Just realized that I received my picks from raimundo ages ago, and I never posted my thoughts here! A slacker is me.
For those of you still in the dark, raimundo, one of the LP101 luminaries, makes and sells homemade picks fashioned from street cleaner bristles. Like a proper craftsman, he files them down by hand, then polishes them with increasing grades of sandpaper. (Not sure if he tempers them -- ray?)
His primary "models" now are a pair of self-contained tools called the Bogota rake and Bogota pick. The pick is a half-diamond, distinguished by the diamond not protruding from a straight shaft, but rather being cut in from the bottom as well, creating a "zig-zag" pattern in the metal. I'm told he does this to maintain the strength of the tool, as well as to make it easier to maneuver past wards.
The Bogota rake is the same story, except there are three bumps, all of equal height.
Quick photo:
http://berkeleyhigh.org/provinggrounds/bogota.jpg (key for perspective; post-it for... uh... because.)
You'll notice the unusual shape. Actually, the L handles are designed to be used as tension wrenches; you pick with one tool, you torque with the other. Like the rest of the tool, they're polished smooth; actually, the finish on these is undoubtedly one of the high points, allowing the pick to move butter-smooth within the lock, whether you're raking or just positioning it. You hold the pick between your thumb and forefinger right behind the twist in the tang, bracing your middle finger against the L-bend. It's a change from the classic pencil grip, but works fine.
Using these I've made leaps and bounds in my picking that I could never pull off with my SouthOrds. The diamond is fairly standard stuff, but excels for raking/scrubbing because of the smooth finish and very low-profile shaft. The Bogota rake... at first I couldn't figure it out at all, but now it's my favorite pick. You can tip it back and use the bump at the tip as a diamond, or you can hold it flat and scrub; or you can rock it around and in and out like a jiggler, letting the bends and bumps kick the pins all over the place. It's sized to more or less the same length as the cuts on an ordinary key.
These are built as a small, effective unit (they can be stuck into the spring from a ballpoint pen), and they work great for that. I've been using them as my primary picks, though, to the point where I almost wish for a bit more. For instance, a separate tensor would be nice; occasionally I want to be able to switch picks, which is impossible when one of them is being used for tension. And I have some trouble using the diamond for single-pin picking (not my strong suit anyway), in part because it's so smooth; a good hook would really round things off.
I used to find the tensor blades a little too wide, and they are on the wide side, but it actually just serves to lodge itself more securely in the keyway. Occasionally I wish it were a little smaller, but then, I always wish I had more space; what I really want is a magical telekinetic wrench that doesn't go in the keyway at all...
I do sometimes wonder what these would be like, built in a way that facilitated an ordinary grip rather than the L shape. Better, worse? Occasionally when I'm raking, the way things are constructed makes me bump into the wrench with one of my pick fingers, risking a loss of tension. A bit annoying. And obviously these aren't invertable without a seriously weird grip, so you'll need a different pair if you have Euro-mounted cylinders.
I also think I've bent both of these just a tad from aggressive raking at firm-springed pins. That may be a consequence of a Genghis Khan picking method, though.
Anyway, the short story is that these are some fantastic picks, and I eagerly await the next notion to come from raimundo's brainpan. If you get a chance to score a set of these... take it.
The case may be the same for you. All the picks that I've made aren't nearly as stiff as the bristles he uses.
