How Many Picks Do You Rely Upon?

[AngryHatter]

I tend to favor hooks. To the point that I rarely reach for anything else.
Only if I am becoming frustrated by a job will I consider changing tools.

I do have a bunch of different hooks for different manufacturers. Always trying to find the best one, right? Stainless, spring metal et cetera.

Does anyone really use every pick in the case? Some specific locks require a specific tool but other than than I grab a hook first and get to work.

You?

[gumptrick]

I'm a hobby picker, not a locksmith.

Currently my go-to pick is a Sparrows Tron. If I need more height then I like the Sparrows Lunatic. Both of these are from their "Monstrum" kit but they also sell them individually which is how I got them
My next most commonly used picks are the SSDEV Euro hooks (Sparrows), "Dental" and standard hooks from Multipick, a city rake aka L-rake (Sparrows), and the Wonder Waves rakes (Peterson).

I do own many more picks (Sparrows, Peterson, Multipick, Rare Element) but they don't get used anywhere near as often as the above. I started with a very basic set and added individual picks to it so I don't have any picks that I didn't want. But there are certainly some of the picks that I rarely use whereas others get tons of use.

[cledry]

3/32" rotary pick.

[cledry]

Oops, 5/32"

[Ralph_Goodman]

I tend to favor hooks. To the point that I rarely reach for anything else.
Only if I am becoming frustrated by a job will I consider changing tools.

How much variety are you seeing in the locks that you pick?

I think on a professional level, seeing the same types of locks, you just end up using the same types of tools.

And when something interesting comes up, you reach for something new.

Seems rather straightforward, unless you have a lot of variety in what you are picking job to job. Do you?

[gumptrick]

3/32" rotary pick.

Dewalt or Makita?

[GWiens2001]

I have two or three picks that open probably 80% of the locks I need to open. But I have many unusual locks, and have had to custom make quite a few other picks for them. Also collect picks, so have a lot of picks which occasionally see service.

Gordon

[unjust]

in no particular order: thin shallow hook, thin half diamond, regular half diamond sanded matte, regular half diamond polished, rai's single bogota, rai's original bogota, rai's peterson reach variant up and down.

I'm not sure if i've used anything else in a few years.

[cledry]

3/32" rotary pick.

Dewalt or Makita?

Ridgid.

[tpark]

As a hobbyist, I am generally trying to find a way to non-destructively open a lock, since it's the lock I'm trying to preserve. I'm sure there are situations where locks are part of some out of production matched set, so in that case it may be best to pick the lock and then make a key.

My usual picks I start with are home made, but I use the Peterson hook and gem (15 thou and 25 thou) to start sometimes. I have many brands of pick, and my experience has been that it is possible to open most locks with less than perfectly matched picks. Some very paracentric keyways require special picks like the one from ssdev or specialized 12 thou picks, More important is a good tension wrench - I use the Peterson prybars a lot, but I have my own tensioning tools as well. Challenge locks require deep hooks as well sometimes, but for the most part very few picks are needed. The number of picks I have is far greater than the number I actually use.

Probably I rely on 4 or 5 different picks mostly, but there are cases when these aren't sufficient.

[GWiens2001]

tpark is right about tension wrenches. I have far more tension wrenches than picks in my primary kit.

Gordon

[billdeserthills]

I have bunches of picks I rarely use in my tool box, but my kit just has a pick gun
a couple of tension wrenches, a hook & a diamond pick along with some plastic
for loiding latches with

[greengrowlocks]

I have at least 40 picks, and most of them I have found a use for on at least one lock. I don't think it's required to have so many, but on occasion I may need something a little more specific. Just today I found a use for a curved flag that I've never used until now. However in 70% of pin tumbler type locks I will use just three picks. These are my favorites, and I have duplicates of each. Same goes for tension wrenches. I have maybe 15 tension wrenches, but use the .04" and .05" prybars most often.

[gumptrick]

tpark is right about tension wrenches. I have far more tension wrenches than picks in my primary kit.
Gordon

I am "thirding" this as well! One thing that I think is strange is that most picksets tend to shortchange you on the tension wrenches. And even those which do contain a wide variety are lacking in some areas. In my opinion the Sparrows "Wizwazzle" set is an unusually good once since it includes a large selection of tension tools. Yet even that is lacking TOK bars. I have seen very few, if any, pick sets that include both TOK and the standard tension tools.

[AngryHatter]

I tend to favor hooks. To the point that I rarely reach for anything else.
Only if I am becoming frustrated by a job will I consider changing tools.

How much variety are you seeing in the locks that you pick?

I think on a professional level, seeing the same types of locks, you just end up using the same types of tools.

And when something interesting comes up, you reach for something new.

Seems rather straightforward, unless you have a lot of variety in what you are picking job to job. Do you?

No, they pretty much are the same.
Lots of schlage cheap home style stuff.