Forged Picks

[dhk42]

There was a post a few years back on the topic of forging picks and I’d been meaning to experiment with the idea. https://www.lockpicking101.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=59815#p439968

I forged these two from bicycle spokes:


The bottom one is one of my normal feeler gauge based hooks, just for reference.

I am a (very amateur) bladesmith, so I took a slightly different approach.
-Heated to red hot and forged flat (1.5-2 inches)
-Smoothed the flats by filing
-Ground/filed to shape as normal
-Heated to red hot and quenched in olive oil (3-4 inches)
-Tempered at 400 deg F for an hour
-Finished sanding smooth

This is the same process you would use to forge and heat treat a carbon steel knife. I have a small forge, but I just used a MAP gas torch for this.

Anyway, it works very well. The picks are about .020” thick and almost exactly as strong and flexible as my feeler gauge picks. I’m not in love with the one piece handles (especially the one with the sharp edge), but the technique is sound, despite the tiny scale.

I recommend removing the chrome before you heat the metal with some sand paper.

David

[Jacob Morgan]

They look interesting. Have you thought about using welding rods? Might have more predictable metallurgy than bike spokes.

[dhk42]

They look interesting. Have you thought about using welding rods? Might have more predictable metallurgy than bike spokes.

You need to use a high carbon steel. Welding rods aren’t. Bike spokes and piano wire are good bets. Or use a spark test.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spark_testing

[Jacob Morgan]

I was thinking something like Oxweld 32 CMS. That ought to come out as hard as it needs to be, or one could case harden the pick picks with Casenite, or whatever is being sold these days.