grinder caught a couple of picks and twisted them up...oops.
i'd already made picks out of this crap and i really needed to salvage 'em, so i broke out the propane torch and tried my hand at heat treating them.
results seem perfect.
went from bending easily to being springy and resilient. i don't anticipate any brittleness issues, but i will probably do some destructive testing soon when i get the courage up to actually trash a couple picks. *cries*
instructions:
you need one propane torch, one small reservoir of clean, new motor oil, and a good old pair of pliers.
hold the flame at an angle with the nozzle and pick tip pointing downward so that as much of the flame covers the pick as you can get simultaneously.
get it evenly heated up from tip to about 3/8" into the handle itself, you want around an orange to slightly reddish color. it won't be perfect, but try to get it even anyway.
once it's looking about right, plunge it into the oil and keep it there for maybe 10-15 seconds or until bubbles quit coming up.
take it back out and run the very end of the torch flame over it to burn off the oil, which should slightly case harden it.
seems worth it so far, much nicer and stronger than the non-treated picks i have. we'll see based on further testing.
hope it helps someone.
