dental tools

[BigDaddyD]

I got my dental tools at a flea market. Were only a dollar each. Generally you have to look for the smaller ones. The big tools are very plentiful but almost useless for picking. The smaller ones sometimes have to be ground down so they are a bit thinner. I've ruined a bunch of them by grinding. After grinding, you need to polish them with fine grades of sandpaper. A lot of work but well worth the results.

[sterry20]

I understand we are all noobs in the begining and we try and use the things we have laying around the house but you really need some picks try septon that old man sells to any body. try the mejestic thats about as cheap as it gets!

[dll932]

REAL dental tools are made of "German steel" which is quite tough, in my experience. I always ask dentists if they have any broken tools they were gonna toss. I have made various tools out of them with success.

The imported ones you find for sale at gun shows, not so much.

[jdislandlock]

Does anyone have an opinion on the use of dental tools as lockpicks?

I bought a few some time ago and have ground down the shanks to fit the keyways and have modified the ends somewhat to more closely resemble lock picks.

I find I can feel the individual pins much easier with the dental tools than with my (homemade) set of picks ground from hacksaw blades. The handles are longer as well and seem to fit my hand better.

Just curious if anyone else has tried this.

I have the dental tools you speak of, i have never used them to "Pick" a lock though... i use them more for grabbing & poking, maybe, the odd extraction.... they are deffinatly handy, but i dont use them to pick locks open.

[dll932]

IIRC, some company made picks that LOOKED like dental tools back in the day.

[cuttinedge1]

Try tempering the tools. This can be done by putting them in a hot oven (i think 325 for 4 hours but look it up). This makes them less brittle.

[billdeserthills]

IIRC, some company made picks that LOOKED like dental tools back in the day.

It was HPC and they were pricey

[billdeserthills]

I understand we are all noobs in the begining and we try and use the things we have laying around the house but you really need some picks try septon that old man sells to any body. try the mejestic thats about as cheap as it gets!

I remember Septon, poor old guy croaked, I used to buy lots of stuff from him & I still have some of it, prices keep going up higher all the time

[sterry20]

i didnt know people used them for lock picks i use mine for a lot of things but lock picking and have broke a few just doing light prying and while i find them as handy as the pocket on a shirt sticking one in a lock isnt going to happen around my shop!

[jp97103]

Try tempering the tools. This can be done by putting them in a hot oven (i think 325 for 4 hours but look it up). This makes them less brittle.

Sounds more like annealing to make it more flexible. For tempering you would heat the steel till non magnetic then cool quickly as possible. The slower the steel is cooled the longer the crystals are forming. Large crystals equal flex and workability. Hardened steel has a smaller crystal structure. Blacksmithing might be a little off topic but brittle has to do with carbon content. If you are using brittle steel annealing would be a good way to get it to bend rather than snap. But you may lose some feedback to the flex. Sheet metal suppliers have shim stock it comes in 6 by 100 inch rolls. You can get it in a wide range of material from brass to stainless. I am thinking of making a low speed whetstone for tool shaping without overheating.

[somenewguy]

I don't know where your at, but many places may have a surplus store like the Ax Man on university ave in St Paul, where you can find a lot of surplus electronics and tools of every kind,
You should ask around your area to see if you have such a place

The ax man can sell you dental tools cheap.

"We use geunine AX-MAN parts"

I have that magnet on my fridge. I went to every one of their locations in the Cities when I was there for work one time. In general, they have lots of raw materials that would be interesting for lock enthusiasts. They are very mich like the old JerryCo (now American Science and Surplus) in that they get all kinds of weird surplus stuff for sale.

I found a pile of Master combo locks there; the kind that are built-in to lockers at the gym. They were $2.50 each or something like that...

[somenewguy]

I understand we are all noobs in the begining and we try and use the things we have laying around the house but you really need some picks try septon that old man sells to any body. try the mejestic thats about as cheap as it gets!

I remember Septon, poor old guy croaked, I used to buy lots of stuff from him & I still have some of it, prices keep going up higher all the time

Septon's was bought out by a larger lock supply company, at least that is what they told me when I called the old Septon phone number from the paper catalog a couple of years ago. I didn't know he passed. He was a cool guy, I purchased several things from him in person. His warehouse looked to me like an old railroad building and he had it chock full of boxes and would run around finding stuff to show and/or sell you. He would resell HPC (among other brands) and scribble out their name on the box with black magic marker, and he had a rubber stamp that he would put next to it that said Septon Inc Malden-on-Hudson (I think that's what it said; I am going on memory and I was last there sometime around 1997). At the time I think his only competition was SouthOrd- at the time they were called Southern Ordnance and mostly sold knives and swords mail-order. They had a few common picking tools available.

This thread is turning into a trip down memory lane for me...

[KPick]

And I still call it southern ordinance. They have great lock picks though. They've lasted me about 5 years now

[Barthel]

i tried some dental probes and scrappers, but as stated, they are brittle. they can move some levers however, but as far as moving pins they are often to large to fit into the plugs entrance. has anyone tried to clean their teeth with lockpicks? (that's the interesting twist here)

... i've got a wisdom teeth low left with a big hole (will be extracted in a few days) i use my deep half diamond to get the rests of meat out prior brushing my teeth ^^

but well i sterilize it prior usage...

[billdeserthills]

i tried some dental probes and scrappers, but as stated, they are brittle. they can move some levers however, but as far as moving pins they are often to large to fit into the plugs entrance. has anyone tried to clean their teeth with lockpicks? (that's the interesting twist here)

... i've got a wisdom teeth low left with a big hole (will be extracted in a few days) i use my deep half diamond to get the rests of meat out prior brushing my teeth ^^

but well i sterilize it prior usage...

You're hardcore mister