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Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 1:45 pmby Dopug
Hi Guys
Here's my New peterson slimline pick next to my trusty sparrows hook.
I was wondering if it would be ok to sand the peterson down to a similar size as the sparrows, or would this make the pick to weak? I know the petersons are heat treated and tempered, so i'm worried about sanding away to much of the steel and fucking up the pick. has anyone got any experience of sanding this down?
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 3:01 pmby Farmerfreak
I ground down/sanded the shaft of my Peterson gov. steel hook. I'm positive it makes the pick weaker, just means you have to be more delicate with it.
The top pick is a gem, the bottom is the modified hook. I just free-handed it on a grinder and then sanded it by hand. I didn't think much about it to be honest, I just did it. (Edit: I did prevent it from overheating by dipping it in water.)
Note: I also attached HPC handles to mine.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 3:13 pmby chris
I've sanded down a lot of my Peterson picks, not so much to make the shaft thinner like FF did, but to get rid of the sharp edges and make them a bit thinner width wise, the Carbon Steel and Standard Govt. Steel ones that I got were a bit thick for my liking (and the Slenders that they put out are too thin my liking, so I get standards and sand them). I rounded them off so it would feel a bit smoother in the lock also. One of my picks I inadvertently sanded the shaft narrower because I got sand paper happy (which I paid for with blistered fingers...remember, when metal feels hot..chances are your fingers are not going to be happy
) and I liked it that way, less chance of over setting the closer pins.
I may go ahead and do what FF did and use a grinder, or sanding drum on a Dremel to thin mine out a bit.
I did notice on the one that I sanded down a lot, that it did lose some strength. Like FF said, be a little more delicate with them and I'm sure they will be fine.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 5:00 pmby Dopug
Thanks farmerfreak and chris, i think i'll go ahead and sand them down.
I think i will just sand down the tip of my lifter pick from the gov steel speciality picks, this pick has a thin shaft, as thin as a sparrows but it doesnt taper out like a sparrow or south ord, and it's much stronger. but tip profile is not much use to me so this will be a good one to work on, also it was half the price of a gov steel hook.
Chris i agree, the slimline picks are way to thin, they wobble about to much under the pins, but i guess worth having in my set for that one lock out there that needs it
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 5:12 pmby Dopug
Farmer freak, do you know if all peterson picks are the same underneather the handle whether they are tubber plastic or whatever. and what are they like underneth? i only like the rubber handles, but they only sell the speciality and slinlines in the plastic type handles, which is really anoying!
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 6:21 pmby Farmerfreak
Dopug wrote:Farmer freak, do you know if all peterson picks are the same underneather the handle whether they are tubber plastic or whatever.
I can't answer that, I've only ever had two Peterson picks. They were smooth underneath (like the sparrows). I had to drill the holes for the rivets.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 6:29 pmby chris
The top one in this picture is a Peterson Govt. Steel Slender pick.
The bottom one is a Peterson Govt. Steel Standard pick.
You can see that there is a slight indentation in the Govt. Steel one.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 7:22 pmby cool-arrow
chris wrote:The top one in this picture is a Peterson Govt. Steel Slender pick.
The bottom one is a Peterson Govt. Steel Standard pick.
You can see that there is a slight indentation in the Govt. Steel one.
I always wondered what they look like with the rubber off. I have all of the GS picks and I never needed to sand them to make them more functional I just use a different pick for the type of lock I am tryign to pick. Peterson also makes the DCAP set which have a really thin shaft but are a little thicker than the standard GS picks. The GS picks are pretty strong so I think a little sanding wouldnt hurt them much as far as overall strength goes.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 7:27 pmby chris
Sanding is a personal preference, they don't NEED to be sanded to work or be functional, but when you have been using people's home brew picks, and your own home brew picks that are sanded nice and smooth, it is hard to go back to something with a sharp edge like Peterson, it just doesn't glide as smooth as a lightly sanded pick.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 7:41 pmby cool-arrow
chris wrote:Sanding is a personal preference, they don't NEED to be sanded to work or be functional, but when you have been using people's home brew picks, and your own home brew picks that are sanded nice and smooth, it is hard to go back to something with a sharp edge like Peterson, it just doesn't glide as smooth as a lightly sanded pick.
I Have been contemplating sanding mine down for a while, the DCAP's in particular are pretty rough on the top and bottom. It almost looks like a mini file on some parts of the edge.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Fri May 20, 2011 7:49 pmby chris
Yeah I think the Peterson's are laser cut, which creates that edge. It also creates extremely sharp angles on it...sanding them down a little, just a little to make them more rounded allows the pick to run in the lock smoother and not catch on wardings and pins quite as much.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Sat May 21, 2011 1:41 amby Dopug
chris wrote:Sanding is a personal preference, they don't NEED to be sanded to work or be functional, but when you have been using people's home brew picks, and your own home brew picks that are sanded nice and smooth, it is hard to go back to something with a sharp edge like Peterson, it just doesn't glide as smooth as a lightly sanded pick.
I would have to respectfully disagree, I have built up a pretty large collection of euro profile locks with nasty keyways, and the only peterson that is really suitable as standard it the DCAP Half Diamond.
I really love the quality of these picks and i believe that even when modified they would still be the strongest picks on the market, but as standard, they are not much use to me. I do believe that once i have crafted the perfect profiles from some gove steel picks, these will become my go to picks everytime.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Sat May 21, 2011 7:35 amby chris
I'm confused as to what you are disagreeing to. My statement about them not needing sanding to be functional? I live in the States so the key ways aren't usually quite as crazy as some of the Euro locks. That said I am used to using them in some extremely crazy key ways when I come across them.
I'd say the vast majority of people that use Peterson's don't give a thought to sanding their picks, and have no problems with using them in locks. The Slender Peterson picks work great in para-centric key ways with crazy warding without any modifications.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Sat May 21, 2011 7:53 amby Farmerfreak
chris wrote:The Slender Peterson picks work great in para-centric key ways with crazy warding without any modifications.
My Petersons are the slender ones. Unmodified they probably work great in most para-centric keyways. It's the few that they don't work so well in is the reason I modified the hook.
Re: Modifing Peterson Gov steel picks
Posted:
Sat May 21, 2011 8:35 amby chris
Yeah, there will always be a couple locks that a pick doesn't fit, I was speaking on a mass scale.