Double ball pick better then expected

[spoonzor]

Awhile ago I was drinking a cup of coffee with a fellow lockey. He mentioned that back in the days when he repossessed cars the double ball pick was his primary.
Me, I always was more of a half diamond guy, followed by of course the hooks. Never even really tried the double ball pick much and was surprised to hear this from him.

So this night I gave it a good try and I have to say I was amazed! Cheap locks seem to open pretty quick with the double ball. First using it as a rake for a couple of seconds and then just setting the remaining pins (with the double ball).

With those beautiful somewhat complicated looking bogotas etc. I just couldn't believe that such a simple shape was so effective.

Is it weird that double ball pick works so good for me or is it weird that I never really used that pick much before?

What is your primary pick? How do you use it?

[phrygianradar]

The first pick I really used a lot was the half-ball pick. For some reason it just felt really natural to me. Since then I have grown away from using it in favor of the hook family. I have used the half-snowman pick on a few cars with great success. I like the double ball for wafer locks a lot. It seems like I gravitate to different types of picks depending on what type of lock I am going to pick, but that makes sense...

[smokingman]

I find that the rounded type tools like the half ball, double ball, snake rake etc. work better for wafer type tumblers.
The shapes glide over the edges of the wafers without snagging, and give me a better feel of setting .
Double sided wafer keys like chicagos are shaped more like these picks than others as well.

[MrAnybody]

Awhile ago I was drinking a cup of coffee with a fellow lockey. He mentioned that back in the days when he repossessed cars the double ball pick was his primary.
Me, I always was more of a half diamond guy, followed by of course the hooks. Never even really tried the double ball pick much and was surprised to hear this from him.

So this night I gave it a good try and I have to say I was amazed! Cheap locks seem to open pretty quick with the double ball. First using it as a rake for a couple of seconds and then just setting the remaining pins (with the double ball).

With those beautiful somewhat complicated looking bogotas etc. I just couldn't believe that such a simple shape was so effective.

Is it weird that double ball pick works so good for me or is it weird that I never really used that pick much before?

What is your primary pick? How do you use it?

Like you, never really paid any attention to the balls picks I've got. I'll dig them out of the junk drawer now you've mentioned it. Many thanks for that.

The picks I find really perfect for non-auto wafer locks are Petersons Mini Ripples. Using very light tension and a rocking motion, they're popped in no time at all. I guess that's another reason why I've not looked for my ball picks.

[bjornnrojb]

Double ball works great for stuff like canopies, gas caps, etc for me. I just rake them a few times. Worked a treat once when I locked my keys in my motorcycle's storage compartment. SPP seems like it would be inhibited by having two protuberances though, I would think the snowman or half snowman would be best for raking and the half ball pick would be better for finishing a wafer lock off.

[spoonzor]

By the way, just to clarify, I know the double ball is good (meant for?) wafer locks, but I've been using it on normal deadbolts with great success, to my surprise. That's what i actually meant to say here. Indeed more raking but even pushing those last pins in place after the rake, not even being sure what pin's those last pins where as indeed the double ball is just all over the lock. But it worked

I'm guess i'm going to get/make a half snowman and a single ball / half ball pick as addition to my tools.

[KPick]

I like those very much. I use them as a rake at times and guess what, it works. I usually use them on very cheap warded padlocks and disk padlocks in combination with a wishbone tension wrench.

My choice for most pad locks are short, medium, and long flat top hooks for spp.

[mechanical_nightmare]

I remember making one of these picks a while ago, but I was very elementary at picking back then, couldn't get results with them and quickly stopped using them. No idea where they are now, and their symmetry was off anyways. Maybe I'll make another one the next time around.

As for using them on deadbolts, that should technically work well as a rake (as spoonzor said) as long as the keyway profile allows it.

[Luissen]

I've never had much luck with the ball, doubleball/snowman, or half versions of either. maybe if I had a need to open wafers, I would see their benefit. When I started out, I couldn't find any locks that it wouldn't overset, but in retrospect, those were mostly tiny pin/tumbler variety.

[bjornnrojb]

My success with these double ball and single ball picks has usually been with kwikset locks because there is so much room in the keyway. I can't imagine using a double ball pick in many other keyways because of the lack of space. They are fine, however, for cabinet locks and things where security is low and you can stick almost anything in there and that is where they really seem to shine.