by NDE Manipulation » 26 Feb 2005 15:31
Let's get the most simple piece of the pickset out of the way first.
That would be the case.
The materials are similar to what you would see in some U.S. military gear, i.e., "Cordura" types of nylon. Combine that with some elastic webbing and a little bit of nylon strap, velcro and a plastic buckle...and, Voila! You have a decent pick case for the tools.
I cannot tell if they used a type of closed cell foam for the inside of the nylon sandwich as a stiffener for the platform, but whatever they used works very well.
Rule Number One: Elastic will always wear out, so the pick case does not have the life of one that you could similarly construct out of the very same materials. As the elastic loosens, you run the risk of losing some of the tools. That is because they did not close the bottom of the case. Instead of relying on pocketing, for lack of a better descriptor, they chose to leave the bottom open and rely on something that has a shorter lifespan: elastic.
It's a minor complaint and I really cannot fathom why companies do things like this, they could have saved the money on the elastic and closed the bottom. Thread and a little more nylon is probably quite a bit cheaper than the elastic.
Another thing that is rather annoying are the two areas where you store both types of wrenches. I have yet to carry this thing around without finding one or both of the little "Bird's-Eye" turning tools floating around in my jacket pocket or bag, having slipped from the storage area.
So, if they want to improve this thing, they only have to lose the elastic bands which are going to fail sooner or later anyway, and redesign it a bit and fold up a section and stitch it in place. Along with creating a similar, secure mooring for the turning tools, this would be a fine pick case.
I have been pushing nylon to one pick manufacturer for months now, hopefully we will see some movement in that direction in the coming months.
The turning tools are nicely done but the Bird's-Eye turning tools are a bit on the thick side, as someone else pointed out here some time ago on LP101.
The turning tools are of a simple, proven design, even though the Bird's-Eye type are a bit more of the "exotic-looking" type. They will work, even if they are a bit thick. Most of us won't be buying this as a sole tool kit, so we will have augmentation and redundancy as well - reserving these turning tools for the locks with wider keyways, or, thinning them slowly on a whetstone with some oil. Sorry, I'm a bit old-fashioned, I prefer whetstones and files to Dremel tools whenever possible, although I love my Dremel.
Like any totally flat turning tool, they are easy to orient to the dead center at the bottom 6 O'Clock position. They are approximately twice as thick as the flat turning tools you would find with HPC Mini-Picks, i.e., the turning tools in the bifold and trifold wallet sets, Regal Roll-Up and "KGB" belt set.
The double ended turning tool that is more "conventional" is fairly standard and on par with my favorite HPC Rigid wrenches. Nothing to write home about one way or another past that.
Onto the picks!
One complaint. Why they chose to cover this metal in chrome is beyond me. I have spring steel ESP and HPC picks from the late 80s and they have been well taken care of with incredibly minimal effort. Stainless steel eliminates further worries. Why these folks chose to make these things fatter by covering them with chrome, if I understand what they have done correctly, is beyond me.
Chrome is nice for an AR-15 or Benelli barrel, but when you want to manipulate pins and do that in restrictive keyways, it's really not necessary and probably adds to the overall cost of production when they could have just made the choice between excellent spring steel or equally viable stainless steel instead of fattening them up a bit with chrome. Some other folks have complained, albeit minorly, about these picks not fitting properly in smaller keyways.
I have not had a bad experience with them yet. Just my personal experience. I like these picks, I find they give good feedback even though they have plasticized handles not totally unlike Rytan picks.
Let's split the rest into two sections:
1. Pick handle.
2. Pick Profiles.
The handles I discussed a little bit above but let me go a bit further. Rytan used almost like a fine checkering built into the moulds for their plastic handles, Dino has decided to manufacture a more sparse type of simple stippling to get across the same grip.
The handles are quite ergonomic, again, not totally unlike Rytan (which I really like) and they have a gentle arc, slightly less pronounced than you find with Rytan picks. They have a little bit more of the "Wasp-waist" than the Rytans as well, they're really very nicely done and I have no complaints about them at all. Some will not like them because they will prefer plain steel picks as they think these dampen (feedback) vibrations.
Pick Profiles
1. There are seven (7) lifter/hook pick profiles of varying heights. The smallest is approximately the dimensions of the Rytan Mini-Blue hook/lifter pick. The "largest" hook/lifter pick is approximately the same size, perhaps the most tiny bit smaller, than standard HPC, Majestic and HPC picks of the same type.
I think they could have done a little bit better on these, increasing the span of not only height but degree of curve.
But, they're nice and they get the job done very, very well.
The Double-Ball, a/k/a, 8 Ball or Snowman. Pick #3 in the Dino/Brockhage Navigator.
I used this pick along with a Bird's-Eye turning tool to blaze through two Official "CLUB" steering wheel locks in under 90 seconds. This is where these picks shine, double-sided disc tumblers. I have no complaints one way or the other, just sort of puzzled as to why they put it in there. Since they obviously looked quite hard at Rytans, it's hard to imagine why they did not copy the DeForest half-diamond/lifter/hook hybrid instead of using this pick.
Number 14 is a one-quarter rake and if you flip it, it's an interesting hook/lifter pick with extreme degree of curve, all depends on how you want to use it. I have no complaints whatsoever about it. It's a standard that you find in the larger HPC and Majestic picksets but not the smaller sets.
Numbers 10 and 11 are the same type of riffle rakes that you find in the Pen Pick Set that is also manufactured by Dino. They are quite effective and a bit frail. Number 11, as a matter of fact, it is quite similar if not almost identical to the Rytan riffle rake. I have one, you don't see them around too much anymore unless you have a larger Rytan set.
Numbers 6 and 7 are Dino's attempt to make tools suitable for manipulating "dimple" locks, most notably Mul-T-Lock because of the telescoping pins. One pin has a raised portion and the other "sunken" portion, a divot, and both of these picks are offset.
I will let you know how they work later on, on these and other types of locks like that.
I'm not even going to comment on the broken key extractor except to say it is a harpoon type and that's that.
The surprise is Number 15, which is a wafer (disc tumbler) lock reading tool that is used to depress the wafers to read the heights of the "windows" in them, or gates if you prefer. it works and presents a very quick way of making keys for a multitude of wafer/disc based locks.
