Feather Touch Tension Tool

[weilawei]

I ordered a feather touch from LPS and a 6-pin cutaway cylinder. While my normal twist tension wrench works fine, I can't for the life of my figure out how to use the feather touch. It just seems too big and not bent at an angle that's actually possible to hold. Does anyone have pictures or explanations of the proper way to use it?

[TTXIII]

To the best of my understanding, it is used like a normal tension wrench the only difference is that you can put a much lighter tension on the keyway. I also think a picture would help, because the feather tension wrenches I've seen have all look fairly normal (with a spring in it of course ). I hoped that helped.

Cheers,
-XIII

[apb]

I purchased one of those a few years back and never found any use for it. It takes up a lot of room in the keyway and doesn't seem to hold well is certain keyways. Smaller padlocks are almost impossible with it. The real problem for me, is that is does not allow varying tension, which has been important for certain locks like the brinks shrouded and american 5200. I also bought this before I realized top tension is the way to go. If there is a use for it I am interested in what it would be, because I never found it.

[le.nutzman]

I purchased one of those a few years back and never found any use for it. It takes up a lot of room in the keyway and doesn't seem to hold well is certain keyways. Smaller padlocks are almost impossible with it. The real problem for me, is that is does not allow varying tension, which has been important for certain locks like the brinks shrouded and american 5200. I also bought this before I realized top tension is the way to go. If there is a use for it I am interested in what it would be, because I never found it.

+1 apb

I purchased this "amazing" tension wrench only to find out that it was "amazingly" worthless. The concepts behind the idea are good, but when put into practical use in said device, doesn't work for the above mentioned reasons. I ended up destroying mine, modified it all to hell, now it's a feather touch that fits into any keyway, only problem is due to its fragility, you MIGHT be able to put enough tension to pick the lock, but never enough tension to turn the plug after it's been picked. And this is all BEFORE I destroyed mine.

[freakparade3]

I ordered a feather touch from LPS and a 6-pin cutaway cylinder. While my normal twist tension wrench works fine, I can't for the life of my figure out how to use the feather touch. It just seems too big and not bent at an angle that's actually possible to hold. Does anyone have pictures or explanations of the proper way to use it?

In the future you may find it helpful to ask the boys here about the items you are thinking of buying. Seems to me if you had these replies before you ordered it would have saved you some money.

[weilawei]

Very true. I saw the picture and thought it was bent like a normal tension wrench, but it was actually just the way the photo was taken. In any event, I'm still holding out hope that I'll find a use for it (unmodified). I played with it a bit more and it was actually slightly easier to use for top-tension. It seemed to offer me a bit more room to work in the keyway.

[Johnny P]

In any event, I'm still holding out hope that I'll find a use for it (unmodified).

I've had min for about 8 years and haven't found a good use for it yet. Maybe it could be used to clean the wax out of my ears? )

[raimundo]

Commercial feather touch tensors are bushit.
the way to apply light tension is to use a stiff tensor and a light touch, this gives feedback you won't get from that commercial wrench.

[sparkster]

its good for flicking peas one at a time when your sitting about with nothing to do

[kapu]

I am not sure why people use a feather touch tool. I have found that just using a very light touch with a very stiff and light tension wrench, like Titanium or aluminum works for me when a light touch is required for mushroom pins and serrated pins. But even my regular steel tension wrenches seem to work just as well. Although a light wrench seems to transmit more vibration feedback to my fingertip. Using a light and stiff wrench is like night and day once you feel it. At least to me anyway.

[Eyes_Only]

I agree with raimundo and kapu's statements. Any wrench that fits the lock is all you need and as for the variable tensioning option, thats the job for the fingers of a highly skilled lockpicker developed through years of practice and experience. Depending on gimmicky tools only leads to tons of frustration and loss of hard earned money.

[Bas2888]

I can't find the topic so quickly now, but I've seen that someone here made his own feather touch wrench, and it looked really useful.
I have to go to work now, but when I'm behind my computer there, I will look up the topic and post it here

[Bas2888]

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=19285&start=0&hilit=Feather+Touch+Tension+Tool

That's the one...

[femurat]

I prefer this one. It's simpler and easyer to make.
That said, a light touch is required even with this tool.

Cheers

[kapu]

New guitar players often like soft picks to stiff picks. Often because they do not yet have perfect control of their fingers. But, as they become more proficient, a stiff pick affords greater control and range of use.
Seems unrelated, but not really. My point is, just because a torsion wrench
is stiff, doesn't mean you can't exert light force with it. It just takes greater control of your fingers. And, you will find that the stiff wrench gives you much more feedback about the state of the lock, than a spongy feeling feather torsion tool. Of course, this is just my opinion.