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What's up guys, just wanted to show off some of my homebrew picks. They are all made from knives and they take about 2 hours to make each. I make them using tin snips to remove excess material, bench grinder to get the rough shape, then file sand and steelwool for fine detail.

Welcome to THE forum Haze.

Great start... nice lookin' hooks.

It's a bit hard to tell with these picks but from what I can see it looks like you're a pretty decent craftsman. I'm curious about a couple things though.

How well do the snips work, I never would have guessed they could cut through a knife without deforming it. Are they just regular snips or some serious industrial version? Have a pic or link to a pair?

Obviously you know what you're doing, but since you didn't mention it are you quenching the material as you grind it? The heat generated from grinders can easily screw up the temper if not.

Your half diamonds are interesting too, the top one seems to have a downward slope to it. Does that help any getting under long pins? Also the bottom one has a wider shank on the back half. Scale is a little hard to visualize but wouldn't that be problematic if you had a lock with a long first pin?

I'd also like to say I like how utilitarian the handles are. I've made quite a few picks myself and they've all been simply functional. I'm good enough with my tools to make a perfect working end, I could copy just about any design, I can do just about anything when it comes to making stuff. Except aesthetics. I absolutely suck at making things look pretty. The best handle I ever made actually looks just like your hook with the heat shrink tubing but with the opposite color scheme. It's nice to see that there are others that make good looking picks that are strictly functional. I hope this doesn't sound insulting, I do like them.

Thanks for the feedback, Aedalas. The snips cut through the knives like butter. If done carefully then it won't deform the metal, however I have tested the metal and have found it to be very strong. If it was deformed during the process it could probably be reshaped without compromising the metal's strength. The snips I use are just the regular, yellow handled ones:

I do quench the metal while grinding, it's one of the most important yet overlooked parts of the process.
As far as the diamonds go, I got the idea for the curve from Wizwazzle on youtube. I've found it to be more useful for raking than SPP but I've used it for both. The bottom one is a funny story actually. I modeled after the first pick I ever made, which could open every master lock I tried it on in just one rake.
The wider shank was just the way I made it, I suppose my interpretation of the half diamond was a little off. Strangely enough the wider shank seems to greatly improve the effectiveness of the pick when raking.

Like Aedalas, I'm surprised that snips/shears could cut through knife stock.

Your picks look good -- Spartan but good. Regarding aesthetics, I've never actually seen anyone try it, but Eddie"The Wire" in his book "Home Workshop Professional Lock Tools" suggests laminating each side of the pick handle (and his are identical in design to yours, i.e. standard "popsicle" handle) with Laminex/Formica. Formica comes in a huge array of colours and styles so it sounds like it could work.

The only other easy (aesthetics enhancing) option that I can think of is a platic polymer dip product such as Plasti-Dip (http://www.plastidip.net.au/ NOT the aersol product it's crap). A few dips can give you a comfortable and colourful handle.

Welcome to the forum.

Thanks for the feedback. I have used many different types of handles over the years, including metal and wood laminate (using the method you mentioned), plasti-dip (both spray and dip form), and heat shrink tubing,, to name a few. Surprisingly, I like the plain metal handles the best. I've found that they give the best feedback and they fit in my case better than thicker, handled picks.