advice on Sparrows pick sets, Military or Basic?

[nine4t4]

While I'm not a complete noob, I am new to the site. So here's where I'll post my quandry.

After years of making my own lockpicks out of everything from paperclips to strapping I want to get a bit more serious. Long story short, since I'm buying some spool and serated practice locks from anyway, I may as well get a set of dedicated picks at the same time. Petersen and Falle are abit outside hobbyist. While Southord has a better variety and individual picks, I want to go with Sparrows (slightly better rep, support the local businesses, CanPost instead of UPS or FedEx...)

Sparrows offers great kits for the money (I know US suppliers are cheaper but my savings gets eaten in shipping)

The choices are:
A) Military SF...whatever 8 picks 6 wrenches and a cool Molle case.
http://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/produc ... %20blk.htm

1 x Best Buster Snake rake 0.025 Thick
1 x Worm Rake 0.025 Thick
1 x Small Half Diamond 0.025 Thick
1 x Steep Hook 0.025 Thick
1 x Offset Hybrid 0.025 Thick
1 x Standard Short Hook 0.025 Thick
1 x City Rake 0.025 Thick
1 x High Reach 0.025 Thick
6 x Tension Wrenches

B) The other option is to get the kick starter and expansion sets. For about the same money total I could order the case seperately and get both sets. It's 8 picks but has a very close copy of a bogota instead of the worm rake (the worm looks like an 8-bit bogota). I know I won't use a city rake, and I have a set of bogotas so it's more about the conventional picks.

1 x City Rake 0.025 thick
1 x Offset Hybrid 0.025 thick
1 x Triple Rake 0.025 thick
1 x Shallow Euro Hook 0.025 thick
6 x Tension Wrenches

1 x Small Half Diamond .025 thick
1 x Standard Short hook 0.25 thick
1 x Best Buster (Snake Rake) .025 thick
1 x Twin Peak .025 thick
6 x Tension Wrenches

The other option is one of the other kits in the 40-80 dollar range. But I'd like a kit small enough to throw in my pocket, or my satchel. I could buy one of the larger kits and get more picks, but I'd prefer to edge to the EDC sizes. A

I'd appreciate any input on these options or any of the kits that they offer. What don't I know that I should?

[Deadlock]

Hi nine4t4. I see that none of those picks have handles. From my experience with SouthOrd I would definitely recommend getting picks with handles.

[scudo]

Deadlock I agree I got a 5 piece Southord as I didnt know any better and I find they dig into the flesh, part of my issue is being a newbie I probably spend more time trying to SPP a lock than someone with more experience, similarly the tension bars are awkward as they dont have the 90 ° twist on them. I will make my own which will be more suited for my needs. Having said that it doesnt stop me practising.

[Presumedsublime]

My first set was sparrows. Long story short two of the rakes broke off at the same spot in the lock because of a week spot in the design. I spent a little extra cash and got Petersons and haven't had a single issue. If Petersons are out of your range I'd go with a southord set with handles. I think it's px-14 or something like that. Check out lockpickcanada you may be able to save on shipping.

[flywheel]

I think it's px-14 or something like that. Check out lockpickcanada you may be able to save on shipping.

Southord PXS-14

All picks in the PXS-14 are 0.025 inches thick. Out of that set I only use 4 things. Thick tension wrench, thin tension wrench, half diamond, and short hook.
If I had a deforest diamond and gem, couple more tension wrench options, and the same picks in the thinner 0.015-0.020 inch thickness I would be set.

[Deadlock]

Hi scudo. Yeah, I had to learn the hard way too - but then that's the same for everything with me ha, ha! Just to clarify, the first picks I bought were SouthOrd standards, which are 20 thou thick. SouthOrd don't mention this on their website. I then bought some SouthOrd slimlines (23 - 25 thou) which have the metal handle. While these ain't the most comfortable things to hold, they're still way better than no handle at all. I'm going to try (carefully) sanding off the corners on the handle of one of them to see what it's like. I'd certainly recommend the SouthOrd slimlines. Maybe the C1510 or C2010 sets. I'm quite fond of the long SO twist stem, but one thing I've often wished they did is a thicker tension wrench.

