A Tribute to the work of Rai

[GWiens2001]

Most of us here are familiar with the work of Rai (or Raimundo). Those who are not, are probably fairly new to the site. Have had the privilege of getting a number of his tools, and am constantly amazed with each one. He is creative with the picks and tools he makes, and his dedication to quality is very rare.

Wanted to start a topic showing some of his handiwork, and hopefully more of you will add the tools you have acquired from him as well.

Some of these tools are 'tried and true'. Some are among his latest prototypes. Even have some extra parts he tossed in to show a bit of how he made the parts. Will be going into a little detail of what the picks are for if it is not obvious.

First, the family shot of his tools in my collection.



This is the first handmade-by-Rai set of Bogotas I have. It is always with me, and has travelled with me a fair bit.



These are the only of Rai's tools that I have that he did not make (barring my own hand-made Bogotas). They are the Bogota Titan set, part of the Executive set from Serepick.com



When I wanted a backup set of Bogota picks, got this set.



Now for something a little different. Well, OK, very different. This is a pick Rai made using a drywall screw. He put the screw into a drill and held it to a grinder to get rid of the threads, then a file and sandpaper to make the shaft smooth and even. He ground the head to the correct diameter, and cut out a quarter of the head. Shaped the other wire.





Any guesses what kind of lock it is used to pick?





W-LOK. And why the shaped tip? Because the tip of the key has that shape and must be pressed into the back of the lock, forcing back a spring-loaded plunger, then that tip is used to drive the lock (once the discs are set).



This hook that Rai sent works so well, it has joined my Bogota set, and is always with me.



I use it like this, and it is incredibly strong!



Now you may notice a slight drop in quality in this next tool.



That is because it is not made by Rai, but by my son. Just had to toss the picture in. Over a year ago, he made this pick for his warded padlock from mechanic wire - entirely without my knowledge or help. I was impressed when he came into the room showing me that he could pick a lock, too. Then he repeatedly did so. My wife was not quite as impressed. Not bad for a kid who was still not 8 years old.

And now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

This next one was included with the W-LOK pick. Rai was working on making a light, but durable, disc detainer pick. To quote Rai, "This is made from a concrete nail spin in the chuck of a power hand drill against a grinder, then file and sanding stick. His idea was to make it light so it doesn't bend if dropped."



You can see it fits nicely on the bitting of the key of a Chinese disc detainer lock.



And onto the key of an ABLOY Disclock! (It may need a tiny bit of narrowing)



And even this super-duper high security lock from Wal-Mart! Well, the lock packaging said it was high security, so it must be true, right?



Now for a little fun. I am sure many of you saw the post somebody wrote about this lock and key...



I placed a key from a Lockwood padlock below the LOB key for scale. How do you pick a lock with a key that long? Here is that key next to a commercially made pick, and my favorite hook - a homebrew made from a wide wiper insert. Let's face it - they just won't reach. The first pin is also waaaay further into the keyway than is normal.



So what do you do? Rai stepped in with an offer to make a Bogota a bit longer than usual. (It was well worth trading him a lock!)



WOW, look at that Bogota! Custom made 6-hump, with a ring to hold onto my middle finger (he even asked what my finger size was!). That ring really helps with proper leverage and control when trying to pick that lock.



But there was still a problem.



Uh-oh! That deeply set first pin meant that your standard off-the-shelf ( ) 6 hump Bogota still won't reach. Also, there is still a problem with the high-low-high-low-high-low (etcetera) bitting. You can't get enough angle to lift the high bittings deep inside the lock up high enough to set. I could cheat and pick from both ends of the lock and get it open, but in real life, you usually do not have access to both sides of the lock.

So what to do? Rai had another idea. As usual, it was a pretty good idea, and it worked!



Not only does it work, if I ever come across a 13, or even a 14 linear pin lock, the pick would still reach! Rai referred to this as a 'Wave Rake Bogota', and I suspect it is also unique. The high/low variation of the peaks was enough to get all pins except one. Had use a wiper insert to make a hook long enough to reach the 11th pin.

