Falle Pick Set

[Black Zero]

It's time to move on from the southord sets, and now I need to make sure I get quality picks. Could you please give me your opinions about the Falle pick set and if it is worth the money?

[dougfarre]

I would recommend getting some Falle replicas from one of the online shops and testing them out first to see if you like the actual picks. I personally love the picks, but I think there may be someone who could make a replica for you that is of higher quality then the real Falle set picks. One of the things the Falle sets are known for (besides the well known pick design) are the adjustable tension wrenches. The kit comes with a whole array of them that many people swear by, and others could care less about. I think you should find someone with a set before you purchase your own so your not disappointed.

There really great high quality sets out there that are not the Falle Safe kit. Also, the Falle Safe set is very large too. I mean, how many times have you heard members around here say that they have a million different picks but they really only 2 or 3 different ones when they are actually picking? There are some really high quality Euro Lockmasters sets that I can point you toward that are really amazing. Also many people like Peterson picks ( they last a long time).

If you are looking for quality picks that are going to last a long time I would recommend a few lockmasters kits, also ask around about Peterson. Peterson is easy to order from and their stuff is high quality and lasts a long time.

[RangerF150]

The lever lock picks work ( I think you only get them in the European set) but that's about it.
I don't really rate the Falle Safe set, looks nice but don't do it for me, I still use the Sourthord pick. Well until I got a LN set of picks, and am awaiting a custom one

They are way better than anything in the Falle Safe set.
But others may differ!

[Black Zero]

Are falle picks double sided, and if anybody has any pictures of them that would be great, because you can't really see much in the picture on MBA.

I also looked into the Peterson picks and for the $285 set, it doesn't look like it'd be a very good deal. If anyone else has some recommendations I'd appreciate it. I'm trying to keep it under $300 though.

[dougfarre]

Here are picks
http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/picks/

Here are all the picks in the set:
http://www.mb7.net/lock-picking/tools/falle/index.html

It is an unbelievable set, If you dont like the Peterson set, I would totally get the Falle Safe set. The Peterson does come with more misc tools but I would totally go to the Falle Safe set if your a serious picker.

[Eyes_Only]

Hmmm, I don't know about that.

It is true that personal tastes affects what pick work best for each person but I've bought tried the Falle replica pick set and I didn't really like them. They were kind akward to use and you need to be pretty gentle with them. Maybe they kinda sucked cos they were replicas and not the originals but still I wouldn't buy an actual Falle set unless I literally had money to burn on it.

But I love my Petersons. They use very basic pick designs no different from the stuff SO puts out but they are the best pick tools I've ever used. For work I normally only use the short hook but at home when picking modified locks or high security locks, their reach and gem picks really help. And you do tend to feel a little better feedback from the lock with Petersons. The metal is stronger material too.

[RangerF150]

Here are picks
http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/picks/
but I would totally go to the Falle Safe set if your a serious picker.

OK, Well I have the Falle Safe curtain lever lock pick ( as shown in the link you provided), it's borderline junk!!!
It don't work!
Looks very nice, but is useless on most locks. It will not fit under a low lever.
Worse, it gets stuck in the lock when you do pick it open , hello !!!
Only way is to dismantle the pick push the wire through the lock and then open the door, it's junk !
I have modified it a lot, it's sorta OK, but still not really a workable proper curtain lever lock pick.

Then the Falle Safe Pick set, more junk!
Really this guy may be a genius, but he is "trading on his name" with this pick set.
Oh sure it looks lovely and all cool and looks like it could open any lock in the universe, but I can't pick my nose with this set....

The so called "Falle Safe tension wrench" that everybody goes on about is useless.
The premade ones don't fit most keyways, the adjustable ones are more trouble than they are worth, they take forever to adjust, the nuts to adjust them are crappy, the tools are crappy.
I'd have a lock open in the time it takes to setup the lousy tension wrench.
The Falle Safe tension wrench's give about the same amount of feed back as a wooden plank, IE. none .
Useless.

The curved picks look soooooooo cool , they just don't work!
I have tried all the assortment of locks I have and none of the curved picks work properly ( I wish they did, but they dont), a Sourthord hook has the lock open , the Falle Safe curved picks are still feeling their way around !
Great idea, but useless in practice.