[piotr]

I have Sparrows gear and I agree with what the other guys said about the handles. Handle-less picks pack nice and flat but they are hard on the hands with extended picking sessions. At the least, get the handle-version picks of those that are for SPP (hooks and maybe half-diamond) and get handle-less rakes.

I agree with you that you should also support a local company; and Sparrows have been really good to the hobbyist community, they basically exist for the hobbyist.

[scudo]

Deadlock, I have ordered some hacksaw blades off ebay so will attempt to make a few picks. In the meantime I wrapped an elastic band around the TB as I found my finger was slipping especially as I may be working on a lock for 5 or 10 minutes so this helped.
The other 2 tension bars were used on my filing cabinet (wafer lock) as the Southord was too slim. I made these out of a couple of paper clips and filed the end to suit.

picks.jpg

[Deadlock]

Nice one scudo. nine4t4, I fully support your reasons for buying Sparrows, and I've always read good things, so it was a bit saddening to read of Presumedsublime's experience with them. One of the things that impresses me about Sparrows is the number of tension wrenches they have. I've looked on their website and they don't seem to sell individual picks, but they do sell cases on their own. How about this: Buy the Sparrows Wizwazzle set and the Molle case you like. It's fun to spend other peoples money! Serious suggestion though.

[rerun12]

While a really like a few of sparrows picks (short hook, double hump, something else im forgetting..)_ their tensions wrenches are reeeally good for raking imo. Still a bit overpriced but they are one of the newer companies so maybe prices will come down soon.

As far as picks breaking..their customer service dept is great, let em know what broke and they'll send you a new one. However, buying an individual pick (which they do even tho it's not listed on their site... costs 4.50$ per pick o.O

[nine4t4]

Thanks rerun, I figured they had a policy. Many online retailers can make arangements outside of what the website says. Serepick will ship to Canada as long as you accept the posibility of your picks getting held at customs (Not likely an issue with an ontario address, but B.C. destinations may be problematic.

SP=Sparrows, SO=Southord

Someone pointed to Lock Pick Canada, which is probably the same office as Sparrows). For some reason I just can't bring myself to go with SO. SO's high yields sound like similar steel to SP's. I can easily Macgyver a handle from Liqui-dip, Shrink tube, or even taking a dremel to the tangs to make them more comfortable. I'm probably going to get the two starter sets and pick a case with my locks

BUT if I am going to make my own handles down the road they have to kick ass. Below are some blanks that I can get from Lee Valley. Split, hollow-out, glue around pick (and/or rivet) and shape. The pens are made from the bottom blanks. With a scroll saw I may be able to get 2 handles out of a single blank.

Thanks for the advice. I'll post picks when they handles are made (don't hold your breath)

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=53611&cat=1,250,43243,53784,53611
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=53405&cat=1,250,43243,53784
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=32842&cat=1,250,43217,32842

[Riyame]

Hello Nine4t4,

Due to copyright laws we cannot have other sites images uploaded to the forum. I have removed them and placed links to the images instead.

Thank you.

[gnarus8429]

For a tacti-cool case check this out:

http://www.maxpedition.com/store/pc/4-x-6-Notebook-Cover-p890.htm

It is meant as a note book cover but it works great for picks. The sewn channels (that work great for picks width wise) are a bit long so I stuffed a little fomm in them until I could see the tops of the picks. Here is a couple of quick pics from my phone:

[ARF-GEF]

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=53405&cat=1,250,43243,53784
These acrylinc bars are so cool I'm actually thinking of making up some project just to work with it Thank you for postin!

[nine4t4]

Thanks. I thought I was being brilliant, but a quick search showed that ratyoke or somebody beat me to it.

Looking at my kabar I thought leather might be a good material. Instead of leather washers I would probably build a laminate and sandwich the pick. Since leather is softe I'll need to rivet.

The leather would give a good grip, patina over time and create a custom feel after a while