Yet Another Kwickpick Issue

[Gordon Airporte]

If you want to get everything you can out of the kwick pick (seeing as how it's all you've got at the moment) you could get some sand paper and smooth it over. Take of the sharp square edges. I'd start with 150 grit, then 220, and finally 320 or 400. Steel wool after that is nice, too.
If you're really feeling adventurous you could also try to sand it down thinner. I'm used to picks made from hacksaw blade, and IMO this is kind of chunky.
As far as making your own tips goes, you're limited to metal you can drill reasonably well, which means msot hacksaw blade probably won't work.

[vector40]

IIRC raimundo sands his picks down to 600 grit. You can really go as far as you want; there's certainly no disadvantage to sanding finer and finer, though at a certain point there'll probably be no recognizable difference.

[Raccoon]

As a jeweler, doesn't he go as far as using polishes?

[pinhopper]

Right, ill bear that in mind and start off my sanding a little later on. I will be getting the Southord 9pc slim set

http://www.lockpicks.com/index.asp?Page ... ProdID=270

It looks fairly good, and as the only thing i can really work on at the moment is padlocks and the such, i think they will be ideal because of the smaller keyways.

Let me know what you think

[pinhopper]

Also, i have a differently keyed squire No 35 and that is proving a little harder to open, ive popped it twice, but there is a long flat bit on the key, and its really hard to fit the tenion and the pick in whilst still having full mobility