Then there is the issue of quality.
They are the cheapist , crappyist , lousyist, metal you could possibly find, tin cans would have better quality metal than the Falle Safe kit.
It's tinny, cheap rubbish that they are made off, just handling them will stain them, the grease off your fingers will cause them to stain.
Rubbish!

Put anything that Ray or LN ( I have picks made by both) or even the much maligned Southard brand side by side, and the Falle Safe set looks real cheap.
It's cheap , shoddy, and don't work.
Credit where credit is due, I don't care who you are , what color you are, where you come from, what you do , if you make good kit, then good for you, if you make crap, then it's crap.

Falle Safe is making cheap , second rate shoddy crap, and using his good name getting away with it.
If you want something nice for your coffee table, then the Falle Safe set is a winner, if you actually want to open a lock, contact LN, Ray, or Peterson, or even Southord! ( my Southord hook will open most locks) , or just make your own.

[criminalhate]

I would suggest contacting LN about a custom set.

You will love the feeling of them and it will probably save you some money too.

i have a set he made for me and I love them. I haven't had the chance to use a set of falle picks so I honestly can't compare the too. But as an upgrade to your SO's I can't see you doing any better (I upgraded from my SO's to a LN set and I haven't really touched any of my SO's since).

[87ELC2]

I too was intrigued by the Falle picks so I bought a set. I played around with them a bit, and they are nice to look at, but I have found that I never reach for them when I need to pick a lock.

I can't comment on the composition of the metal, but they do need quite a bit of "finishing" right out of the box. For the price, I expected better...

I'm a locksmith by trade, so I don't mess around with picking for very long before going to an alternate method (time is money), so I can't say how well they will work for a hobby picker who is willing to put time into learning how to use them.

[maintenanceguy]

I don't own any falle's but was real curious about the deep curve picks. I'm not about to drop $280 on something I'm just curious about so I made myself a quick and dirty knockoff a few months ago.



Made from a port-a-band band saw blade .020" thick and more flexible/springy than a regular hacksaw blade. I've never held a real set of falle's so I don't know how close these really are. I'm not normally a home-brewer of picks but I am notoriously cheap.

My set may not be a fair test of the real thing but I like them. I find that by rolling the picks on the bottom of the keyway, I can get more control and feedback than I've ever had with anything else. These were great with spool pins. This was the first set of picks that really let me feel what was happening with spools. To my surprise, they fit in just about every keyway I tried. I had imagined they would be very awkward in most keyways.

That said, they're now somewhere in the bottom of my box of tools and rarely see any use. Fun to play with, but not something that made its way into my "daily use" set. The hour I spent roughing these out was time well spent but I'm glad I didn't spend any real money on them.

[dougfarre]

Here are picks
http://www.crypto.com/photos/misc/picks/
but I would totally go to the Falle Safe set if your a serious picker.

Then the Falle Safe Pick set, more junk!
Really this guy may be a genius, but he is "trading on his name" with this pick set.
Oh sure it looks lovely and all cool and looks like it could open any lock in the universe, but I can't pick my nose with this set....

The so called "Falle Safe tension wrench" that everybody goes on about is useless.
The premade ones don't fit most keyways, the adjustable ones are more trouble than they are worth, they take forever to adjust, the nuts to adjust them are crappy, the tools are crappy.
I'd have a lock open in the time it takes to setup the lousy tension wrench.
The Falle Safe tension wrench's give about the same amount of feed back as a wooden plank, IE. none .
Useless.

The curved picks look soooooooo cool , they just don't work!
I have tried all the assortment of locks I have and none of the curved picks work properly ( I wish they did, but they dont), a Sourthord hook has the lock open , the Falle Safe curved picks are still feeling their way around !
Great idea, but useless in practice.

Then there is the issue of quality.
They are the cheapist , crappyist , lousyist, metal you could possibly find, tin cans would have better quality metal than the Falle Safe kit.
It's tinny, cheap rubbish that they are made off, just handling them will stain them, the grease off your fingers will cause them to stain.
Rubbish!

Put anything that Ray or LN ( I have picks made by both) or even the much maligned Southard brand side by side, and the Falle Safe set looks real cheap.
It's cheap , shoddy, and don't work.
Credit where credit is due, I don't care who you are , what color you are, where you come from, what you do , if you make good kit, then good for you, if you make crap, then it's crap.

