Should I change my pick material?

[LearningTheArt]

Well I recently came upon a wealth of street sweeper bristles, so I have been making picks like crazy and I find it faster and easier on my grinder because the hack saw blades I have just take for ever to grind for some reason. So I was wondering what your opinions are. Want to know if I should, are street sweeper bristles a good replacement or whatever.
Thanks in advance.

[ToolyMcgee]

You seriously havn't looked around the site much have you?

Sweeper bristle's work just dandy for many people, and as you have pointed out, there is much less stock removal involved. Have fun making more picks.

[LearningTheArt]

Maybe...... Well thats good to know because I just made a sweet pick even sweeter, I'll post it in my pick set thread later.

[datagram]

Street sweeper bristles are pretty good, but if you can it'd be worth it to pick up a roll of 0.025 thick high-carbon spring steel to work with.

[LearningTheArt]

Hmm how much would that run me and how is it on a grinder?

[datagram]

Dunno where you live, but I got mine for $150ish. I got 1/2" wide, .025 thick and about 200 ft long. Its alot, but I had a hard time finding smaller sizes so I just went ahead and bought the roll.

[LearningTheArt]

Please tell me you forgot a decimal.

[datagram]

On which, the 150$? That's really not that much money...even if you are in high school and don't have a job. Plus, 200 ft of steel is at least 350 picks, so you get quite alot. Of course, you might be able to find smaller quantities for smaller prices, that is just my limited experience : )

dg

[LearningTheArt]

Yeah, but that's $150 gone for gas.

[ToolyMcgee]

Maybe if you are worried about wasting money this hobby isn't right for you. But I'm broke as a joke and I still have made a good run at it. I have well over a hundred used locks from secondhand stores, auctions, flee markets, and a couple really choice ones from trading with the members on here. I make all my own tools from scrap like windshield wiper inserts and soon bristles. Hacksaw blades are cheap and I have recently been having good luck tempering them dispite the fact I hate all the extra cutting and grinding. Steel rake tines work good and you can buy a goodwill rake for 3 bucks. I think to date my favourite steel is an old truck dipstick that was sitting outside a dumpster at a garage. I don't know if it is the lifetimes worth of sitting in hot oil or what, but this thing tempered beautifully and it's as thin as a large safteypin.

Bottom line 150 bucks really isn't that much to blow on a hobby, and working with steel of a guaranteed consistency is really nice, but it isn't necessary when you start because there is decent material sitting in roadside ditches, for sale at resale shops, and packing the dumpsters at your local auto parts store every time it rains.

-ToolyMcgee

[Metalworker]

I'm pretty new to this, but I've made all of my picks from old hacksaw and bandsaw blades from work. The metal shop where I work usually just throws away it's old bandsaw blades, as do most shops. It's high quality, durable steel, you just have to be careful to grind off the teeth and put your pick ont he side away from the teeth (the teeth on bandsaw and hacksaw blade are usually harder and more brittle)

If 200 feet is too much steel, you can get coiled bandsaw blade for cheap. The higher the tooth count per inch, the less tooth you have to grind off to make a pick.

Try this: http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PART ... O=22521089

[LearningTheArt]

I was just saying I *ME* don't have that kind of money to spend. i have other things to worry about. Now don't get me wrong if I had that money I would spend it, but I don't so thank you everyone for your input helpful or not. I have found the material I like and I am going to stick with it for now.

[n2oah]

$150 is a lot to blow on picks if you're not going to be making them in bulk or for profit. Especially when you can get materials for free or at little cost. Bandsaw blades are excellent. I know that my highschool threw out around 10 bandsaw blades this year. All you have to do is ask.

[raimundo]

You can buy very good tool steel feeler gauges, one foot long and half an inch wide, from a machinests jobber. (the store where they buy their tool bits) you don't have to buy a set of different sizes, you can buy only the size you want. this metal is very good though not entirely rust proof, it is not going to rust if you dont leave salty fingerprints or water on it overnight. One feeler gauge will cost between a dollar and two dollars. If you buy them on the internet, get enough of them to justify the shipping costs.
The feeler gauges are made by Starrett or by Precision. a thin pick may be made of .018 to .020 inch stock, while a common pick will be made from .025 to .028 inch and a stiff strong pick can be made from .030" stock.

[datagram]

Sorry if I put you off, I was just suggesting what I liked to use. As tooly mentioned, working with high-quality material of the same consistency is really good, but I found it easier to just order steel rather than scrounging around for anything. Saved me time obtaining the materials, and I didn't have to worry about sorting out good versus bad once I wanted to start, etc.

As raimundo mentioned, you can buy small amounts of feeler gauge for pretty cheap, but I also looked up the brand I like and found some mini-coils for you:

http://www.nolansupply.com/bysubcategor ... specs=True

They are smaller lengths (27 feet of .020 1/2", should make ~50 picks), at 56$ a piece. Not too bad, IMO. That company also sells the large coils of the same type steel, should anyone else be interested. That was just the first link on google, I'm sure you can find better deals if you look around.

dg