Some mildly inovative wrenches

[Gordon Airporte]

In the intrest of using material that I already had, and saving wear-and-tear on tools, I started making wrenches out of galvanized strapping. It comes in a big roll, 3/4" wide and .015" thick, with holes in it every inch or so. It's gummy as hell, so easy to file and bend - but heat treatment is needed in many cases. Being galvanized you need to soak it in acid before you heat it or else you die a horrible death from zinc poisoning (or so I understand.)

Anyway, this is modeled after the Falle two-pronged wrenches, but at a more convienient angle, imo. Very easy to make since the hole is already there. I prefer the grip show since it gives good feedback. It's very stable in the keyway and can apply preasure both directions.





If I'd thought ahead it would be double ended with prongs for smaller cylinders.

This wrench has an L-shaped blade which is folded double at the base so one leg of the L is .03" thick and the other is .015". It's made it to fit into the bottom of the keyway. There are two directions keyways can go here, so the wrench is double ended. I wish it was longer, but it still works fine - only applies preasure one direction though.

[SFGOON]

Very nice! I assume they work well?

[ThE_MasteR]

That's pretty smart, I like the idea of kinda molding the edge of the keyway.

[Chrispy]

Nice.

[vector40]

I really dig these.

[helix]

I've often thought of a very similar tension wrench, dude.

Did you put it through a pittsburg machine, or bend it by hand?

[Gordon Airporte]

I fold it over by putting it in the vise where I want to crease it and nocking it with a small hammer until it's bent 90 degrees, then taking it out and hammering it all of the way over on the anvil of the vise. This probably isn't possible with any kind of decent steel .
Now that I think of it, the L-shaped wrench needed some filing and sanding to get it to fit properly. It probably won't fit right out of the vise.

[skold]

I have one of those tools..not homemade from peterson i think? work well sometimes, other times they are a pain in the arse.

[sivlogkart]

I have a few homemade tools similar to these too, but they tend to be finely tuned to particular locks if you are not careful, so you can end up with a lot of them. Is this true for the ones above, or do I just have bad versions of them?

I also found the one that hooks into both ends was not as good as ones that used just one end of the keyway provided it was a good fit. I have torsion tools for each end of the keyway, and often find the one for the non-standard end to be the best for locks with small keyways.

I do have slimline picks for small keyways, but often find normal picks with special torsion tools to be a better solution. It seems strange that much more attension is normally given to the picks rather than the torsion tools, but like the pictures above show the room to work that can be gained by a torsion tool that will not slip can be huge. We ought to have a sticky hall of fame for torsion tools.

Very nicely made!

KJ

[wtf|pickproof?]

I usually put the tension thingie into the bottom of the lock(euro, so top for US, whatever, just where the pins are) This way it doens't realy get in my way at all, as it isn't a problem to set a low pin behind the tension wrench. It take some practice to keep it from slipping, but in the end I pick (nearly) all of my locks with one tension thingie.

[Gordon Airporte]

I have a few homemade tools similar to these too, but they tend to be finely tuned to particular locks if you are not careful, so you can end up with a lot of them. Is this true for the ones above, or do I just have bad versions of them?

The yellow one is pretty general, I've found, although it's hard to remember and describe the keyways I've used it in. It was originally made for Kwikset (KW1?) keyway which seems to be a happy medium since it's been loose in some different types and tight in others. It doesn't do well when the pins are at the bottom, it kind of needs to hang. It's just nice that the handle is always in the same place no matter which way you need to turn.

I've been using the stereo wrench less and less, though, in favor of more usual wrenches of maximum thickness, cut off very short (>= 1/4") , and inserted so they just avoid rubbing the first pin.

I've never actually held a comercial wrench so I've only been able to make guesses about the dimensions and how they're supposed to fit, thus I have a lot of experiments around. I only just got hold of some windshield wiper strip, which does a good job as-is with a 1" blade. I guess that's pretty standard.
My tool roll is very Darwinian

[sivlogkart]

I have put a small hook and the ends of all my standard torsion tools, and use it as you describe. I find that I getting on much better that way as there is so much more room to work, but you do need it to be roughly the right thickness.

KJ

[GateTwelve]

Very nice. I think that design will work well for the brinks I am having trouble with. The wrenches keep slipping down into the bottom of the keyway, and create too much friction on the housing. I'll definately have to try it.

[helix]

All, well, most of my tension wrenches are made from wiper inserts and
have a slight bend in them to give a snug fit.
I find this works awesome.

Below is a tension wrench of mine made only of 'o's.

Code: Select all

.......o
......o
.....o
.....o
.....o
.....o
.....ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

[Chucklz]

I make almost all my wrenches at an angle slightly greater than 90 degrees. so you get about 1cm or so away from the lock by the end of the tension tool. I find this makes picking more comfortable for me.