Man, that sucks. It's frustrating when you experiment with materials and spend forever shaping them just to have them fail. I can't count the number of picks and wrenches I've wasted time on that ended like this. Better luck with the new one. Glad you like the new set of picks, I've always wondered what commercial tools are like...
Zikmik is probably just having a bad day and doesn't realize you have posted over a hundred times in the last 2 weeks. Personally I lurked around for weeks on this site before I registered, reading more than a hundred threads before I ever found need for the search function.
I don't see teasing as being very helpful to anyone, so don't pay much attention to it.