftness and not strong arming to work. You'll find it generally works well on cheaper, lower tolerance locks with extreme variations in bitting or locks that are pinned to fully exploits MACS.

Im pretty light handed and understand the concept but just haven't had any luck with these. I have some SouthOrd jigglers that open almost every KW and variant as well as master and some random cores I have on hand.

I also have some tools like that! Every time you use them they never seem to work, but they sure do look pretty in the pick collection! Meh, what can I say, I'm a tool ! You just never know, one day you might need that tool and it just may work!

[RumballSolutions]

King, queen, knight and rook are all variations on "rocker" picks of varying profiles. You will see the same principles applied using the majestic/HPC computer rakes/picks or the French manufactured "Magic Keys".

Sometimes called "jiggler" or "tryout keys", though I feel the use of tryout keys is erroneous as try out keys are in fact keys cut to a group of common bittings.

Rocking and jiggling are just another technique in the toolbox and like any other they take time to learn. If you are a heavy handed picker you may struggle with rocking as it relies on deftness and not strong arming to work. You'll find it generally works well on cheaper, lower tolerance locks with extreme variations in bitting or locks that are pinned to fully exploits MACS.

Im pretty light handed and understand the concept but just haven't had any luck with these. I have some SouthOrd jigglers that open almost every KW and variant as well as master and some random cores I have on hand.

I also have some tools like that! Every time you use them they never seem to work, but they sure do look pretty in the pick collection! Meh, what can I say, I'm a tool <censored>! You just never know, one day you might need that tool and it just may work!

Sorry, meant to say tool "w-word", but that apparently gets censored, so let's say I'm a tool fanatic then.

[kwoswalt99-]

I also have some tools like that! Every time you use them they never seem to work, but they sure do look pretty in the pick collection! Meh, what can I say, I'm a tool <censored>! You just never know, one day you might need that tool and it just may work!

Sorry, meant to say tool "w-word", but that apparently gets censored, so let's say I'm a tool fanatic then.

That is common terminology on some garage/tool forums I'm on. Never thought I'd hear it here.

[Squelchtone]

hey fellas, how about a link to the products you're discussing, it might help other members in case they are interested and are not familiar with every oddball named Sparrows pick set out there.

http://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/product_p/vorax.htm

[jbrint]

King, queen, knight and rook are all variations on "rocker" picks of varying profiles. You will see the same principles applied using the majestic/HPC computer rakes/picks or the French manufactured "Magic Keys".

Sometimes called "jiggler" or "tryout keys", though I feel the use of tryout keys is erroneous as try out keys are in fact keys cut to a group of common bittings.

Rocking and jiggling are just another technique in the toolbox and like any other they take time to learn. If you are a heavy handed picker you may struggle with rocking as it relies on deftness and not strong arming to work. You'll find it generally works well on cheaper, lower tolerance locks with extreme variations in bitting or locks that are pinned to fully exploits MACS.

Im pretty light handed and understand the concept but just haven't had any luck with these. I have some SouthOrd jigglers that open almost every KW and variant as well as master and some random cores I have on hand.

Im going to have to recant my above statement. I spent a couple hours today with only the Octo, King/Queeen/Rook/Knight from my set. Grabbed a bag of commercial master locks and after 2 bloody fingers managed to open all but two with the Queen and Octorake. I still didn't get any opens with the King or Knight and only a couple of opens with the Rook. These for me seem to only work on locks I can hold. Anything in a vise is a no go.

[RumballSolutions]

Im going to have to recant my above statement. I spent a couple hours today with only the Octo, King/Queeen/Rook/Knight from my set. Grabbed a bag of commercial master locks and after 2 bloody fingers managed to open all but two with the Queen and Octorake. I still didn't get any opens with the King or Knight and only a couple of opens with the Rook. These for me seem to only work on locks I can hold. Anything in a vise is a no go.

Outstanding! I found that once you've attempted to rock a large variety of locks, you get a feel for which brands/models are succeptible to certain tools and which aren't. Kind of like knowing which padlocks will succumb to comb picks and which won't. In the end it just becomes hard earned knowledge.

Rocking only working on hand held locks suggests to me that you might still be working on loosening up your technique. The extra movement in a hand held lock is compensating for the stiffer rocking style, allowing you to simulate that wider range of bitting combinations that these tools provide.

Awesome work, hope your success keeps rolling!

[DrDave-USA]

Did you ever get to use the sandman? I've been trying to find reviews but haven't been able to. Just curious if it's worth it compared to a typical snake.

My wife picked up for me the Sandman, King/Queen and Rook Set plus the set I originally bought had the Octorake and between all of them I have had 0 opens (even on locks I can look at and open). They all seem so big and forceful to me as picks, and maybe I am not doing something correct but I just haven't had a lot of luck with them and do not even try to use them anymore. I would love to see some videos of folks having luck with these.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cqu_pVtYoU8

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Hi... The “SPARROWS Sandman" was a "Home-Brew" tool I first created back in the mid 1980's... I made it a TRUE Dual-Sided Rake, but it's much more effective if you SLOWLY Rake/Jiggle "Hole-UP" then SPP a lock with DEEP-Cut front pins. Generally one can gather the Deep-Cut front pins if Raking/Jiggling simply bombs-out after 15-30 seconds. Often you can see the #1 pin is a 7-9 simply by seeing looking into the lock. So if you use the Sandman" in that manner, you WILL Get "OPEN" after "OPEN" on bittings that you simply could not crack with the old standard Pick Profiles.

Most of us that were not a Locksmith or LEO prior to the internet really had NO ACCESS to buy commercial tools. WOW have things changed !!! That said, I discovered that I could visit the yearly SOF conventions and buy/trade HPC and sometimes Majestic Pick-Sets. The cost was outrageous; however I had been making my own tools for years... I would make profiles different than those offered by HPC and Majestic. I started to barter or trade-out my tools with the SOF guy (Gary), who would keep two of the SSM or SPARROWS Sandman profiles for “DEMO ONLY”.
There are over 60 of them floating around from that era… Now you too can discover the OPEN after OPEN you will get on locks where the bitting is radicle enough that no other pick profile of that era will OPEN.

ENJOY and THANX to SPARROWS!!!

[RumballSolutions]

Thanks DrDave, that's a cool story. Great to see someone rise from home brew to full on production!

I like the concept of a multipurpose pick, makes for easy carry and quick picking.