Lockpick handle from hot glue and electrical wire

[Xarragon]

I had a few drums of insulated low-current wiring left over from my earlier days as a youth interested in electronics. I've never gotten much use for this wire as it is too thick for most uses. But I am too much of a tightwad to throw them away... So I came up with this solution; let's make lockpick handles out of it!



And for some reason I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. But you see most of it in the last photos. The handle works pretty well I'd say, despite looking a bit shoddy from me being stressed. I made the hole thing in less than an hour, but then again it was just a test. I needed a larger pick for my Assa pin tumblers basically. I managed to sharpen the hook to a point yet again, so I won't be using it too much since I don't want to cut my pins up.

I also made this rough wooden handle, or rather handle dummy.



The idea is to attach it to the pick like a common knife; drill a hole through it, fill with epoxy and add a metal washer and hammer down the metal to form a nut. Anyone tried this? I'll probably end up making a completely symmetrical handle, like on a soldering pen.

Wood is easy to shape, fairly rigid and usually got beautiful structure. You can decorate it and use oil and colors on it... Anyone tried it?

[MacGnG1]

wow thats pretty clever.

[LocksmithArmy]

Nice tutorial man... good work

[unlisted]

I had thought a while ago of making a handle close to this, just with a different material... but I never did get around to making more picks after me and UWSDWF stopped making them on (one of his) a lazy weekend work day..

I like it, now you just gotta find a way to wrap it more uniform (imho)

[Xarragon]

Thanks for the feedback guys. A word of caution to anyone thinking of trying this... The pick is kind of heavy. I played with it all night and while you do get a decent grip and it is pretty comfortable, it's a bit heavy for my taste. As I already mentioned I've been looking at knives for inspiration, and some of those have handles wound from strings of leather. That might be another option. At the very least it would look fancy!

As for uniform winding of the cable, I think you can get it to look good if you just take your time and do it properly. I suffered from caffeine withdrawal at the end and had just wasted over an hour on getting my neighbors Internet connection back, so my temper was kind of wearing thin. And when I started getting hot glue everywhere I threw a fit and just cobbled it together.

[Xarragon]

So here are some images of the finished wooden handle and the accompanying pick. Another member at the IRC channel #lp101 at irc.slashnet.org recommended me to try drain tape, a thin metal wire band used to unclog sewer pipes. The material is easier to work with than hacksaw blades, esp. with regard to sanding but somewhat less rigid. I haven't had time to test the pick yet since the glue is hardening.

First we have an image of the handle being lacquered, which is basically a coloring.



I found a bottle of light-brown lacquer wash in the shop and decided to try it out. The wood is just regular pine, cheap and soft. I didn't sand it quite enough so a few scratches got dark as the lacquer was applied. The paper protects the vise from getting messy.

After the lacquer had hardened (about 12 hours later) I applied a coating of clear lacquer to seal the surface against dirt and moisture. I only used a single coating but you can sand it and add several layers. The colored lacquer can be bought in a variety of colors, I intend to try some other colors later.



So at last we can see the finished result. I glued in the metal piece with a special compound called "PT 400", which is a rubber-like glue which supposedly sticks good to wood and metal. Typically knife makers use epoxy for this but I figured what the hell...

I might need to refine the shape of the actual metal hook somewhat though, but I'll try it first. I hope you enjoyed watching this.

[LocksmithArmy]

Nice work...

I like a thick handle but dang man, thats really thick.

let us know how that metal works, seems like it would bend more so be careful

it looks great though

[Xarragon]

Yeah, I originally wanted something really comfortable but now I fear that the large surface will spread out any pressure that comes back so much that I won't feel it at all. Only time will tell.

[Xarragon]

Here is the latest entry in my quest for simple, fast and cheap handles. I whipped up another hook pick from drain tape metal, sanded it and started to rummage around for some material to cover the handle with.



I came across 25 m of old plastic water hose, usually used in aquariums albeit I bought it in order to build killer robots back in the days. With the help of the trusty hot air gun it was snap to push the hose onto the handle. Another piece of hose makes an nifty cover for the tip of the pick which prevents it from getting tangled in cloth and break off.

As for the gargantuan wooden handle I made I have to say that wood in itself seems rather nice for handles, at least I didn't have any trouble feeling what I was doing from the material itself. On the other hand it was a mistake to make it so large and cut recesses for specific fingers, since I've found you have to rotate the pick and shift grip alot on it.