Chris' Home Brew Picks

[chriswingate]

I'm starting this thread so I can add my home brew picks as I make them in one consolidated place. Please feel free to comment, critique and suggest. All constructive criticism is welcome.

This is the first hook I made. Made from Klein Depth Finder, spring steel.
Made with a Dremel cutoff wheel for shaping and trimming. Sanded with 320,400,600 grit. Not finished yet, still needs more sanding.


This next one is an offset type pick, not quiet a diamond, not quite a ball.


This is based off of a Peterson Gem.


This last one is a Falle-Safe Number 6 Deep Curve.
Made from .025 Starrett Feeler Gauge. Sanded with 320, 400, 600.
Not finished yet, still more sanding needed, and unlike the original Falle picks, this one is single sided, and I will be adding a handle.


As for handles, I am trying different options, a lot of people seem to like brass as a handle, it provides good feedback. Others are more into HPC style handles. I'm also going to give Micarta and G10 a try, along with the bake clay that Legion303 used in his thread. His picks, in my opinion look outstanding.

This is all for now, I have a few other picks cut out that still need some sanding, I will add more pictures as I finish them and add handles and such.

Thanks.

[Eyes_Only]

Awesome work! I saw these on your YouTube channel.

[chriswingate]

Awesome work! I saw these on your YouTube channel.

Thanks a lot Eyes. I have a busy weekend of sanding to do on those picks, and the other three I have cut out.

[calvinism]

Nice tools man. . Great work. love looking at others tools. Its like opening a presant when i click on the title. . .haha! I used aliminium plate about 3mm thick. I cut the shape i wanted with a jigsaw. Obviously two of them. .then i glued them on either side of the pick with prately steel. I did use little countersink bolds 4 sum of them cause i use the part of the hacksaw blade with the hole in. Bt ive learnt its to much work tryna lineup and drill holes. So i started glueing them. . .works great.

[raimundo]

brass makes for heavy handles, then when the tool is dropped, it can damage its tip or just dent the fancy knurling on the brass.
aluminum is lighter, but its also cold so you have cold handles, that mattters some of the time.

wood is the best handle for handmades, it is light and not cold.

the machinests urge to knurl something often appears on many kinds of specialized picks and makes them heavy enough to destroy the tiny tips when dropped, all of these should be made of more plastic/wood and less metal.

[dmux]

Nice work. Just curious why you would want to make home made picks modeled exactly like already commercially produced picks?

[chriswingate]

Nice work. Just curious why you would want to make home made picks modeled exactly like already commercially produced picks?

Those picks are the first ones that I have attempted, it was a learning experience.
The picks that I have made recently are more modified to my liking.
I don't use rakes so there isn't really much point in me making some crazy new rake tool, and there are only so many variants of hooks and hybrids really worth making.
I had a set of the Falle picks and I sold them off to someone else who wanted them, I decided to make a home brew set for myself.