Criminalhate: Thanks. What you said about deciding to keep it simple early on in the competition kept me from loosing my marbles when some of my giganitic multipicks were to complicated to be anything but eye candy or ninja stars.
BrianPojo56: Gracias. Just representin' for the trash diggers.
Mr_chris79 and LearningtheArt: Thank you for the enthusiastic encouragement guys. It's much appreciated.
ady1989 wrote:Nice tools man, the competition pick looks amazing. I got one question though: how well does it open locks? It seems like putting the half diamond and falle hook together would make it half as good as each, simply because it doesn't have the reach. I could be wrong, please provide some info on this.
Oh, you just said the magic words. Yes, it does seem like it would kill the function of the falle hook and it would if it wasn't finished in such a way that it is manueverable. It is sanded not just smooth, but with an actual shape that makes it workable even in an American keyway. I had lots of fun popping my shrouded brinks with it. It takes a bit of manuevering which I admit requires a bigger handle than it is outfitted with to get the most out of, but it is smoothly snaked through most locks using top tension. The space at the end of a slight falle rise is exactly the size of this half diamond, so as long as it has wards that can be manuevered through it doesn't have to slide under low pins because it can drop down in the keyway to get past them. Other than that it functions like a regular falle. It is a medium sized half diamond, so even though it works in every lock I own, it is most effortless in deadbolt sized locks. Mostly because to use stainless steel it had to be thicker to be stiff enough for my likeing, and also because most of the locks I use the falle on are large enough to accomodate the normal size. I find myself not flipping it over from the half diamond so much unless it requires a high pin set in the back, because the half diamond works so well on the "broken" shaft for setting the first four pins in any lock and it can usually drop in the keyway to get to the back as well. Make one and you will see how the slight bend gives the half diamond more space to set high pins next to lower ones. It isn't the ONE pick to defeat them all because like any half diamond or falle it has it's limits. It would be difficult to set a 0 next to a 7 in an American, but most short hooks won't do that either. It may look like a steeper sweep for a hook than it actually is because of the close up pictures, but it is actually about a falle safe 1 or maybe a little less. I've got a few steel ones made that are thinner with small half diamonds for tips, but the idea remains the same just on a smaller scale for really tight paracentric keyways and padlocks. I also feel it would be highly effective with a half ball instead of a half diamond, but sacrifice pin control for more manueverability.
What was the question again? Right... it opens locks great, or I wouldn't have been able to enter it. I'm eager to hear the judges experiences with their locks though as I only have 12 different keyways to test on not including the locks I have never opened.
I tried many combinations of standard tools. Here's one of my hybrid failures.
It is a snake rake that doubles as a ball fulcrum short hook. The problem here is to make the short hook effective I had to make the snake rake so slim it was ineffective. Also, after much frustration trying to make it work I realized the snake rake is a little used pick, so who cares if I blend one with an effective pick like a cupped short hook? It does work fairly well, but who cares? It's trash that would never be a pick someone reached for first. Maybe I'll blend an L rake with a W rake and call it the pin duster... "Why SPP to the shearline when you can rake the pins to a pile of filings with the DUSTER" The point I am trying to reach here is that combining some tools diminishes properties of one or both. This tool was a good fulcrum short hook, but a poor snake rake. Just two tools smashed together. The "broken" half diamond seems to be a new tool that is similar to both. While the use of the hook is slightly diminished by the half diamond it can be overcome with sanding, and the half diamond seems to benefit from the bend in the shaft instead of being crippled by it. It's a 1:1 ratio for a two in 1 tool. I'm glad it worked out so well or I would have been turning in a double ended pick. Half diamond and falle hook. It really is neat to pick with, and I hope to get a version that is an even better mix of the two nailed in carbon steel. It is another reason why I designed the handle to be removable. Maintinence of the carbon steel.
Anyway thanks for asking ady. I was hoping someone would so I could rattle on about it. I think I have done that adequately and then some. I didn't see your pick in the contest thread. Did you get a chance to finish one and send it in?
Guess who stuck his foot in his mouth saying stainless wiper inserts wouldn't be worth the time to temper.
Seems to be a habit of mine. Oh well. More tools for another day. Peace out.
-ToolyMcgee.
