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[bembel]

I like the string wrapping idea.

[Latestplague[]]

Thanks bembel it's quick and easy.
I was digging through my stuff and found these sculpey molds I made a couple months back. I had originally made 2 half molds of a Peterson handle with the idea of mashing them together with the pick inside and baking the whole thing at once. It didn't work out great because I quickly made them with little thought. I was gonna throw them away but I decided to take the best of the 2 and see if I could make halves with it and then glue and vise them onto a pick
the mold is on the far left (black) on the top is the first one I tried. If I do this again I will make another mold and be sure the top and bottom are perfectly flat and level but this still served it's purpose. I put just more than enough clay in the mold and used a 1/2 inch strip of stainless to mash it down flat into the mold. I used flour in the mold as a release agent because that's all I had in the house. I have food grade silicone in my shop I may try on the next ones but the flour worked fine. The stainless strip also was great for getting it out, I just peeled them apart and my handle stayed on the strip which also made it easy to trim any excess. I put it in the freezer for about 3 mins cooling it stiffens it making it easy to slide a razor under it to peel it off without damaging the smooth bottom and also makes trimming easier if it gets to floppy or dragging on the blade.

After baking I spread a thin thin coat of gorilla glue on one half put in my pick and put on the other half. I sandwiched the piece between a couple of the 1/2 inch strips and then used ez clamps to keep it all together. Gorilla glue expands 3-4 times so it's important to do a thin coat and clamp. I leave it to set atleast 4 hrs.
This is the 1st one I did after washing and scrubbing off the flour I'm pretty happy with it. After taking the pics I sanded the edges and I like it very well. when gorilla glue sets it's like a hard resin which seems to sturdy the handle even more. I would like to try fimo but I can't find it local.

[mjwhit]

After a long hiatus, I had a successful experiment today. My first wooden handled pick, but it looks and feels so good I might find some exotic woods and make a few sets as gifts for the locksmiths in the family. Going to make the next handles slimmer, and plan the shape in advance instead of just freestyling it.

Decoder in 10/1000th feeler gauge. Recycled NZ Native Rimu. Used epoxy and grinded off a few bolts to use for the pins. A fun afternoon in the workshop.

[Latestplague[]]

Very nice I really like the look of it, nice rustic look. A whole set like that would be awesome. You really framed the pic good to. Great job

[mjwhit]

THanks, I have got a 7 piece set in the works, will be finished tomorrow with any luck. 2 picks completely finished. Just final shaping and oiling on the final 5 to go. Ill be sure to post pics.

[Squelchtone]

Very nice I really like the look of it, nice rustic look. A whole set like that would be awesome. You really framed the pic good to. Great job

agreed on the rustic look. A lot of picks out there are just made to look "tacti-cool", but this pick and handle design are very classy and have a warm feel to them.

Squelchtone

[mjwhit]

Finished the set, they came up pretty nice. Learnt a few tricks for next time. Biggest timesaver is to cover the lockpick in tape during the shaping of the wood, no matter how good you consider your filing skills. Trying to polish scratches from the files takes forever and should be avoided at all costs.

[Latestplague[]]

They look great. They look sleek & like squelchtone said classy. I really like the shape you went with Iv seen some carved handles and I wonder how they even hold em. What kind of feedback do you get with them? I have never tried wood handles before.

[mjwhit]

You do lose a little feedback vs plain metal, I suspect due to the layer of epoxy in the centre. Still give decent feedback, and they are very comfortable to use.

Still- My next ones I think I will press the steel into the handles, use more pins, and even thinner wood.
These are 7mm edge to edge, so Im thinking of using something like a wood veneer which is 0.6mm thick, two layers of veneer on each side of the pick, and using superglue instead of epoxy. Also should cut down on the time it takes to make because I can just cut the rough shape out with a blade before attaching them and they will be the correct thickness already. Also it has the advantage of being able to source exotic woods easily as a veneer.

[Latestplague[]]

That sounds like a good idea. It looks like you used larger pins on the decoder, which I thought looked great. I would think but I'm no expert that the larger pins would give you more feedback by having more metal for the energy to transfer into and a larger contact area for your fingers and they look great, 3 of them evenly across the handle I can just picture it in my hand haha.
I have stayed away from wood because I did read someone talk about the feedback. Iv carved wood handles for things for years , usually Woodburning designs or grips into them so it's something I have considered. Needless to say when I see someone do some as well as you have it makes me wanna carve something. I have also about quit super glue, gorilla glue has been my go to for things lately especially if I'm gonna press or clamp them anyway. The 1st thing I did notice was when they say it expands 3-4 times they mean it. Anyhow the picks look great definitely something you should be proud to have made, can't wait to see some more.

[mjwhit]

Yeah, the decoder pins were massive. I was going for a slimmer/sleeker look with these ones.

You should definitely give it a go. Ive been looking at how the penturners make their pens, def some really cool things possible with different layers of different wodds/inlays etc. Even crazy things like layering in aluminium and stuff could be fun.

Ive finished a few more using only superglue instead of pins, and using a bench vice to press the steel into the wood while glueing instead of having a epoxy layer between two pieces of wood. So far so good. Drilling small holes in small pieces of tempered steel was a real pain- even on the drill press, so if I can do without drilling I definitely will. Prob be ok with some better drill bits I guess.

[mjwhit]

Redwood (I believe) from a trrashed piano. The steel is from feeler gauge- one is is 0.015" and the other 0.25".

[kwoswalt99-]

Looks like black walnut to me. I assume you mean North American redwood?

[mjwhit]

Looks like black walnut to me. I assume you mean North American redwood?

Actually,I think you might be right. I wasn't sure, it was just my best guess. Thanks!

[Latestplague[]]

Here are my latest and kind of a follow up of the molds. The top hook is from the earlier pics after I sanded and dipped in plasti dip. It was made from small wiper insert. The next two's handles were made the same way with the exception of the pick material. Someone brought me about 40 flat 12" pieces that were found in I believe file folders,or filing cabinets. They are around .020. And I decided to do them all by hand filing (which was stupid). The handle for the bottom one I made from stainless steel strips I found on ebay for $1 each 12"×.5" &0.025. All I had to do was cut them to length and round the edges. I can definitely say feedback on a full handle especially a metal one is far superior to what I get with the wiper inserts.here is how I kept the metal together for gluing I used a neo magnet to hold it together instead of clamping and possibly crimping the metal. This worked great. I have been on the thrifty path lately I'm moving so my shop tools aren't easy to access.point is with a few decent files some cheap material you can make decent picks that are as effective as nearly anything you can buy. It costed me about $2 to make all 4 picks.