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I was wondering if this was a good material for a pick. I don't think the flat part of the knife is long enough to make a handle, so I was wondering if the handle would take away the feedback.



EDIT: The handle is about 3.5mm wide.

Might be kind of heavy. You could cut the handle in half, that would make it smaller and lighter.

good idea! Would grinding the handle flatter work?

You could, but it would probably end up looking like shit. Its too long anyway, so you might want to cut it shorter and see how it is. Then if its still too heavy grind the handle thinner.

South Ord picks are about 4" long I think. The picks I make are about 6".

Ok, maybe I could make the pick out of the flat part, just checked my 6 pin cylinder and it's only about 1 1/4 inches long. I think I have enough room to make the handle out of the flat part. Thanks for your help!

imo,that would be a poor choice of starting material.. too thick low quality steel).i have made a LOT of butterknife picks,and the are a LOT of work to get a good,working ,quality end product
check all your local thrift stores ,salvation army ect...try and find Sheffield steel ....
look for the knives that look like they are for spreading butter...flat,with very little taper...
please have a look at my how-to vids for an example...
remember you cant polish a turd...
if you need any help , let me know,as i went thru this whole sequence a while back..
better to watch for where i made mistakes,than making them yourself..

Two words. Photo editor. It might save you on your upload time to resize the image so that it isn't 3x larger than lifesize.

In order to make that knife into a pick you would have to do alot of stainless steel grinding. Like an hours worth of grinding for a pick that might not be tough enough. Like awol said if you are going to use a knife you want to start with a knife you know to be a good quality steel that doesn't have alot of taper. That way you won't end up wasting your time at the wheel. I've had good luck with old West Bend knives, but not so much with generic chinese butter knives.

Actually you can, but it will still be a turd. Also, if you put lipstick on a pig while sniffing a lilly blooming on a rosebush, the bloom will smell like a fart and the pig will shit polished turds.

I'll make it easy for you: I have a bunch of left over feeler gauge stock thats too short for my picks. 4"-5.5" long, 0.020" and 0.025". PM me if you want it.

I didn't realize Keypicking had so many modern day philosophers on this site.

Thanks everyone! I have my safety gear,(full ear muffs, bb gun glasses, and breathing protection. I'll keep my eye out for some Sheffield stainess butter knives. I may have to resort to hacksaw blades for a while until I can find some truck wiper inserts or the butter knives.

Hehe. Turds. You guys crack me up.

Been working 10 hr days, 7 days a week. Haven't been on as much as i'd like, but that's totally off topic. Anyway, For the past few years I've been learning about the different grades of metal at work. I had no idea there were that many grades of one type. A lot of the old timers have tools made of steel which are 20+ years old. The new kids come in, see the oil and surface rust on the steel, and decide to make their tools out of stainless. The best grade of stainless cannot compare to the durability of a good chunk of steel, (let me know if anyone disagrees) and soon realize that the shiny object doesn't always win. Now, (wait a minute, what the heck is my point anyway?) I guess what I was trying to say was exactly what Mr. Tooly said, make sure you're starting out with something decent so you don't waste your time.


Like ratyoke said, it might look like crap, but that all depends on your skillz. Also, if you have access to a belt sander (with a decent grit), you might want to try that. In our shop, we use a belt sander to rough out high speed steel tool bits, and the grinder to fine tune rake and clearance angles. Believe it or not, a good belt sander will remove more metal quicker than a grinder. (don't forget to keep it cool!)

Well, that probably didn't help, but happy Friday!

Stainless is nice just because it won't rust as easy. It's not as strong as other alloys and can be tough to machine.
It's strong enough for picks, and grinds easy enough, readily available, so it's a good choice.

Lot's of those old timers tools were made from top quality tool steel. Not the recycled crap that is common today.
You can still get the top quality stuff, but the price is high, heat treatment can be important too.

I would like to know for sure the alloy used for something like Peterson's "Government steel ".

Cheapo hacksaw blades are just bad news.

However for about $20.... http://www.alibaba.com/product-gs/21119 ... blade.html

For this price you can get your picks custom made by one of the master pick makers that are kind enough to share their skills.