Ruined my picks. please help!

[SaintAccardo]

I really should have tested just one but I thought I knew what I was doing. I was trying to temper my picks. I got them red hot with a propane torch then quenched them with oil, then put them in the oven at 425 degrees for 1 hour and let them cool slowly. They now bend very easy and deform very easily when picking. Is there anyway to restore hardness to them? Or is the metal permanently like this now? Well at least I have several petersen gems coming and some petersen pry bars all made of govt steel and I still have my bogata single, double, and triple rakes made of titanium I didn't touch but this really sucks. I thought it would add hardness and strength to them but it did just the opposite. I'm very, very disappointed. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[SaintAccardo]

Well there's no turning the metal back to brittle again. These things are like gumby picks lol! I think my mistake was getting them red hot rather than just heating them to below blue, getting them straw colored. Getting them red hot then quenching them in oil just makes them into gumby picks no good for anything. I just threw them away. Well like I said, I have the titanium single, double, and triple bogata rakes, a titanium pry bar, a petersen regular pry bar and on the way I have a Petersen Gem slender, a Petersen reach slender, a regular Petersen Gem, a Petersen hook 1, and a Petersen pry bar lite so really I'll have everything I'll ever need to pick your regular pin/tumbler locks but it kinda sucks that I ruined a whole set of picks. Even though they were 1.95 Southord picks and bent anyways when picking sometimes at least they were better than what I made them into.
Honestly, I look at it as a blessing in disguise because from now on I'll buy nothing but government steel Petersen picks or comparable picks so I just made room in my little leather pouch for not only good picks, but picks I actually use. Unless you're picking wafer and/or warded locks, you don't need I'd say 85% of the picks that come in those ps-x kits. You really do need the picks that are made of gov steel or comparable hardness I think anyways, and as far as all the rakes and jigglers are concerned, the bogatas just can't be beat and anything else is just inferior at least in my experience so far. So I'm glad now I ruined my picks ha ha!

[KPick]

I suggest you just get a new set. Like the dude on top of me said, there isn't anything you can do to make them new again.

[SaintAccardo]

The dude on top was me, the OP! After experimenting around I found out on my own through different quenching processes, cooling times and tempering times that there is no way to make them new. Instead of watching somone on YouTube and taking their word for it I conducted my own experiment and if anything I learned alot about tempering during this process.
I'm just glad I have all I really need on the way and of the absolute best quality. After only a short time at this, you quickly realize that Southord picks are for the thousands of beginners who start this hobby or profession and either A. Quit after a couple of weeks or at most, months or B. Stay with the hobby and by the time a month or two is up, usually if not always, your Southord picks have been bent and worn out and you move onto much better made picks. I think Southord really only caters to the occasional hobbyist and knows that professional lockpickers do not use their products. They just don't have the oooomph to them to be able to lift stubborn pins very many times without bending or breaking. The slimline ones are almost a paradoxical pick to begin with because while they are much slimmer, the flipside is they're not made out of a steel that can take any pressure really at all and they're only good if the pins in the whole lock move very easily and smoothly and as we all know, this, by design, is almost never the case. So my review of the Southord Slimlines are that they are almost a moot-point pick to begin with and not worth wasting money on. If a pick is going to be that slim and small it HAS to be made out of government steel or a comparable steel to be of any real use to the true picker.

[smokingman]

WOW, you must really be putting some torque on your tension tools and locking up the pins to be bending tools like that.
I have a southord set that I used on the job for over 15 years and never bent or broken a tool.
Ease up on the brute force or you will be breaking your Petersons too, and they are expensive .
They are good tools but not indestructable.
Watch this video , it is not just for spool pins but all types as far as tension goes,
see how little it takes... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3H2rK-3FaQ ...
It is common for beginners to use more pressure than necessary , just use the weight of your finger on the tension tool and the pins will not be so hard to move.
Pick on.

[ckc123]

The simple'st way to solve the problem is to find out what type of metal they are made from , each type of metal has a different process/ temperatures for hardening and tempering..

you need to know the metal type before you can do anything.. (and yes you can fix this if you know the metal type, then look up the hardending/tempering specs)

I do this with hand made knifes all the time..

[bembel]

Like smokingman said: You're probably using too much torque and/or force. It's not the fault of the picks if they bend, especially if you're using slimline picks which are designed for European locks.
Even if the "government steel" picks may have better steel quality, Southord picks work well for most people.

[dmcintyre86]

I noticed in your original Post that the oven baking was done at 400+ degrees? Next time try going 350 for about 45-50 mins...then letting them cool to the point you can hold in your hand...this temperature and time frame is VERY important and needs to be followed closely otherwise you can end up with gumby pics or glass like picks...there is a very slight area for that sweet spot.

Good Luck

-Dave

[sentientsentinel]

Next time just try and temper a broken or wore out pick or offer the mods a free temper on thier picks so you don't gumbyize a whole set of your picks.Thanks for the post though if you get a good system going post that too.

[nickmannnxx]

I may have misses it if had you said it, but I didnt see anyway if you told us what type of steel the picks were made of. You cannot harden and temper stainless steel. It just doesnt work like that. Stainless when heated red hot losses its hardness and it cannot be recovered. The only steels that harden and temper well are high carbon steels. Im and amateur blacksmith and i recently tried hardening some .025 spring steel. It didnt end as well as hoped, it became hopelessly brittle. It would shatter like glass if bent. After tempering it still remained too brittle for the my liking as a pick.

I also have a set of southords. Ive been using mine atleast an hour a day for 6 months and they are still holding up quite well. Just a little scratched up. One of these days when Im extra motivated I will give them a proper sand and polish.