Good sets to start with.. Did i pick the right one?

[bonsize]

Hi everyone!
I just purchased my first pickset today. But due to shipping time it is going to be a while before i receive it. I want to hear wether i purchased the right one.. I purchased one called KGB. This one:

Is it usable? Or would another one be better to try?
Any help is greatly appreciated!

Bonsize.

[Oaklandishh]

I have never heard of it, but from the picture it looks okay. The rake looks like a common and useful one, and the hook/deforester are often peoples favorite picks. I dont know what you are going to do with a key extractor, but other then that it looks fine.

[Velvokay]

That will be good for starting out, seeing that they are HPC picks.

[ToolyMcgee]

Their are worse sets to start out with. The handles are pretty small, but the tension wrenches and hook picks are nice designs. Probably won't find much use for the key extractor though.

[Solomon]

I agree with everything said so far, as for the key extractor you could modify that to be used as a very small short hook. Like tooly said, handles are a bit small so they'll not be the comfiest but they're definately usable. Not a bad choice at all for a beginner since it'll stop you from trying a different pick every 10 seconds aswell.

[bonsize]

Thank you so much for the feedback guys. I am really excited to get my hands on these picks. I know my question is, newbish at best, but what is the name of the picks in this KGB set? I can recognize the classic pick and the tension wrenches.. What are the names of the rest????

Thanks again (and thanks for this great site!),

Bonsize.

[Solomon]

From left to right the picks are DeForest, broken key extractor, bogota style rake and medium/large hook. You'll most likely never need the key extractor so you can modify it into a smaller hook. The DeForest is a fantastic pick, you can get around pretty much anything with those things... it's one of my personal faves

[bonsize]

From left to right the picks are DeForest, broken key extractor, bogota style rake and medium/large hook. You'll most likely never need the key extractor so you can modify it into a smaller hook. The DeForest is a fantastic pick, you can get around pretty much anything with those things... it's one of my personal faves

Thanks for your quick reply I greatly appreciate it.
Which one is best, the half diamond (which is for raking too as far as i understand??) or the bogota style rake???
And another question.. is the medium / large hook too big to be useful on, say, padlocks?

Thanks!

[Solomon]

Thanks for your quick reply I greatly appreciate it.
Which one is best, the half diamond (which is for raking too as far as i understand??) or the bogota style rake???
And another question.. is the medium / large hook too big to be useful on, say, padlocks?

Thanks!

You can rake with a half diamond but it's more useful if you want to use a combination of raking and loose SPP... for example if you have a lock which doesn't give very good feedback you can use it to work the pins randomly until you start to feel pins setting and from there you should be able to notice the binding of the remaining pins much more clearly. Or, if you have a lock with spool pins, you can use it to force false set and SPP the spools when they lock up. It's quite a handy pick to have, but you can use a short hook to the same effect... just with a half diamond you can go back and forth whereas with that style of picking you'll only really be able to work back to front with a hook.

I don't do a lot of raking myself, but the bogota style will generally be more effective than raking with a half diamond and you have more options with it aswell ie. rocking/scrubbing/jiggling motions since it will replicate bitting patterns more so than a pick with a simple tip.

As for the big hook, it depends on the padlock really... it'll be too large for some padlocks but with top of keyway tension you should be able to use it on a great deal of locks just fine... the DeForest is a much better choice though; it can get around almost anything that hook can and you have the added benefit of being able to roll nicely back and forth over the pins aswell. If you find the hook is too big for your taste, you can always file it down a little.

[bonsize]

Thanks for your quick reply I greatly appreciate it.
Which one is best, the half diamond (which is for raking too as far as i understand??) or the bogota style rake???
And another question.. is the medium / large hook too big to be useful on, say, padlocks?

Thanks!

You can rake with a half diamond but it's more useful if you want to use a combination of raking and loose SPP... for example if you have a lock which doesn't give very good feedback you can use it to work the pins randomly until you start to feel pins setting and from there you should be able to notice the binding of the remaining pins much more clearly. Or, if you have a lock with spool pins, you can use it to force false set and SPP the spools when they lock up. It's quite a handy pick to have, but you can use a short hook to the same effect... just with a half diamond you can go back and forth whereas with that style of picking you'll only really be able to work back to front with a hook.

I don't do a lot of raking myself, but the bogota style will generally be more effective than raking with a half diamond and you have more options with it aswell ie. rocking/scrubbing/jiggling motions since it will replicate bitting patterns more so than a pick with a simple tip.

As for the big hook, it depends on the padlock really... it'll be too large for some padlocks but with top of keyway tension you should be able to use it on a great deal of locks just fine... the DeForest is a much better choice though; it can get around almost anything that hook can and you have the added benefit of being able to roll nicely back and forth over the pins aswell. If you find the hook is too big for your taste, you can always file it down a little.

Your reply is everything i had hoped for. Thank you very much! You have helped me alot.