wats the best pick or picks to start with??

[mcleod28990]

hi im wondering wat pick would be the best for me because i havnt picked a lock before but its something i would like to learn and dont know where to start

[SeCToR9]

My advice for you is to get a 5 piece or a 14 piece kit from SouthOrd.

They're great for beginners

[pradselost]

For a beginning lockpicker, the ideal learning tools are a short hook and a torsion wrench, imo. Short hook has great feedback, gets you used to the feel of individual pins and the gentle click of a set. And....a tension wrench because, well...you kinda need one.

As far as rakes go, when I was teaching my younger cousin, I didn't let him near rakes at all. There's entirely too many noobs out there who rake a lock and say "I picked it!". So just remember, rakes have their uses...and hey, if you want to play with one and learn how it works (not that it's tough)...have at. But your major learning tools should be the short hook and tension wrench.

[LockNewbie21]

Yup they summed it all up also buy a set with some comfy handles, just becuase when starting picking.. your will develope pickingfingers, kinda dumb but its what i call it any way when you first start you will get soar fast in less you have a comfy handle to learn on.. same with guitar when you fist start your fingers are soar like hell, untill you deveope thinker skin on your fingers from playing. Try peterson and get the foam handles they not oversized for holding plus i hear petersons steal is pretty darn good as far as for heavy handed pickers... or get a SO set and some heat shrink. Also buy a variety set.. you will find favorites.. but its good to leatn how to use the bulk of the picks, boog luck bud, heres a good example of handels to choose from you can pick which one you like, FYI thes are just the peterson picks.

http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/picks ... ndles.html

Light blue is plasic black is rubber and the orangish red is the foam when which i suggested.


good luck

andy

[dmux]

yes, get something with some good handles,

i started off with mxps 32 from southord and man, those handles really suck after a while,

the 17 pc from southord is pretty good, the one with the brass interchangable handle is nice too

[SeCToR9]

Southords 14 piece comes with like around 5 rubber handles. Theyre hard to get on, but theyre comfy

[nate1311]

Romstar made a good template for a set of picks.

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p251 ... Set-v2.jpg

Use hacksaw blades (found at any hardware store) and grind them down using a bench grinder, becareful though not to over heat them, I burned myself while making them.

I recomend starting out with the 10th one down.

You will also need a torsion tool which you can make out of wiperblade inserts from any automotive store ( like Pepboys).

[Eyes_Only]

Majestic is what I started with and they hold up pretty well. They're handles are riveted so it won't have a chance of falling apart like SO might. I got my set years ago from here, http://secure.netsolhost.com/466587.475 ... ry_Code=LS . I hope they still sell the same thing and not switched it with a SO set.

[Shrub]

Ohh oh oh ive got to disagree, the majestic set i had is absolute crap, they are prone to break,

Ive never had or heard of a SO coming appart personally,

[Eyes_Only]

Yeah but the way I see it, once you break a pick tool you will learn how to apply the correct amount of tension. It's a very extreme way to learn but most new people always seem to have problems with not knowing how much tension is too much so I think it's a good experience to have.

And I say that the SO tools can fall apart out of personal experience. I ordered a couple of wishbone tension wrenches from SO and the welding used to hold the two parts of the wrench together broke loose and the tool came apart. Maybe I just got a defective tool or something but ever since then I just lost confidence in handles and tools welded together in place.