Tips for pick restoration?

[Harry Tuttle]

Any tips on restoring that $8 gem to its former glory in the aftermath of a tipsy, heavy-handed battle with a bastard of a padlock?

[mseifert]

The only successful method would be to just buy another one .. Most methods I have read about have not been 100% effective..

[smokingman]

?????.......I can't believe somebody bent a Peterson tool.
I have some tools I bought from bud k in the 80's
and never bent those, even after I thinned them down,
All the nickel plate has come off but I still use them.

[YouLuckyFox]

Right, the only time I've bent a Peterson pick was when I wasn't using it as a lock pick (I used it for a purpose it was not designed for.) Even then, I bent my Peterson Reach back into shape and it still hasn't broken on me. That was a Carbon Steel one.

@Harry: I don't know of a way to restore a pick other than bending it back and seeing if it holds. I recommend that new lockpickers never let the lockpick touch the bottom of the keyway, that is where picks get leveraged like crowbars and bent.

[Harry Tuttle]

It's only slightly bent - as in, when sitting on a desk, the tip of the hook barely touches the desk on one side but hovers when flipped over. It's still in great working condition... it's just that the asymmetry is giving me a smidge of ocd.

What if I clamp the end between flat metal plates in a bench vise and leave it for a few days?

[billdeserthills]

It's only slightly bent - as in, when sitting on a desk, the tip of the hook barely touches the desk on one side but hovers when flipped over. It's still in great working condition... it's just that the asymmetry is giving me a smidge of ocd.

What if I clamp the end between flat metal plates in a bench vise and leave it for a few days?

I think you would be better off using a flat anvil, like at the back of the vise and giving the tool a bash with the hammer.
Don't hit it too hard or it will stretch

[Harry Tuttle]

I think you would be better off using a flat anvil, like at the back of the vise and giving the tool a bash with the hammer.
Don't hit it too hard or it will stretch

Yup, that's working. Thanks, Bill!

[fisix]

I think you would be better off using a flat anvil, like at the back of the vise and giving the tool a bash with the hammer.
Don't hit it too hard or it will stretch

Yup, that's working. Thanks, Bill!

You can squeeze it tight with the vise to flatten and polish with fine grit sandpaper as well.