Wooden Dowel Plug Follower?

[_abc]

I've read that wooden dowels make a good plug follower and was wondering if anyone knew off the top of their head the appropriate size to get for those toool-type pratice locks. Looking to re-pin them as I blow through them pretty easy now

[Squelchtone]

I've read that wooden dowels make a good plug follower and was wondering if anyone knew off the top of their head the appropriate size to get for those toool-type pratice locks. Looking to re-pin them as I blow through them pretty easy now

.495 inch, or just get a 1/2 inch dowel and some sandpaper

[Altashot]

A 15/32" drill bit works well too.
Don't use the business end but the end you put in the mandrel/chuck.
The nice thing about drill bits or transfer punches is that they come in a sizes.
In the event of an odd sized plug, there's a drill bit for that...

I misplaced my plug follower before and in a bind, I used a rolled up piece of paper.

A large 7/11 slurpee straw works too.

[cledry]

When you get serious the best follower IMHO is the Keedex master follower.

[Altashot]

When you get serious the best follower IMHO is the Keedex master follower.

I agree. Removing master wafers with a twist...So easy, almost fun.

[sandplum]

When you get serious the best follower IMHO is the Keedex master follower.

I agree. Removing master wafers with a twist...So easy, almost fun.

Until you drop down the anti-pick pins and wish you hadn't

[2octops]

I've had an old hollow set of HPC's for years.

The Keedex is nice but over priced.

I've used tons of rolled up business cards.

Mini Mag AAA flashlights work great.

1/2" water supply line works great and you can buy a foot for about a quarter.

Personally I don't like solid followers unless the ends are notched and cut to accept plug ends. Also some plugs come out with the tail piece still attached.

[MrWizard]

I like to always use a Sargent plug follower it has the notch on one end for mortise cylds and the other end has a large hole drilled in it deep to accept the offset Sargent cylds plus can allow for many locks that have the tailpiece attached as mentioned yet some tailpieces will be too long then you should have the 4 piece set of hollow HPC follower set just for those.

You can recognize this type follower because it has the slot cut about and 1" length ways on the end with the hole to allow for Sargent key in knob cylds with drift pin sticking out the side a must have if you want to rekey older Sargent knob locks although the keedex master follower has that too. I have one of those but never use it great gimmick but can cause more hassle than it's worth.

Improperly used short top pins will fall out and you think you dropped just master pins and put it back together to only find your customer is locked out with the spring wrapped around jamming the cyld. And then there is the spool pin problem once turned now you have to drop all pins and reload them. The black Sargent follow is the one of choice for me on just about any occasion and it lasts forever been using the same one for 30+ years now.

Richard