Having difficulty shaping picks

[Correction]

I've been lurking about this forum for about a week now and have become very interested in lock picking! However, I'm having issues making my own picks. I started out using a key ring I straightened out with pliers for a pick, but was only successful with it once on my house's deadbolts... after which, when trying to bend it back to a straight pick (since it had all sorts of kinks in it) it snapped in half. :\

So now I'm trying to make a new pick, and I'm having a real hard time finding a suitable material. I don't have a grinder, so I can't really use most recommended materials such as hacksaw blades or street sweeper bristles. I've seen the metal spines from windshield wipers mentioned a few times, and that sounds perfect for me except I can't find any old windshield wipers. I did tear apart an old broken umbrella and tore the spokes off of it, hammered and shaped them with pliers, and they WOULD work fine except after hammering flat, turned out it was too thick or tall to fit under the pins. The torque wrench I made using these will be a good tool, though, I think.

So I suppose I'm asking for suggestions for either making a pick or fixing the one I have. The only tools I really have access to are a hammer and needle-nose pliers. Thanks!

(attached are pictures of the wrench and the pick I made using the umbrella parts. You can see the pick on the right in the first picture is far too big... please excuse the crappy photo quality :p)

[Pickey]

If the only tools you have really have access to are a hammer and needle nose pliers, there might not be much you can do. If you can get your hands on some tough sanding paper, or some metal files you can spend maybe an hour or so making your "umbrella" picks smaller, and adding some grooves into them. You should check you local hardware store, the files shouldn't cost you much more than $5 or $10. You could also check some local dollar stores, i've seen some decent files there.

[Correction]

I did exactly what you said, don't know why I didn't think of it before! (actually I do, I wasn't sure if a file would really cut it :p)
This is my finished product! I sortof wish the half-diamond end had turned out slightly larger, but oh well... it works, and that's what counts! With it I have picked various cheap desk locks around the house (big deal ), but haven't quite gotten the deadbolt again yet... but I can definately tell that the pick itself is reaching and manipulating the furthest pin properly, so all that's left is to improve my own skill. Thanks!

[32768]

Now that you've got a file you might try windshield wiper splines. You could also use hacksaw blades but they're tougher to file by hand. If you can't find old wiper blades to take apart or street sweeper bristles then you could just buy the cheapest new wiper blade you can find. The metal should be more durable than what you're getting out of umbrellas.

Bike wheel spokes are another cheap and easy to find source. Cut out a spoke (I'm assuming your pliers have a cutting jaw), hammer the end flat, then file it to taste. You may be able to get an endless free supply of spokes at your friendly local bike repair shop. I'm guessing here, but I doubt they reuse the spokes out bent wheels they replace. If they ask why you want them you can always say you're making really big paper clips.

[Correction]

Ha, giant paperclips!
I'm really surprised at how strong this umbrella stuff is. I really expected it to be some kind of cheap aluminum or something, but apparently it's some pretty tough steel. It's working out quite nicely so far... I suppose what I'll do is use what I've got for now, and I'll keep a lookout incase I run across any of the above mentioned materials in the meantime. Untill then, I've finished umbrella-pick v2.0 today!
(the one on top, compared to my first one on bottom)


It was supposed to be a half diamond shape but it turned out kindof rounded. I could spend some more time on the slope to make it pointed, but whenever I filed on that inside slope I end up digging a notch into the shaft, and I'm afraid of it getting only worse, sooo... I'll just leave it as it is I think. This one works MUCH better than the first... I got that full slope on the front so it just slides up under the pins like a key. My first one didn't quite do so well with that... I had to sort of pry up under each individual pin to get in there. :\

Thanks again for all the help!

[Varjeal]

Don't worry about the notch, make your diamond the shape it should be, then take a flat file and file down your shaft so it's all one smooth line. This will give you some added "lift" when picking.

[coolman]

i dont have acsess to a grinder and i can make good picks out of street sweeper bristles i use files a vice and pliers

[Correction]

Where in the world do you people find street sweeper bristles! I live outside Atlanta, GA, and to be honest I don't EVER recall seeing a street sweeper out on the road. Are they mostly in inner cities, or what?

[Pickey]

This is just a random guess, but i think street sweepers are usually in bigger more populated cities

[raimundo]

look for sweeper bristles from the curb brush one the side of the machine where they break off as the machine tries to follow corners on monday or tuesday in the nightclub/entertainment district of a large city. usually they clean that up after the weekend, give them a day or two to get it done. also find the in large parking lots. look in thecleanest lots, if theres trash in the lot, the bristles there will be rusted and run over too many times. get sweeper bristles from gutters which have round swirly marks of recent sweeping. You will eventually learn to spot a recently swept street by the marks it leave on the pavement.

[benteo]

may i know what kind of file do i need? is it some special file for metal?

[Absinthe]

I would suggest as a good starting file that you pick up a "chain saw sharpenning" file. After than get a good single cut fine flat file. If you don't have a vise get a pair of vise grip pliers but you can get lucky and find cheap vises that connect to a table with a screw clamp on the bottom. You should be able to make just about any kind of pick you care to from there.

[Chucklz]

If you cant find sweeper bristles, get some old windshiled wiper blades from a garage and use the steel inserts. They work wonderfully.