Lock Pick Case Making

[_Ethereal_]

G'day lp101'ers.

Geek142 and i have created this little guide for case making, for your homemade creations.

We would like to hear your opinions, questions, tips and tricks on this subject.

I know this isn't sewing101, but i thought it would be usefull for you DYI'ers.


~~Equipment~~

- A pair of sharp scissors
- thread
- sewing machine and/or needles
- a ruler
- a coulored pencil ( green marks the best )
- a rough idea in your head of what you want, but preferebly a plan on paper, so you can pin it on and cut around the paper.
- Material - leather, corderoy, cordura are the best i have used and they look good too.
- buttons or velcro.
- seat belt material or similar ( i don't know the name )


~~Instructions~~
(these are the instructions for the cases similar to what i make)
You can also make different designs , such as the southord cases etc.

It is a good idea to know how many picks you wan't to fit in the case before you design it.

1. Cut around the rough plan of the base of the case ( the main part.)
2 . Cut your pick pocket(s) out and sew it/them to the base.

**The base is light blue, while the pocket is yellow**



3. Sew the pocket dividers to the length you wish to have it.

**like so..**


4. You will need a flap that folds down so that when the case is folded the picks will not fall out of the top.

**sew along the top 1 cm of the flap "which is in blue"**



5. Now we are ready to sew the edging to neaten the case up.
( for leather this is not needed )
Grab your "seat belt material" and fold it in half over the edges and pin it there. sew along the inner edges of it.

if you cut this material use a gas torch or a stove to melt the edges so if something catches it the material won't come apart.

**Almost finished **



6. Sew the velcro or affix the buttons to the material, where you put them is your choice.

Here are a few of my cases:



From Geek142 " How I made my first case"

Materials

Well there isn’t much to it all I used was Thread and a needle…

Kind off just cut out a reasonable size piece of cotton that would fit my picks in, you can use leather if you prefer…

How did I thread it through?

I did 2 layers

The first was in and out through the cotton

And the second was doing loops around the sides to make it stronger and less likely to fall apart

And that’s about it if I had measured the cotton first before I started cutting I would have been able to make a flip over case but that’s what you get for not measuring…

Well hope this could help someone on making there own case

Cya

**His Case**


Thank you for reading this.. alot of people on this forum need to treat their homemades to a nice soft case..so get stitching

If the edit button is in a good mood i will do some edits later.

cheers

[Geek142]

Hey i just realised compared to ethereals case and instructions mine is Lets just say "very bad" lol So i will try make it better Note:this is my first case and i plan to make other that dont look so tacky

Materials

First off i compiled what i needed which was

- Sewing Scissors
-Thread and needle/sewing machine ( i did mine by hand)
-Nice big area to work on or small just makes things more cluttered
-Your material you plan to use for your case

Instructions

1.I had a rough idea of what i wanted but i was to lazy to measure which i should have or like ethereal said you can draw a sketch of what you want

2.i got my needle and thread and started folding the material in the shape i wanted then started Stitching

3. after i had stitched it i went over it again around the sides in a looping action to give it more strenght because cotton is pretty flimsy.

4. and just finished it off by trimming little out of place bits of cotton and thread

5.thats about it but if you are making a better case i suggest you do a bit more planning then what i did because it was pretty spilt moment decision due to lack of things to do

~The finished product~


so i hope that is a bit better

[_Ethereal_]

can a moderator please be so kind to move this text to my first post. thanks.

You can also make different designs , such as the southord cases etc.

It is a good idea to know how many picks you wan't to fit in the case before you design it.

[kennylt]

wow thats great
egzacly what i needed and it looks easy enough ...
i would advice everyone to use a sewing mascine if you are using leather cose your fingers start tu hurtlike hell after a while (i tried to sew a leather ball once ... fingertips felt like shit for 5 days )

[bembel]

I am not sure if a household sewing machine can do leather (but I don't know too much about them). I did it manually and found it very helpful to punch the holes first (ruler+needle+hammer), then do the stitches.

I started with a small case for 6 picks.



Liked it very much, but then I needed one for 16 picks. Very helpful to see all picks at once:



Same thing closed:



Then my pick set was still growing and I gave up and bought a small camera bag.

@Geek142: Why do some of your picks have holes?

[kennylt]

dont give up !! you are doing just fine and it looks great
anyway i'm geting agrindin wheal soon and then i guess ill have to fight too
as hor the needle+hammer better use a nail (not sure bout the sewing machine either but try to avoid doing everything with bear fingers - trust me on this one ...)

[_Ethereal_]

@bembel

i think its where the rods were pulled out of the junior hacksaw

and also..very VERY nice case

[MrB]

For anybody trying to hand stitch leather, the correct technique is to make the holes first with an awl and stitch second. Don't try to push the sewing needle through the leather, it's hard to do that even using a thimble. Typically you put both pieces of leather together and punch through both layers with the awl. Punch a few holes, stitch a few holes and repeat. It may help to use a small clip to hold the pieces together and stop them moving around while you work (just the same idea as using pins when stitching fabric).

Check out leather working tools for what an awl looks like and where to get one.

Of course, machine stitching makes things much easier, but not everyone has access to a sewing machine.

[toomush2drink]

As mentioned above an awl is the tool to use. You could also use a bradawl just sharpen the tip up a bit though. To use insert the bradawl through the leather and as you pull it out of the hole follow it through with your needle and thread from the other side. A good tip here is to use some double side sticky tape to hold the leather in place or use the glue you get in a puncture repair kit for bicycles. This glue is a rubber based contact adhesive and is the same as what shoe repairers use ( i used to be one for many many years ). Another alternative is to use super glue but to stop it making the leather hard you wet the leather a little first then apply a small amount. This gives you a quick hold and its still flexible.
These are the same methods we used to repair leather items like breif cases etc so it should work well for pick cases. A good source of quality leather for pickcases is from ladies knee high boots. Get yourself to a flea market , boot fair (no pun intended) or charity shop and get a pair cheap to make plenty of cases from.

[Geek142]

Yeah they are from the little peices of metal pulled out on the end of the junious hacksaw blade

[Geek142]

Good job bemel well done

[archiebald]

Knee high boots sound good. Shall ask the hooker across the street tonight if she has any she wants to get rid of or sell. I will pay in kind, if needed.

[stick]

...



I hope you mean the leather from the boots would be useful...

[Geek142]

Yes ......

[xodishox]

i made a pick case out of leather, yes hand stitched without making holes... i think i made more holes in my fingers than the case

but yeh, its got a zip, its kindda like the southord 32 set but with only 1 extra foldout and a belt strap on the back of it to make you look like a pro locksmith

srry i cnt post pictures digi cam is real crap