Best material for picks ?

[Josh66]

I don't have much experience with lock picking, but I do have a lot of experience with 'making stuff'. I've been making mine out of titanium. I have a lot of scrap titanium from work though, so it's free for me (it would have been thrown away/recycled anyway). I have .040" (seems too thick), .032" (just right depending on the lock), and .020" (thin, but it works). The .040" doesn't really flex much, but .032" and .020" are pretty springy.

[DayZiro]

Scrap Ti? Lucky you!

Lexon hacksaws worked for me when I was still using hacksaw blades. I hear good things about feeler gauge stock. They sell it on McMaster-Carr in 12" lengths with many thicknesses.

[NoValidTitle]

Scrap Ti? Lucky you!

Lexon hacksaws worked for me when I was still using hacksaw blades. I hear good things about feeler gauge stock. They sell it on McMaster-Carr in 12" lengths with many thicknesses.

So what are you using now?

[DayZiro]

Posted on the previous page, cheap Cobra brand drain snake. I recently bought some other brand at home depot (or lowes, don't remember) which seems to work just as well.
here is the cobra stuff. 50' is 100 picks, that's about $0.16 a pick plus time and sandpaper. Hard to beat that price.

[SurvivalDC]

Street bristles, old bike spokes, windshield wipers......

[kingofnc007]

Not quite sure if this page is still relevant but I also find that the larg puddy knifes are the best material to make picks out of really strong flexes then pops right back perfect thickness (for me at least) and polishes really well

[Kheops]

Dollar store steak knives. Cheap, plentiful, stainless, and at least the ones I've found, really tough. My best pick ever (bought or made) is my Deforest made from a dollar store steak knife.

You need to practice a little with a grinder getting the plastic off. After having made several picks this way I can now extracte the blade from the handle in about 2 seconds (to no ones' surprise they are NOT full tang).

You might have to thin them down a little depending on what you can find.

I've tried many steels.. street sweeper, windshield wiper, hacksaw blade, even got to try titanium sheeting. They don't even come close.

[app13]

Feeler stock. Hands down.

High quality spring steel is hard to beat when it comes to DIY lock picks. You will pay at least $1 per pick though.

[Iamgod2009]

EBay search drain unblocked spring steel perfect with and thickness 15 feet 2 pounds winer

[WestCoastPicks]

I would stay away from brittle metals like hacksaw blades. I'm a big fan of wiper inserts.

[kwoswalt99-]

I would stay away from brittle metals like hacksaw blades. I'm a big fan of wiper inserts.

Most hacksaw blades are too brittle, but some crappy ones can be bent almost in half. I've never attempted to make a pick out of one though. I think bi-metal hacksaw blades might be a useful material, the pick would have to be the back of the blade.

[Mudman]

I've been using windshield wiper blade inserts. Works pretty good.

I also have some small scraps of 1095 and O1 from knife making, and might try to make a few picks with that.

[Drifty Flintlock]

What is it that makes a material good for picks? In this case I'm just talking about the type of metal.

I ask because I'm looking at getting some picks cut by waterjet. When I made a few on the grinding wheel, I used spring steel feeler gauge, but I think a machine can do better than I can. Those are too small to easily mount though, so the metal shop has suggested I buy some sheet metal.

I'm not a metals guy at all. What properties am I looking for? The one I see most advertised on picks is yield strength, which to my understanding is how much stress the metal can take without permanently bending. What kind of tensile strength should I be looking for at thicknesses of, say, .020" and .025"? Are there other important properties?

It looks like 304 stainless is the most readily available. 301 is harder to find and more expensive, but higher tensile strength. There's a supplier of sheet titanium on Amazon, but the closest sizes are .020" and .032" with nothing in between. I'm afraid that's either too thick or too thin, plus I don't know if titanium lockpicks are really all that good or just more of a novelty. I also investigated aluminum, but I think it's probably too weak.

So, what tensile strength do I need, at roughly what thickness, and is there anything else I should be looking for?

[Jacob Morgan]

Tensile strength is a measure of how much force/area it takes to pull a piece of metal in two. Think of an eye-bolt in the ceiling holding a weight, if there was a low tensile strength the eye-bolt would snap. That is not that important for picks.

Yield strength has to do with deflection, at what point would something bend. Think about an I-beam under the deck of a bridge. Ultimate yield is where it bends and stays bent. This would be of more interest. If a pick handle is levered down, one wants nearly all of that force to transfer to a pin, and not be soaked up by a flexing pick. And they don't want something that could be bent from normal use.

I suspect that most carbon steel picks are made from "blue tempered" 1095. If you want a benchmark for metallurgical properties try looking up specs on that material. Keep in mind that the metallurgical properties for non-heat treated metal will very likely be very different than that for heat-treated metal. "Blue tempered" 1095 is available in different thicknesses and widths / lengths. McMaster-Carr and MSC both carry different sizes and sell retail. That material comes heat-treated already.

If you go with something that has to be heat treated to have the properties you want, make sure you are comfortable with doing it yourself or price in the heat treatment with a job shop. And don't try to make it as hard as possible, that will make it brittle.

[Bl1ndE Esk1mo]

I have been making picks out or old sawzall or reciprocating saw blades designed to cut metal. I have found that the blades designed to cut wood are okay but i have to thin them down on the grinder a lot. These blades seem to be durable and i have not yet bent or chipped one. I also like the straightness that the top edge gives me, it allows me to get a nice taper. These are also tempered and take only a little quenching while creating the pick. The only issue is there is a lot of extra material, but it also makes for a nice handle.