Raimundo's Picks

[Romstar]

These are pictures of a set of lock picks sent to me by our own Raimundo.

I have to stress that these are incredible picks, and their performace is exemplary. I have used a wide variety of picks from many companies and persons as well as my own, and rarely do I encounter picks as well made, or as functional as these.

An absolutely incredible job Ray, and I sincerely hope that you continue to make such excellent picks.



The picks as received



The picks spread out.

Kudos, and many thanks to Raimundo!

Romstar

[WhiteHat]

I have the ones on the top left with the safety pin.

dot point good things about them:

You can use the pick that you're not picking with as a very functional tension wrench.

The picks glide over(or under) the pins like nothing else.

You can do your hair in the mirror finish that the picks have so you look good while picking (hey - MacGyver always did).

awesome - truely awesome.. - do a search on the Bogota rake for more information on those bumpy ones above.

[Mr Ules]

Interesting looking picks.

[master in training]

i've heard stories of Raimundos picks, they're renouned for being absolutely awesome...

[Guesss]

Those are amazing. i really like the twist flexes in the handles of the picks and that could make an excelent tension wrench. i think thous would be wonderful to work with..

the one down fall is they aren't as easioy packageable but well worth the traid off

[jessopher]

excellent. Whats the function of the hooks on the end of the two middle picks? and also, are there any sort of 'good aproximations' to stick with for the spacing/height/slope of the ribs in a bogata rake? And what about the dimensions of say... a king pick? Ive seen images of them on the board, but nothing next to a readable ruler. These seem like tools where the dimensions matter allot.

[WhiteHat]

this thread has a scale diagram of the king and queen picks on page three as well as a lot of discussion.
viewtopic.php?t=2387
image by macaba: Here

I think the general idea with the bogota rakes would be to have the troughs and peaks both under pins.

here's varjeal's review of raimundo's picks:
viewtopic.php?t=5543

here's a discussion on why they're good at security pins:
viewtopic.php?t=1999

somewhere there's a diagram of how to make bogota rakes, but for the life of me I can't find an active link...

[jessopher]

Cool, thanks. I misspelled bogota when searching, as well as in that last post... .

[Kayvon]

I know Raimundo has some interesting shims he makes as well. Do you happen to have a picture of those also? A visual would help tremendously towards making my own.

[skold]

I have the 2 in the top left of the second picture..amazing picks.

I can letterally see my self in them and the hardened handles are done so well....they just make me cry

[Geek142]

Bah They is very nice

[omelet]

The designs are good, and very nice finishing job...I really need some sandpaper.

A couple things:

--These seem like they would only be good for people who use an overhand-type grip on the picks, as opposed to pencil-type grip. Not a big deal, if you don't mind swithing up the style.

--Third and fourth down of bottom picture look like they have the designs inverted, I assume these for locks mounted upside down?

--What is the purpose of the safety pin/ spring one, other than same raking as the others?

--Is that thing on top right of bottom picture supposed to be a torque bar? seems kinda wide to me, but its hard to see from the scaling...

--It was said in the other post that raimundo uses sweeper bristles to make these picks. I tried heat treating and still found that they were too bendy to be used as torque bars. Did I just get crappy sweeper bristles or what?


One suggestion:

--If the ends of the picks are indeed intended to be used to torque, in addition to the thing on top right of bottom picture, they would be better if they had a 90 degree angle in them instead of a larger angle. That way the torque you apply goes directly to rotation of the plug, and the bar is more likely to stay in the lock if put at the top of the keyway. This might not prove to be as comfortable to hold as a pick, however.

[raimundo]

the thing on the top right of the bottom picture is an expreriment in torker that I sent romstar, the blade of the tensor is twisted 90 degrees throughout its entire length, with the idea that it would jam tight in the lower keyway without binding against the cylinder wall, my experiments with this have shown that it works well in some keyways, it would be better to have a set of two of these with right hand and left hand twists to find what works for a particular keyway. the pin and spring devise is used to attach the picks to clothing so that they are not lost. the hooks on the picks with the curled handles go around the second finger and give good control of the the orientation of the pick blade. one set of these bogotas is for upside down, or european style locks. I have made the bogota rake work well on some euro cylinders, but generally the europeans do not prefer my picks because they don't facilitate using the second finger to touch the interface between the plug and the cyinder, where a tactile feedback that cannot otherwise be seen is felt. I am thinking about how that could be fixed with some other type of handles. If you are thinking of finding that pdf that is at ucspace or some such, to make these for yourself, do not be too inhibited by the exact dimensions, one of the larger chain saw files will do nicely, as always, get dimension from the key of the lock you intend to pick mostly, and ignore the highest and lowest cuts because the pick will move in a way the key will not. streetsweeper bristle comes soft hard brittle and flexible, the tempering and the control of the alloy seems not to be highly controlled, but most of it is ok. soft can be tempered, and brittle is eliminate by making the bends and twists first before you put any real work into them. If you wipe the bristle with scotchbrite scrubber and the rust comes off and leaves a surface without rust pits, you have a piece to work with, if there are pits, throw it away.

[raimundo]

the tips of the bogota rake 3 in all extend approximately the length of five pins on the key. The most important part of the design is the deep valley between the peaks, the peaks just raise the pins, and are increasingly narrow to the top, so such a peak could be between two pins with the pins finding their shearlines on the sloping sides, when such a rake is put into a plug with random pins in it, it is usually posible to find a sweet spot where the pick will satisfy the shearline of three or four of the random pins. When rattled a bit, the peaks of this rake will allow the pins to jump off into the valleys, while the driver pins find the shear step. It works for me.

[raimundo]

Coming soon, Varjeal will be putting together a site where he will be selling picks, I will be contributing some of them, to the exclusion of them being available directly from me. If you do order them, try to mention if you have large hands and a heavy picking style or if your hands are smaller and you have a lighter touch, so that the picks you get could be better suited to your style.
Omlet, your final paragraph seems to suggest that a 90 degree angle on the tensor can somehow transmit rotation better than a larger angle. You might rethink that, perhaps bend a few yourself, and consider the tulip knob while doing so