And last, but certainly not least, a prototype disc detainer pick. Made from concrete nails, brass tubing, a wood furniture handle, a wire nut, and of course, Gorilla Glue. Let's face it… if it does not have duct tape, wire, or Gorilla Glue, a guy did not make it.



Here are the steps Rai took to make main part of the detainer pick. (This is his actual work, sent to me so I could see what he did). He started with a concrete nail, put it into a drill, and held it to a grinder to get the rough shape. Then he used a file and sanding block to finalize the size and finish of the spindle. Then he ground/filed/sanded the head of the nail to flatten it, then finalized the size and shape of the head. The part of this that turns the discs is NOT going to fall off.



My sincere thanks to Rai for the work he does that benefit all of us, and his willingness to share his knowledge with all of us.

So let's see some more of Rai's work guys! Please post pictures of your tools and picks made by Rai.

Gordon

[MBI]

Excellent pictures, thanks for posting them with excellent descriptions, and Rai, nice workmanship!

[Violaetor]

Genius!

[Oldfast]

Marvelous.... absolutely marvelous!

Thank you Gordon

And thank you Rai

[Presumedsublime]

I've had the pleasure of getting to know rai while Ilived in Minnesota and can say spending time with him is as much of a pleasure as using his picks. It's actually one of the things I miss the most after moving. He is a wealth of information and willing to share it all.

[fgarci03]

Awesome write up Gordon!

Some of these tools are 'tried and true'.

I particulary like that part

Congrats to your son on managing to build a warded pick out of thin air! Most of my friends can't do it EVEN AFTER I explain them how those locks work.

And to add something to it, here's my collection of Rai's handmade tools:


On the left - Snapper
Top Right - Euro style Bogota pair (peaks down)
Bottom Right - American style Bogota pair (peaks up)

They have never let me down

[DR2]

So, if this works out...

Down from the top left is Stainless Steel Bogota, then the Customs. Three Hump, Monserrate, Four Hump.

Then three full size Titan(ium) Flats.

Over to the right area...

Two sets of Mini-Bogtas in Titanium, one full size set in Titanium a set of Mini-sized Flats and the flat turning tool supplied with the full sized Titan Flats.



Close up of the Customs.

[DR2]

None of the safety pin and spring carriers are from Rai. Those are ones that I made and they are not as good as Rai's.

[edsmiley]

Brilliant tools Rai and nice collection Gordon!

I love his snappers just as much as I love the bogotas!

Ed

[rai]

Of the last three in the last photo, notice the point of the nail
The middle one has been ground to a more acute point.
this meshes with the thread in the wire nut much better
It was discovered later in the series of steps but sharpening the point of the nail to better align with the wire nut and spinning the nail head to the diameter of the T cross that you want are now the first steps. the nail head will go into the drill chuck behind the three grips so you and spin it easily
start with these steps it is more likely to bend your nail if you try to grind the point with the thinned shaft in the chuck. so get this step out of the way first, then spin the nail head diameter to the width of the T cross you want.
these nails have thick heads and good steel thats why I chose them. and the plastic fins are also an advantage.

there is a problem with spinning nails that comes up a lot, that is the chuck becoming loose, if your nail starts to look bent, its probably just a loose chuck and you have to stop and retighten it. a few times i did not see it coming and the grinder threw the nail out of the chuck and on the floor. not at me.

The ramset nail or equivalent other gunpowder powered concrete nail that you can find at the big box home improvement store in a box of 15 nails for about 6 bucks, has a plastic 6 finned guide that probably has to do with holding the nail straight
save this piece and when you fill the wire nut with 5 minute epoxy, have that fin on the part just behind the point put the nail in the wire nut that is half full of epoxy and turn the nail, this bends all the fins in the same direction and you can align the T cross with the wings on the wire nut, this fin then helps center the nail in the wire nut and hold it straight while the glue sets
working with 5 minute epoxy requries knowing all the steps and being prepared before you start, so put that fin on the nail and push it into the wire nut before you make the epoxy mix, just so you can see what it does and how deep to set it in the wire nail.

[PhoneMan]

Very cool picks! And that W-Lok is cool too! (haven't seen one in the "wild" yet)

[youluckyfox]

I'll apologize for excessive photos in advance! Also, the tools Rai made are so shiny that it was hard to get my camera to focus the way I wanted, so for that I also apologize.