Falle Safe is making cheap , second rate shoddy crap, and using his good name getting away with it.
If you want something nice for your coffee table, then the Falle Safe set is a winner, if you actually want to open a lock, contact LN, Ray, or Peterson, or even Southord! ( my Southord hook will open most locks) , or just make your own.

First of all, I happened to like the type of metal they use to make the Falle set. I think it provides the best feedback out of any pick making material, although it is lightweight, and feels like "tin" it actually is more like titanium and is surprisingly strong and thick.

Second of all, you spend much time preaching about how the curved picks just didn't work. LN21's feeler picks have a curved shaft, just like the signature Falle Safe set feelers, an no one complains about LN21's picks now do they!

You also mentioned how you didn't like the tension wrenches. But do you ever use a double sided tension wrench? I prefer double sided tension wrench over a regular tension wrench any day, so naturally, when adjustable ones like those featured in the Falle Safe set are available I would prefer those over all else.

So if you want to continue bursting my bubbles be my guest, but I still stand strong next to my original posts!

[Black Zero]

Thanks for all the feedback guys. I think I'm going to stay away from the Falle set for now, and go for a more reliable one according to you guys. They might be fun to try out when I get some money to just spend, but for now I'll stick to either some Petersons or custom ones.

After looking through their site: http://www.peterson-international.com/picksets-detailed.htm
I can't really decide where is the point where there is a good set for a good price. The different sets don't differ much but I think calling them super duper government elite lets them price them so high. I think the $285 set would be all I need, but please tell me what you think.

I'll start talking to some people about custom sets as well.

[raimundo]

Lockmistress who used to be on this site, had a broken petersen, with some shaft left on it, I was over at her shop, and it came up that she wanted it made into something useful, the files won't cut that petersen steel, but she had a dremel, so I used a grinder, about an inch or more in diameter and ground down into the shaft, then did the necessary wasting on the back, and stoned the edges round, with some dremel bit, and sanded the thing, it was like a falle deep hook, it had the petersen handle or some part of it that was left.
what Im saying is that a large diameter dremel grindstone will cut the deep hook very nicely. It was the only pick that I could make from this hard steel with the tools at hand.

[freakparade3]

I have never used real Falle picks. Last year I bought both clone sets from lockpicktools and i did not like them. I think they are like anything new, you have to get used to them. I tried but kept going back to my favorite picks and sold the clones on the BST forum awile back. I did not think they were comfortable to use. Mabye the buyer will post his thoughts on them here.

[MBI]

I bought freakparade3's used Falle clones from him about a month ago. It was a set of 3 double ended sweeps and 3 double ended hooks. They came with a little vinyl sleeve that holds each 3-pack together, and there's enough room in the sleeve to hold a couple of tension wrenches too, so it gives you a nice little self contained kit to carry. I don't know if the sleeve is normally included with these sets when they're new, or if it's something that Mr. Freaky added.

The picks are made from 0.020" stainless steel. I called the manufacturer with some questions about these picks. He said his production volume isn't high enough to warrant making a set of dies to punch these out of sheets of steel, so he laser cuts them. That explains the different texture on the edges of the picks. They are slightly rough, but they definitely lack the sharp burr that you often get on the edge of stamped picks.

The shafts do seem to have a bit more flex than I'm used to in a pick, but I think it's because the shaft is straight, and thinner than most regular pick shafts. Regular picks usually have a tapered shaft, so when I have to use pressure they flex a tiny bit near the tip of the tool where it is thin, and that end is in the lock which keeps them from wiggling side to side very much. With the Falle clones, the shaft is straight so applying pressure can result in a little side to side wobble in the area of the pick that is outside the lock. It's a different feeling that I'm accustomed to and it can feel a bit awkward. I imagine that with more use I'll either get used to it, or develop a lighter touch.

My biggest complaint about them is that I just don't really like double ended picks. I can see an advantage in being able to just turn a pick around if you need to switch picks while in the middle of picking a lock. It beats having to fish another one out of a pick case with one hand. Although with the way I hold picks the back end digs into my hand a bit and I find it distracting. I don't consider myself to be any kind of lockpicking guru, so any distraction is bad in my book.

I've only monkeyed with them a little bit since I've been busy over the Christmas season. I can't say I like them yet, but they've intrigued me enough that I'm going to keep using them for a while and see what develops. When I called the manufacturer last week with some questions I also ordered a couple of extra sets so I could experiment with different modifications.