home made Wishbone tension wrench

[technik]

has n e one made a home made wishbone tension, maybe out of tweezers?
are they better than a conventional tension wrench for a regular pin and tumbler? are they good for a particular lock?

[marso]

Good for wafers and when you have a restricted keyway. I use it on a window lock I have a home, only way i can turn it.

[PYRO1234321]

i just did that the other day (great minds think alike). get some cheap tweezers heat up the tip and bend 90-75 degrees sideways and quench in water to harden it a bit. grind them nice and small on the tips and they work well, but not quite as well as factory made since the rest of the tweezer is usually to thick or crimped. i personally think wishbones are perfect for any lock that has flat face/keyway (there are stairstep models that fix that also) and i would recommend anyone to add an extra one or two to any pick set they order. they give the maximum pick entry area but do not replace regular tension tools due to their stubby stiff nature.

[Chucklz]

If you order forceps (tweezers) from a nice Medical surplus place, you are almost certian to be able to order some that already have a nice 60 degree bend. You can also really pick and choose on sizes, materials etc.

[PYRO1234321]

thats an excellent idea, however, i'm guessing that medical grade instuments are going to be a lot more $ than the 3-4$ for the real deal.....

[Biff]

http://www.medicalsuppliesplus.net/tweezers.htm

there's a bunch

[PYRO1234321]

I retract my last statement, some of those tweezers look really good and probably wouldn't even need any modifications. good find Biff

[Mad Mick]

You can also make one any length you choose, from the stainless steel strips found in vehicle wiper blades.............for free.

[technik]

huh, that site opened my eyes to the amount of different type of tweezers! jeeze! i dunno if can get my hands on some of the unual ones, but ill try. so you reckon it will work? I dont see, however, the much difference from a normal tension wrench. Some have said that it is less crowded in the key way with wishbone tension wrenches, but I dont see by having both a tension at top and bottom, that there is more room. plz explain

[marso]

The points of a wishbone is about a third of the size of the normal tension tool I use. And hence more space in the keyway. Also some keyways have the bottom blocked like my window lock wafer at home. And hence you dont have a choice but to use a wishbone or modified tension tool. You do get slightly more room to play. But it is a bit more fidily as you have to try to keep the wishbone in the lock with front way pressure.

[Grudge]

Wishbones have a couple of advantages.

First they sometimes get a really good grip on a lock and won't turn or slip like a conventional L shaped tool. Doesn't happen that often, though.

Marso is right, the prongs of the wishbone are small PLUS you get more room because one of the tongs of the wishbone go in the top of the lock, next to the pins. This really is dead space since most people put the wrench in the bottom and pick up to the pins.