Rai was helpful in making all of the following tools, with more to come! I am very appreciative of the time that was spent making these tools.

Here are the traditional Bogota pair along-side the micro-palming set.


Because much of Rai's work is on tactical sites like SEREpick and ITS Tactical I feel it would be good to point out the following: I wear a pinkie ring and like to hold the Bogotas as shown in the picture. Note how well they can be concealed in a slightly palmed hand. Rai told me that the mini-Bogotas are to be used as part of "a magicians move, they can be very securely hidden in the hand if you have a finger ring that they can be hooked under." Though they are not meant to be held in the fashion that I show in my picture, I feel the pictures demonstrate how well both the standard-size Bogotas and micro-palming set can be concealed.




Next here's the loop-handle Bogota and loop-handle hook. The Bogota is made from street sweeper bristle, as with everything else unless I make special note. It is probably my favorite Bogota to use, I like how well the feedback delivers with the loop handled picks. The loop-handle hook is made from stainless steel wire.


I like to hold it as shown, I like that it can be "fulcrumed" between my thumb and index finger and "leveraged" using my middle finger to raise the tip of the pick, rather than by leveraging against the bottom of the keyway like with most picks. Also, the feedback is wonderful as noted with the loop-handled Bogota.


Also, from a tactical perspective, the loop-handle hook fits under my ring and the ring can overlap the handle of the hook, effectively concealing it from outside view:


What is meant by the above is that the ring covers the entire handle from the outside and that it is virtually invisible when the hand is slightly cupped around it. I do not include a picture of this because it would just look like a picture of my hand with a ring on it; I will, however, include a picture of the handle right before I pull my ring over to cover it.



Next we have the Monserates and Sabana. John King has already detailed these well, so I won't make any special note here other than to say that I really like the Monserates and Sabanas for help with high-lo combinations.


Single, double, triple, quad:

The peaks and valleys seem to be spaced just right on all of these; whenever a peak raises a pin, the two valleys surrounding the peak let the respectively surrounding pins down. That way when using the Bogotas it is very easy to dance the pins back and forth across the shear line with relatively little movement.

Here's something I haven't seen anywhere else, a DeForest Bogota:


Compared with a standard hook:


The curve of the DeForest is somewhat subtle, so I placed it with the hook in the traditional spring-carriage to show the DeForest and hook side-by-side. Click on image for better details, same goes for all photos:


Here's another set of new-comers, Rai refers to them as "slight hooks" they are keyway specific picks! They are specifically made for American and other small keyways, they work well on a Eagle padlock and an American padlock I recently purchased.


Here they are compared with the standard hook and DeForest. Note the difference in angle:


Next is the Euro-style Bogotas and custom-snapper:

It took awhile to get the hang of a snapper, but I have been able to figure it out and it works very well on SC1 and KW1.

Finally there's a stainless steel tension wrench made from bike-spoke that Rai made, it really is quite nice and the fact that it is polished makes a nice difference for me. Rai mentioned that the finish has everything to do with the metal, it has that mirror finish without any polishing, but you can tell care was taken in making it. The craftsmanship really is quite amazing, how it tapers to a round at one end and how its bends are similar to the bends in the pistol grip of the Bogotas.


A quick note on these tools, I am still understanding their full potential, I first used my Bogotas in the traditional scrubbing technique, but have recently began trying to go for the "had too much coffee" motion that Rai speaks of and have marginally increased results with greater economy of movement. All that to say that I still have a lot to learn and that the tools don't make the craftsman, but hopefully I will come to fully appreciate the efficiency of these tools over time. Any tips on how to better use these tools are welcome and appreciated.

[sbear2000]

I just got a bogota set from Rai. The workmanship can't be beat. I tried them out on a small master lock and damn it opened the lock real quick

Jerry

[youluckyfox]

The latest from Rai:

Nesting Slight Hooks with Loop Handles and DeForest Bogota with Loop Handle

[jfw]

Rai's ingenuity and creativity with tools is amazing. Along with many of the members who follow his work.. I hope he remains on the forums for many years into the future, and I WANT some of his tools!