Brick straps for picks

[justbegginin]

I read a article on this site that says you could use the flexible steel bindings from lumber yards...
So my question is how to cut it into some basic picks. Could i use some fancy kitchen duty shears and a file. If anyone has made some please tell me how you made yours.
The reason why is i don't have any lock pick making power tools I.E. sander, dremel, jigsaw.

[barbarian]

Not sure how well the kitchen shears would work. But if you had a vice to hold the metal, and a file, you should be able to make some picks. Is there anyone nearby that you could ask to borrow the use of their grinder? A bench grinder is very common in most shops or even in peoples garages. It would be so much better than just a file.

Or you could save up some money and buy a beginner set from Lock Pick Shop.

[justbegginin]

thanks

[mkultra23]

try the salt water etching technique. haven't tried it but it should work. And no power tools...

[phippoD]

if i were u id start with a material with less stock on it like windscreen wiper inserts or a dipstick from a car the steel is of a better quality and it meens less filing. you should realy look into a grinder if you plan on making more picks.

-phippoD-

[datagram]

Cold chisel will also work well.

dg

[zeke79]

Personally I think most brick strap you find is way to thin. There is some out there that is about the right thickness but I have not seen it used on lumber. Personally I use the small sink snakes you can buy at lowes, home depot etc. The stock is 1/4" wide and about .025" thick spring steel and makes some very tough picks. At about $5 for 10 to 12 feet of it, the price just about cannot be beat if you want a wider handle than street sweeper bristles.

[savs2k]

i actually came across some brick strap the other day and it's def way to thin. At least for me that is. I would make a pick out of it if I had some in an emergency but probably not for anything else. I really believe in quality. do it right once.

[raimundo]

someone gave me some steel strap that was springy, not taking a bend but snapping back pretty well, I wanted to make a pick with a two point wrench on one end, (think the falle two point wrenchs that are not adjustable, except mine came of the end of the stock not the side as falles do,

Not a problem making it, but it was too thin, and not as stiff as I like pickshafts to be.

There is a lot of difference in steel strap, some has a bit of temper, much of it is mild steel, I have used it to make matador picks for dimple locks, but Im not impressed. on the other hand, if your design requires bending or embossing, (pounding up a piece of the planar surface) then I would look at this material

[Clead]

As a fellow who has worked in all manner of shipping and receiving of everything from aircraft parts to bulk aluminum extrusions, I can say for sure that there are many types of "brick strap", and I had to dig through a whole 55-gal drum (where we stored our long ones we cut off for reuse on smaller bundles) to find a couple strands that measured out to the right size, and then only one had a good spring temper. I think the problem is that they're a very low-grade mill product, so I suspect they get the rebar recipe: whatever scrap is in the hopper that day, lol. The temper I found varies hugely from one lot to the next, even from the same mill. Plus, if you go to a shipping supply online store, you can see that even from one vendor there are several gauges/thicknesses and widths to choose from. I think in the end it ends up being like the wiper inserts.... you just gotta try them all and find one that works for you. If you only have access to the odd piece of brick strap here or there, you probably won't find the "right" stuff, but it is out there. Keep looking! (or try the alternative, packed in a lovely bubble mailer, LOL)

[raimundo]

There is a type of plastic or nylon packaging strap, that makes a nice car opener, you get about 6 feet of this, and fold it sharply in the middle so you have two ends three feet from the fold.

When you push this material fold first through a crack over the door or its window, you can control it by pushing the end of the top layer in further than the end of the bottom layer, this will cause it to bend downward, eventualy, you work it over one of the pull out handles on the inside of the door, if you can get it there, hold the bottom one hard and pull the top one, this should pull the handle out.