great material for making picks!

by **Mrpickit** » 10 Dec 2003 9:57

I was looking for somthing to make a pick out of last night when I looked in a box that was suppose to be trash, in there I found an old metal leaf rake.The actual raking part is what i'm talking about. There are quiet a few on there and if you disassemble it, you will have many flat, long rods to make picks out of(Just take a hammer to the curved parts and that'll flatten them out too.). I had to use my dremmel and a cutoff wheel to cut peices off and then I used my bench grinder to make many picks. They might be a little to thick for padlocks and such but it doesn't take much to grind it down.If anyone trys this or has tried it, letme know what u think of them. I am pleased with mine. :mrgreen:

by **blaze2k** » 24 Feb 2004 11:55

what i done is i bought a normal saw from a diy store and made my picks from the blade. i made about 5picks just from that 1 blade, they work a treat!!!

by **Dark Angel** » 24 Feb 2004 15:41

If you get hold of some old windscreen wiper blades,you can then slide out the metal strips that hold the rubbers in place these make great picks and tension wrenches when shaped.

by **Mad Mick** » 24 Feb 2004 19:33

Dipsticks too...........

by **horwichg** » 24 Feb 2004 20:28

i know this is going to sound dumb, but u can't forget hacksaw blades

by **skold** » 26 Feb 2004 3:32

alot of the hack saw blades around are not made of spring steel but some sort of carbon steel but i go for spring steel bow saw blades as they are twice the size (alot more work needed to get the 0.5 cm spikes off though)

by **quicklocks** » 26 Feb 2004 5:40

i use sweeper bristles and have a load to give away so if you want some goto free sweeper bristles on the buy and sell forum

by **Greg** » 26 Feb 2004 9:44

I find spring steel too, well, springy.
I think I used carbon steel for mine. Not sure though.. I just know its firmer than spring steel

by **skold** » 2 Mar 2004 3:22

Firmer isnt exactly the best thing to use as i have heard but as long as you can feel perfectly what you ar doing through the end of the tang it will be a great material for me to use :!:

by **skunkworks** » 10 Mar 2004 12:30

I've had success grinding down dart needles to make diamond picks.

The metal is of an extremely high quality on a good dart. Don't try using a file, it will take forever to wear down to the right shape.

The only problem I've encountered is that the length of the finished pick is shorter than I'd like. Perfect for 5-pin locks though.

Oh, and jeweler's screwdrivers work as well, but the metal is less good. On the other hand this means that it can be filed down.

by **hozer2k** » 10 Mar 2004 16:19

All steels have basically the same elastic modulus (about 30 million psi). It doesnt matter if its spring or carbon, stainless, etc....its going to have the same amount of "sping" to it.

The difference that you are probably seeing is due to geometry (thickness, etc) or in your head.

by **Chucklz** » 10 Mar 2004 16:51

A Modulus in English units....... blah! But, what about the value of Young's modulus for the differing steels? On the scale of picks, there may be considerable strain on the picks. Compare a Peterson pick with say a SouthOrd. There is a difference in the steel.

by **hozer2k** » 10 Mar 2004 21:04

That is what I am saying, modulus of elasticity does not change...its the same for all steels (within a few percent). Dont confuse strength (which varies tremendously depending on the steel and treatment) with "stiffness".

by **jaseydon** » 11 Mar 2004 18:53

Surely the elasticity does change - if you get a sewing needle, heat it red hot and immediately cool it in water, it will become brittle and snap when bent. If, on the other hand, you cool it slowly (over an hour or more) it will become much more flexible.

by **Mad Mick** » 11 Mar 2004 20:23

Ahem......

Dont confuse strength (which varies tremendously depending on the steel and treatment) with "stiffness".

great material for making picks!

great material for making picks!

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