What is your favorite pick?

[MBI]

what is your favorite pick?

[bumber]

medium hook

[cheesehead]

depends on the application.

[Mutzy]

c)

Bogota.

[Alchemic_Revolt]

half diamond

[dmux]

i like the mini diamond more, i still love the hook but with the half diamond you can rake really well if you need to and you can spp so its kinda a 2 in one pick

[criminalhate]

c)

Bogota.

I concur

but for the actual poll I said A.

[jpb06080]

This should be qualified, because I find that picking on the job is very different to picking at home or in a shop. Quickly raking the lock open with the half diamond is very effective some of the time, where as if you have plenty of time to work, the hook is probably more effective more often.

[.45cal]

Locks that don't have very long pins tend to open fairly fast when you rake them with the half diamond for example a standard master lock padlock. However locks with a more radical bitting Ie. Medeco don't respond well to it so I would tend to stick with the hook is I could bring just a one pick.

[Mutzy]

You can key up a kwikset with radical bittings too...

[Archive555]

I personally prefer short hook, since that's the first tool I used, and have gotten used to it, but I do still use the diamond sometimes.

It's like what they say:
You'll find a pick you like and you'll use that the most.

[lockeymoto]

half diamond, unless there is high low combos, then the hook.
my bogatas rock for padlocks

[Olson Burry]

Seems I'm pretty rubbish with the hook so I use a small half diamond all the time, but I dont rake with it, for me it's a SPP tool.

The hook just doesn't seem to be able to navigate the concentric keyways of the common locks around here.. perhaps I'm just "doin it rong"

I will practice more with a small hook and maybe top tension and see where I go.

[khelben]

agree with olson there

small half diamond

[apb]

I will practice more with a small hook and maybe top tension and see where I go.

Personally I think you have the right idea. I started with the half-diamond and was stuck on it for while until I switched to top tension as almost a rule. The short hook goes well with top tension because you realize how much space in the keyway the bottom tension was taking up. It definitely gets to the spool pins nicely.

Short hook is my choice, ( southord, laminated handles with heat shrink) but for one other reason for the obvious. If you flip the short hook upside down, it gives you a smooth,rolling surface that if you use it to push toward the pins from the front of the keyway, it allows them to sort of glide up into the shear line. This can really work well on some locks.