Hommade pick or buy pick?

[Rubberducky]

I'm a newbie in lockpicking. Do you recommend to make your own pick like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uB_tYW9p ... h=lockpick for like 5 dollars. Or buy a C801 and spending 40 euros?

[LockNewbie21]

Make your own, until you get the feel newbies have a tendency to push to hard or to much tension just make your own till you get decent, i mean some people use nothing but home mades


Andy

[Shrub]

Weve had this argument before and only a week or so ago,

Get bought picks as you know you are starting with the right tools, every time you fail to open a lock you will always blame your tools if they are home made,

Move on to makeing your own when you either break one and have somthing to copy or you get more experianced and know what you want.

[Bahrg]

every time you fail to open a lock you will always blame your tools if they are home made,

Now I hate to disagree with you Shrub, its obvious you have oh..... id say about a million times more experience at LP than me But mine are all homemade and I never blame the picks, but rather my lack of experience with picking. If a person takes care in the making, prints out some templates and ensures that the picks are as accurate as possible, I see no reason to buy. So far I have'nt broke any picks... Im not sure just how much force you would need to use to break one. Id say if you are snapping picks your pushing way way to hard.

[raimundo]

if your picks break, you may have over heated them on a grinder, I suggest not tempering a pick unless you have found that the metal you are useing really needs it to do the job, and if that is the case, look for a different source of metal. if the pick bends like a noodle, it could be steel that will never be good enough.

[Shrub]

Yes thats fair enough, my first pick was at the age 10 or 11 with a home made pick, i picked a yale padlock and then opened a combernation locks a few times then found other interests, the point is i like a lot of others are good in a machine shop, have my own machine shop and know what to do and how to make things, the issue lies in whether the OP is of the same mindset,

My view is this, if someone needs to ask if they should make or buy a set then they should buy a set, you or i (Bahrg) obviously wouldnt, our question would be how would i make one a bought one wouldnt even be considered.

As for picking experiance i dont know, i not all that, i regulary learn new things and get that odd difficult lock i struggle with. A picker that sits down and methodically opens a high security with a paper clip is far superiour than someone like me who will wiggle a few wires around a mortice lock to get a door open in a few seconds to let a wet and tired customer in to feed the cat.

[Olcaytug]

I remembered my first post on LP with nearly the same topic

It was some 5 months ago.. I started with a false intent (I wanted to enter my girlfriend's room to make a surprise but I couldn't ask her for keys because she shares the room with someone else).

I wanted to buy picks, but I was told that it would be smuggling since they are illegal in my country. I wanted to make them but I did know nothing!

It was a long four months for me... My intentions changed, and as Omikron once stated I was "bitten by the bug". Lockpicking was addicting.

Still I made some mistakes, such as practicing with locks on toilet cabins that I didn't own. I was sure that it wasn't a crime to pick locks never used by anyone, but I admit that it was wrong.

Today I call myself a fair lockpicker. I picked more than 150 locks in this 5months, most of them I acquired from a local locksmith I met while trying to obtain bumpkeys. Today I can use bumping, foil impressoning, bogotas, pin picking, snappers.......

I owe so much to LP101! I can give a hint by saying that I teached many things to this locksmith; like bumping, security pin picking without using electric picks, bogota method.. And I learned all these from LP101 people. Today I intend to become a locksmith myself as a second job - only after 5 months!

After telling all these, my suggestion is to make your own picks. You will have difficulties (do not believe you can make sets in 15 minutes before trying for long days). But once you learn how to make picks, you can make a large variety of tools that you can use for different purposes. And do not buy a grinder or dremel; I switched to a large set of files after using others for two months. It is much easier/quicker/cleaner to use files if you make picks out of mild spring steels such as wiper blades/sweeper bristles. No need for tempering and you will have far smoother curves, higher quality picks.

And if you have any false intent in your mind, forget it... It is not that easy to pick locks. Anyone not having fun by the process of learning & exercising for long hours can not have that patience! And your false intent will evaporize a hundred times and you surely will start thinking of other methods long before you can pick any quality lock in a short time whenever you want. Ofcourse I don't suggest that you have any such intent... just if....

Regards

[Krypos]

ok so there are a lot of people talking about how you make your own picks with this and that and grind this and shine that, but i tried a search (or 5) and couldnt find anyone who had like, posted a guide to making your own picks, etc. if anyone DID make one and someone knows where, please direct me...thanks

[CVScam]

I would say a lot of people that take up the skill of lock picking have a mechanical mindset. What I mean is if we break an item we would take it apart and learn how it works or try to fix it. The first few locks I took apart I ended up not being able to put back together but I learned a lot from that. IF you are that type of person I would say make your own picks.

[Shrub]

ok so there are a lot of people talking about how you make your own picks with this and that and grind this and shine that, but i tried a search (or 5) and couldnt find anyone who had like, posted a guide to making your own picks, etc. if anyone DID make one and someone knows where, please direct me...thanks

Sometimes just a look at the stickies on each section will teach the prosepctive lockpicker everything they need to know without looking at the seach button.

I dont mean to blow my own trumpet but i knew where this was so include it here as a starter for you

viewtopic.php?t=10398

[Krypos]

thanks shrub.

about mechanical mindset, you just described me exactly. in my house i am the man of the house and i fix whatever is broken, from younger siblings toys to computers to my own junk. totally me.

[Mr. Lock Pick]

i recommend making your first pick set, then buying your next one.