Advance Auto Parts and Auto Zone both install wiper blades for free (along with batteries and most headlight or tail light bulbs). Just stalk them and check their outside trash cans.
GWiens2001 wrote:Those ones with the spikes that are bent up to hold the wiper in place are useless, as they bend incredibly easily. The other ones should be good for use. An easy test is to lightly bend the spring with a couple of fingers (put it under light tension to reverse the angle at which it is already bent), then release pressure. If the insert retains the bend, it is not suitable for picks. Decent springs will bend back to their original shape, and make great picks.
Gordon
So it seems you know what your talking about.. Sounds like you've gotten these before, lol. Did you do what I did and get them from Advanced Auto Parts.. The Bin where they throw them into in front of the store? lol.. just wondering. But yeah, they are a little flimsy. I actually bent them back touching end to end, and it springs back 98% back to it's original shape. They are perfect for tension wrenches. I'm not going to use them for lock picks. I'm ordering 1095 High Carbon Steel Feeler Gauge from OnlineMetals.com for like $42 for 12pk, enough to do 24 or more lock picks. I'm going to get a nice piece of Oak & Maple from Lowes. The wood I'm getting isn't going to be in the part where they sell the 2 x 4's or plywood, it's in towards the back of our Lowes, where the really nice wood is. They want $17 for a 1" (D) x 4" (W) x 4' (L), I think one of the two is like a dollar more, but both the oak & maple hardwoods are about the same price. That will be used for the handles. Then I'm going to buy (3x) 1 ft. Grade 2 Titanium 1/8" Rod from OnlineMetals.com and use that for the pins for the handles. Not going to waste the spring steel windshield wiper inserts for lock picks. I have a better metal I'm going to use.. I really want to get 15-5PH Stainless steel 12" x 12" x 0.025", which is MUCH stronger then the 1095 High Carbon Steel Feeler Gauge... But I'm afraid of 1 thing.. They want $96 for the 1 Sq. ft. sheet, and 2, I don't know if my dremel can slice and shape the sheet. I'd get more bang for my buck as far as getting more lock picks out of the sheet then the 12x, (0.025" x 12" x 0.5") 1095 High Carbon Steel Full Hard Feeler Gauge.. The tensile strength of the 15-5PH is like 161,000 PSI Tensile Strength, and.. Here.. Take a look at the data for the 2 different metals I want to make the lock picks out of. 15-5PH VS. 1095 High Carbon Steel - Full Hard
Stainless Steel Grade 15-5 (UNS S15500)
Tensile Strength - 200,000 psi Yield Strength - 184,900 psi Modulus of Elasticity 29,000 ksi Elongation at Break - 10%
Hardness, Brinell - 420 Hardness, Knoop - 451 Hardness, Rockwell B - 104 Hardness, Rockwell C - 44.2 Hardness, Vickers - 445 Melting Point - 2,560 - 2,620 °F
What's inside the 15-5 Stainless steel that makes it so great? (%, Percentage) Iron, Fe 75 Chromium, Cr 14.8 Nickel, Ni 4.5 Copper, Cu 3.5 Silicon, Si 1.0 Manganese, Mn 1.0 Nb + Ta 0.3 Carbon, C 0.070 Phosphorous, P 0.040 Sulfur, S 0.030
Has a SHIT load of Manganese, VERY STRONG. The other stuff is mainly based towards anti-Corrosion, and I think I heard it somewhere that, that's the MAX you can have in a steel is like 100 (1.0) points of something.
Hardness, Brinell - 197 Hardness, Knoop - 219 Hardness, Rockwell B - 92 Hardness, Rockwell C - 13 Hardness, Vickers - 207 Melting Point - 2760°F
What's inside 1095 Carbon Steel that makes it so great? (%, Percentage) Iron, Fe 98.38 - 98.8 Carbon, C 0.90 - 1.03 Sulfur, S ≤ 0.050 Phosphorous, P ≤ 0.040 Manganese, Mn 0.30 - 0.50
It's the high amount of Carbon & Manganese.. Carbon & Manganese makes steel STRONG. See what I'm talking about? 15-5PH is very expensive, and stronger then 1095 High Carbon Steel. the only other type of Feeler gauge they have is 300 Series Stainless Steel, which is NOT stronger then 1095 High Carbon Steel. I looked at 300, 301, 302, 303, 304C etc. etc Stainless Steel, and it is NOT stronger then 1095, but OnlineMetals charges like a million dollars for the shit.. lol, and Ikd why. Maybe because it protects against the elements, unlike High Carbon Steel. I don't plan on abusing my lock picks, and I plan on taking good care of my custom picks when I make them.
Here's my Video Tutorial & a High Res. Image of the Z Type Tension wrench I made out of the 12 Inch Metal WW Insert(s).
2octops wrote:Advance Auto Parts and Auto Zone both install wiper blades for free (along with batteries and most headlight or tail light bulbs). Just stalk them and check their outside trash cans.
I'm not sure about Napa or O'Rieleys.
YES Sir.. They actually, well.. the one here in PA, has their own bin right smack dab in front of the store, LOL I asked the guy for them, and he said sure buddy.
Yeah, NAPA is crap, they're not as high quality as Adv. Auto Parts. As for O'Rileys, never heard of em, nor has my friend. But hell, I'm gonna have to pay Advanced another little visit and get a stock in metal inserts
Gonna make a SHIT load of tension wrenches. LMAO !!! Seriously..
You can find a whole bunch of them on the road. i mean I find a lot of them. So many of them that I first prized them, but found them to plentyful to care about them. Now I just keep a small amount of them in my toolbox for those JIC moments.
The tensile strength of the 15-5PH is like 161,000 PSI Tensile Strength, and.. Here.. Take a look at the data for the 2 different metals I want to make the lock picks out of.
