Material used to make picks

[ialma]

Since every now & then someone asks for suggestion about which material to use to make picks, I thought that a comprehensive topic about the subject could cover a lot of informations scattered around dozens of posts.

- Number one source for pick material : standard hacksaw blades
but dimensions may vary.
I found out these interesting smaller hacksaw blades which are pretty good for pickmaking.



- Another source are street cleaners bristles, which sadly are available only in USA

- Wiper blades : the stiffening metal strip inside a car wiper can be the ideal for pickmaking.
Mind that some european wiper blades are way much too narrow to make some decent picks.

- knife blades : butter knives and cheap knives are pretty easy to mod into good quality picks.

- feeler gage : used to measure thickness (such as on this amazing site, http://www.easterngage.com/pdf/custom-e ... e-sets.pdf )



- don’t know the English name, but these steel strips are used to hold on place tubes of various sizes.
They are cheap and available in almost every hardware store , and can be modded into good picks quite easily, but thay are not as springy as a hacksaw blade.



- headphone set metal band : (thanks to Wizwazzle for this one) very similar to wiper blades but thicker. Great material.

Hope this can be useful.
Peace!

[vitti]

- headphone set metal band : (thanks to Wizwazzle for this one) very similar to wiper blades but thicker. Great material.

Never thought of that one, but I imagine it would indeed make a great pick or tension wrench material.

[ialma]

Some other ideas.



and :
I've been looking for cheap sources of good quality material which could be easily modded into picks without using a dremel or electric tools.
This could greatly help newbies to get into pickmaking without spending too much (cheap files aren't pricey)
So my latest source of picks material are garden rakes.

Yep, a fan rake can provide a lot of raw material.
The one I bought today has 22 bristles, 0,7 mm thickness, 5 mm width and 25 cm length. The steel is pretty good considering the low price.
I paid less than 5 € to buy one, and it's ATM the best bristles source I found out.
Hope this helped out

[BraveHeart.]

when i make my picks i use

-hack saw blades
-knifes
-other metal (don't know what it is really)

i cant find any pics

[BraveHeart.]

sorry double post



oh ya and i use the tools that people carve pumpkins out with,
they work great for me

[ToolyMcgee]

Ialma, dude, that's awesome. I have a few busted rakes I am going to go chop up right now. I've counted about 16 different materials I've heard used. This is a first. Somehow I don't think the material will be as thick as good wiper inserts, but I guarantee I have a use for it.

[Brianpojo56]

I was just browsin around in walmart and I found a mini plumber's snake made by Peerless that retails for $4.97 in my area. It's got twenty feet of 1/4 inch wide flat steel. It's not too thick and it judging by the feel of it, it's definitely spring steel. I'm gonna make some picks out of it see how they turn out.

[jamesphilhulk2]

another material which can be compared to hacksaw blades are bandsaw blades, they are flexible and durable

[ialma]

Can anyone provide photos of a plumber's snake please ?
Looks like they're not used here.
I own one, but's like a giant serrated coil of round wire, which is useless, to make picks.
Thanks a lot.

[BraveHeart.]

i searched for you but couldnt find any picture. sorry


but some other materials that i love to make picks with are

-jigsaw blades
-Reciprocating Saw Blades
-band saw blades

[Brianpojo56]

Normally plumber's snakes do have a coiled spring thing, but I found this cheap one at wal-mart that had flat steel. I just made some picks out of it, so when I get home tonight I'll provide some pictures of the snake and of the picks.

[criminalhate]

A lot of electricians snakes have flat blades for pulling wire.

[freakparade3]

The underwire of a bra makes a fine lockpick as well

[BraveHeart.]

lol what you stealen girls bras now?

[Brianpojo56]

Okay, I got pics of my sink cleaner (mini plumber snake thing) and some picks I made out of it.

Sink Cleaner by Peerless (available at Walmart)
Flat Steel (it comes with a short coil at the end for grabbing gunk)
Set of picks next to a piece a bare piece of the material
Close up on picks

The flat steel is a 0.25 inches wide and is 0.032 inches thick, after forming the picks and some good sanding it came out to 0.025 inches thick. Oh and it was $4.95 and it's got 20 feet. Only problem I had is the slight curve it has because it comes in a roll, but you can slowly bend out the curve and make it flat.