What can I use to make a very slim pick?

[AT2005]

Hey guys, I'm 16 and have gone on and off with LP.

Yesterday I found these very thin allen wrenches. SO I got my blow torch heated them and slowly hammered. I've got 3 beautiful tempred tension wrenches of various sizes.

By tempered I ment heat let cool down times 60 times. It's now hard and won't even break.

I thought I could temper some low gauge wire and use those at simplistic picks but it's hard. So I thought about posting here. Is' it plausible to use coat hanger wire for it. If so Would I have to hammer the ends a lot? And if so do I/ Should I need to temper it?

[sams choice]

i made some picks out of coat hangers many times. You dont HAVE to tempor it but i would recommend it. They dont break, they just bend.

[Raccoon]

Does anyone actually sell a set of wire picks? I have yet to find any.

[clayton1123]

just buy some slim line/euro picks from southord.com The handles add a bit more strength to the pick but are also more expensive.

[Octillion]

Getting a proper temper is very difficult, and with a blow torch will never be as good as a commercial temper. BTW, tempering is not just heating and cooling a few times, you have to heat and cool it to the proper temperatures at appropriate rates.

I would go for a commercial pick set, especially for thin picks, as it would be very difficult to make something nearly as durable.

I’ve made a few homemade pickets, and realistically, I only do it for fun. It does not save any money (when you count the time it takes to make them properly), and they always turn out inferior to good commercial picks. So do it for fun, but if you really want slim picks to work with, just buy some.

[raimundo]

for really slim picks, the kind that work in a medeco keymark cylinder, get the wire cutters and harvest one of the long base strings from granmas piano. unrap the copper winding and you have hardend polished steel wire that just needs shaping to a hook and loop handle. polish the sharp off the tip.

[pinsetter]

thin picks can easily be made from feeler gauges, but they are brittle and will break after being bent a few times

I have made all of the picks I own from feeler gauges ranging from .024 to .035 inches in thickness. If you need thinner the feeler gauges go down to a size that is thinner than a piece of paper.

I use old stainless steel steak knives to make tension wrenches from, and I'm going to make a set of handled picks out of some cheap stainless steak knives as well.

[scampdog]

Hi guys,i made a set of wire picks out of an old small straightened spring

their a novelty item, but they work surprisingly well. As you can see there,s a king, queen, hook, diamond and the last one is a tension wrench,just takes a bit of patience,have fun.

[illusion]

Those picks are pretty neat.

There is something about the way they shine... very nice.