Question about tubular picks

[calvin]

I just bought the southord 7&8 pin and I have two different locks. One has a notch in the central column which the picks work on, but another one I have does not have a notch in the middle, only on the outer shell.

I have seen people dremel and/or otherwise remove the small bar from inside the picks. I'm just wondering....is this reversible? Or am I effectively turning the pick into one which will only work for the latter lock?

here's a picture of my lock for reference
http://tinyurl.com/6m5qu8

compared to the normal type which have the central notch
http://www.lockpicks.com/ProductImages/VML-KIT-300.jpg

[straightpick]

Don't remove the nib from your pick! You won't be able to use it to open standard tubular locks if you do!

[calvin]

my question is if that nub can be replaced. Can you pull it out and then push it back in or is it realllllly jammed in there?

[straightpick]

They are generally set in pretty good. Think about it, it wouldn't be much good if it wobbled and worked loose!

[Legacy712]

I don't recommend removing the pin from the pick. From what I have seen, you can still pick locks without it, but I believe it may be more difficult. And I'm not very certain you could get it back in there in such a way that it would be solid and useful. You'd really have to try it, I guess, but it seems to be jammed in there pretty well.

Once out, you could possibly fashion a long, thin piece of metal to replace it, but it would probably involve cutting a notch in the pick body to accept it. Either way, you will probably damage the pick and not achieve the original results.

There's also a possibly that you could pull it out, drill the hole it goes in to make it deeper, fashion a longer pin, and jam it in there. Finding such a small pin (hardened roll pin?) may be difficult, though, and it may still wobble or pull out unexpectedly.

It might be nice if there was a tapped hole coming from the opposite side of the pick, around 3/4" from the tip, with a hex screw to hold the pin in place. Then, you could remove the pin and replace it at any time.

[Legacy712]

I have seen people dremel and/or otherwise remove the small bar from inside the picks. I'm just wondering....is this reversible? Or am I effectively turning the pick into one which will only work for the latter lock?

If it works for the lock without the plug notch, it should continue to work for all of them. The pin in the notch merely takes the pressure off the pins while turning/picking. Otherwise, the pick touches the pins, pushing sideways on them (instead of the notch) to exert force.