Good Pick Set?

[cool-arrow]

You know people ask this stuff all of the time as I did. I would recommend starting out with a Peterson City kit and working your way up and building your kit. .....

Looks like an interesting pocket set to carry with me. Any idea how thick they are compared to Europeon picks?

Thickness they are the same as any other pick. The shaft heights on the picks are thinner than normal picks, they are somewhere in between a Euro slimline pick and regular pick.

[delocking]

Thanks for the info, I'll have to look into them as a set to keep in my coat pocket

[le.nutzman]

You know, recently i made a similar post in the Lockpicks - Manual Forum titled Pick Clarification as i'm about to make now.....

Any set is good, it's as good as you make it, I have sets from Southord, HPC, Peterson International, custom made and home brew. It's what you think you need and what you're good at working with.

Out of all the picks i own, i still fall back on the Southord standard hook pick because of it's ease of use and versatility. My tension wrenches range from Southord short flex, Peterson Pry-Bar Lite to home made wrenches using nothing more than large bobby pins. The point is what makes a good set is what works best for you.

Some things you should know about finishing your picks, Southord and Peterson picks normally don't need to be finished. Southord ships ready to pick. Peterson's picks are thinner and stronger to a point, and really, HPC picks are about the only picks i've ever seen that needed to be hand finished upon receipt, and they did seem to be a bit thicker than all my other picks. Any pick will bend, and with it does it isn't because it's crappy craftsmanship, it's because you're forcing it, which isn't how lock picking works. It's an art of delicate finesse, light yet constant tension and trial and error. Yes, the picks do play a part in delivering noticeable feed back to tell you what you're doing inside the lock, but from the picks i've sampled from the different companies, i haven't noticed that much of a difference. It's more so comfort in holding the picks in your hand. The Peterson molded handles are more comfortable than the Southord metal handles......get the picture?

Sure, everyone here has their preferred brands of picks, but in the end, when the pick bends, it's because you bent it, not because of how it's made. Go ahead and experiment, that's what it's all about, but anyone will tell you, most of the time on the average lock, regardless of all the picks they own, they fall back on either the short hook or the half diamond and a standard tension wrench.

[delocking]

le.nutzman many very good points there and I agree it's the picker not the picks that is more important

I have to add though that all the European Southord picks I've received have needed finishing as they are not symmetrical due to being stamped out I also like to round off the square edges to give me more room to work the picks.

I mentioned the Peterson City kit at work and discovered we have some Peterson picks kicking around (literally). I was able to pick with them, but found I hate those plastic handles as I've got used to the Southord picks with handles. So as always personal preference is one of the things that makes us all different and a pain to supplier, I'll do a U-turn and stick with Southord The the short hook and the half diamond are turning out to be the two picks I use the most also

[le.nutzman]

Something else that I'll just throw in here because it's probably a safe bet that it's already happened to someone (me included). As someone NEW to this hobby/sport/profession, just because you can buy the Peterson International G4 set or the Falle basic pick set (which is only sold to bona fide locksmiths) doesn't mean you're going to be opening locks any faster or immediately increase your talent and/or skills 10x. The tools are nice and custom to each of their respective manufacturers, but they all have or follow the same basic design principle, standard hook or half diamond. And then they throw some other designs in just for kicks and grins.

The point here, don't go spending large amounts of money on trying to get the most expensive "best" set you can get your hands on if you're just starting out. They aren't going to make you any better until you've satisfied the primers and fully understand the fundamentals of lock picking, then and only then will the type of picks you use make a difference, and even then the difference is going to be so marginal that you probably won't even notice unless you're looking for it. What you'll run into, is buying that $500 lockpick set and still not be able to pick that Medeco M3 or Abloy or whatever and end up frustrated because you'll think the tools let you down. Now you've been beat down by a lock and on top of it, you've spent large amounts of money to ensure that you could do it. I can pick American 5200 padlocks just as fast and easily with any pick i own, custom, cheap or otherwise. See the picture?

It's not the tools that pick the lock, it's the person. The tools are nothing more than an extension of the person manipulating the lock.