Made some with my new bench grinder!

[Minion]

Zoomed out
Zoomed in!

Took me something like... 3 hours to make them. I'm waiting until friday when my brother gets his paycheck to be able to go out and get some sandpaper to make them nice and shiny and to take out the rough edges.

It's all 100% bench grinder work, I figured for my first time using one, I might as well see what I could do. I love it. A lot.

I resurrected my broken SO pick. I used the windshield wiper metal for the picks from number 8-11, which are my own 'super freaking tiny' design. Made that small for the american lock cylinder(s) that I'll be receiving from Cracksman. I kind of used the templates that chrispy made, but as you can tell, I just varied and did whatever felt right with them.

Well, for my first time using a bench grinder, and my first hand-made pics, whaddya think?

[MeRZHiN]

they look VERY good! better than mine. but indeed need poloshing. i also find the bumps on the sawtooth rake a little big, but that is my opinion. prolly totally wrong

[Minion]

Thanks!
I picked a 5 wafer lock with it.. and the #2 sawtooth rake is a wee bit too large, but it got the job done

I had a couple 'accidents' with my bench grinder, though. Mostly just figuring out which anglesbending were evil and not to be used when grinding thin metal, causing biting and a little . No worries, nothing was destroyed. It's all perfectly straight now!

[zeke79]

Remember safety glasses are your friend .

[Minion]

Oh yeah, I always have the safety glasses.

Made 6 more today, they don't seem to be as great as yesterday's, maybe I was in the zone or something. :

http://minion.jrbach.com/6more.jpg
I was just experimenting with designs... haven't tested them out yet.

http://minion.jrbach.com/bencharea.jpg
The general area. Fuel on the left, goggles right next to it, bench grinder (lots o' filings) and pick templates (I didn't bother marking the blades, just eyed it)

http://minion.jrbach.com/benchclose.jpg
6 inch beauty... only $40!

[cracksman]

Very nice Minion,
looks like you quenched them a lot, no overheating, good job.
Personally, I like to use the wet dry sandpaper you get at
automotive stores, 2000 grit is great but takes
some patience, most people seam to suggest 600,
which should be more than enough, I'll get those locks
off to you soon, I promise

[Minion]

I took pyro's video to heart, and made absolutely positive to quench very often.

I really want more wiper blades, but I don't have any (out of the 2 cars that I have to choose from, only 2 pieces of metal (one blade) could be found )

[Mad Mick]

They look quite good. A tip on using the grinder though...try to keep the work-piece flat on the tool-rest, whilst applying a constant pressure against the wheel, and drawing at an even rate. This will give a smoother contour, rather than leaving the work-piece with a 'stepped' appearance.

Example:
You want to make a Falle-style deep-curve hook.
Mark out the initial shape on the blade stock. (hacksaw blade will suffice)
Note the radius of the hook shape...the centre point would be waaay off the work-piece, so you'll have to find a starting point for grinding - measure roughly halfway along the hook's length, and make a mark. Start a little off-centre (to one side, or the other) from the mark, and make small curved passes against one edge of the grinding wheel, to produce a scaled-down version of the final shape....the material left on the blade stock should be of a similar thickness in relation to the template marks. Once you have a similar radius to the template, make controlled passes on the grinding wheel by keeping a constant pressure/feed rate and don't forget to quench every 2-3 seconds or so. Stop grinding when your stock is close to/almost at the template lines...finish work will still remove material.

[Minion]

when I use the work rest, the grinder bites the metal. I'll go back out later tonight and try some more.

[Mad Mick]

Make sure the tool-rest is adjusted as close to the wheel as possible. This will prevent the work-piece from 'tipping' towards the wheel.

[Minion]

, should've thought about that myself! Thanks!

[pretender]

Looks like your picks have too short/thick of a taper. Ideally you want a good compromise between the minimum possible thickness without losing strength.

I'd take them back to the grinder and thin out the taper more, while drawing it farther back into the handle.

[Minion]

Really? If you look at chrispy's picks, they hardly have any taper. I don't think it would hinder performance at all.

[Peter Martin]

Just wanted to chime in... generally same comments as everyone else. The picks appear too thick.. it appears they taper to the shank too quickly which might prevent insertion to the full depth of the keyway. I personally don't like using hacksaw blades... but if you do use hacksaw baldes, grind all the teeth down flush.

I say that because I noticed that some of your picks still have partial hacksaw teeth. Geez, make them smooth! Back to the grinder!

Use the grinder to shape the tips, but the handles you should use a file and "draw" file them flat, so the handle doesn't have dips--check them against a ruler.

Try using old stainless steel steak knives as pick stock next (Goodwill or thrift stores have tons of them--use Japanese steel, not Chinese/Taiwan) ... I think you'll like the results better--they polish nice and are stronger.

And, of course, as everyone else mentioned, polish out the grinder marks!

Overall this is good work--keep posting your picks, I'm sure that you'll quickly find the quality of your work improves fast.

[Minion]

I cept smoothed out teet on there. I like the feel.

I left a lot of material on them, because I've yet to get files/dremel sanding things.