All Natural Homebrew

[TheNatural]

Hey guys! Made a new pick and wanted to show it off! Thanks to all the guys that helped with my mirror finish questions, it made a huge difference for me! Also this is where I will be posting all my future Homebrew endeavors. Hope you enjoy!

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That last pic is a thanks to Oldfast. I did that in about an hour and a half and I was so pumped! About 2 months ago or so I was trying to pick Americans and it seemed like rocket science to me. I took a break for a while and Oldfast gave me some tips and directed me to his amazing write up on Americans. About a week or two ago I started trying to pick my american locks again and somehow things just started to make sense. I swear most of it was due to the idea of "optimum lifting pressure", for some reason that just clicked with me. Thanks again Oldfast, and everybody on this site. This place is really quite awesome!

[huxleypig]

Sweet ass homebrews dude! Homebrew rules the world man, there's nothing better than making your own tools.

Keep it up!

[TheNatural]

Thanks Huxley! I agree! It is really fun to successfully craft a tool and then successfully use it!

[Neilau]

Very nice job.

What are the handles made of and how are that attached?

It's great fun "rolling your own" and very addictive.

As an added bonus the slight variations in each one that you make (particularly Bogata style picks) may just be the "magic" shape to open that "naughty" lock that has resisted all previous attempts.

Again, Very nice.

Cheers

[escher7]

Cute design. Yes, Oldfast is a positive force on this site. I just found a video site where he beats a bunch of Master combo padlocks one after the other. Very impressive.

[MrWizard]

Great looking finish and handle!
What is the handle made of and how is it attached.
Very nice job!

Richard

[xeo]

Nice pick and picking. I like the angled cuts on the end, nice touch. What model is that big silver American in the middle?

[DennisK]

Hey Natural,what part of Illinois you from? Great job on the pick by the way.It looks factory made.

[TheNatural]

Thanks guys! I am glad you like it!

What is the handle made of and how is it attached.

The handle is just 1/2" x (about).090"x 12" brass bar stock that I got from my local hardware store. I epoxied them to the tang of the pick with jb weld. The finish was the easiest finish I have ever put on anything haha! It was just a dremel with the rough sanding wheel. I think it is like 80 or 100 grit. Like I said crazy easy but I thought it looked cool so I just left it.

Nice pick and picking. I like the angled cuts on the end, nice touch. What model is that big silver American in the middle?

Thanks xeo! The big american is a series 50 that I found at a flea market. He put up a good fight, he's got some monster spools I think cause the counter rotation was more than I have experienced.

Hey Natural,what part of Illinois you from?

Dennis, I am from the Chicago area. What about yourself?

[rai]

if you want to get that time down on picking american locks, try this, make yourself a pair of really small hooks, about one mm and 2mm above the pickshaft, you can just experiment with a piece of sweeper bristle to make a couple prototypes, and after you find out what you can do with them
you can spend the extra time on some art picks.

Using a pick that is sized for the keyway is a key to success. that beautiful art pick is actually a full size large hook. good for some locks but not actually helpful for the small ones, the large size is actually getting in the way. if you have keys to those locks, make a hook slightly smaller than the maximum adjacent cuts, ( a one or zero cut will not be next to a nine cut, its too much ) picks should be smaller than the full range of pin depths, they make up for this by agility in the keyway, they are not forced to one level only like a key that fits the keyway tightly.

The hooks I recommend for american are really really short. I call them slight hooks.

[Oldfast]

Beautiful pick, and awesome picking!! 'Just look at all those Americans... lined up and bent over!' HA!

And really, thanks for the shout-out guys Honestly, nearly anything that I've managed to become
fairly good at can be traced back to THIS forum and the absolutely WONDERFULLY giving people here!!
So yeah, it feels pretty damn good when I know I've played (to some extent) a small part in passing it on.

[GWiens2001]

Beautiful pick, and awesome picking!! 'Just look at all those Americans... lined up and bent over!' HA!

And really, thanks for the shout-out guys Honestly, nearly anything that I've managed to become
fairly good at can be traced back to THIS forum and the absolutely WONDERFULLY giving people here!!
So yeah, it feels pretty damn good when I know I've played (to some extent) a small part in passing it on.

Traced back to this forum... Aaaaaannnd a great deal of time and dedication. A person is not handed the skills you have. Not even Xeo, as gifted as he is, received his talent. He, like yourself, took a lot of time to develop the skills in your arsenal.

Gordon

[DennisK]

Thanks guys! I am glad you like it!

What is the handle made of and how is it attached.

The handle is just 1/2" x (about).090"x 12" brass bar stock that I got from my local hardware store. I epoxied them to the tang of the pick with jb weld. The finish was the easiest finish I have ever put on anything haha! It was just a dremel with the rough sanding wheel. I think it is like 80 or 100 grit. Like I said crazy easy but I thought it looked cool so I just left it.

Nice pick and picking. I like the angled cuts on the end, nice touch. What model is that big silver American in the middle?

Thanks xeo! The big american is a series 50 that I found at a flea market. He put up a good fight, he's got some monster spools I think cause the counter rotation was more than I have experienced.

Hey Natural,what part of Illinois you from?

Dennis, I am from the Chicago area. What about yourself?

I'm down south,around the Mt.Vernon,Marion area.

[TheNatural]

Traced back to this forum... Aaaaaannnd a great deal of time and dedication. A person is not handed the skills you have. Not even Xeo, as gifted as he is, received his talent. He, like yourself, took a lot of time to develop the skills in your arsenal.
Gordon

I agree Gordon!

Beautiful pick, and awesome picking!! 'Just look at all those Americans... lined up and bent over!' HA!

Thanks, Oldfast! I remember watching that video of yours and being amazed! That is one of the reason I was so pumped! I definitely didn't pick them as fast but at least I was able to pick that many and that was a major accomplishment for me!

I just now finished roughing out two more picks and I am really excited for the handles that I have in store for these ones! I don't know if anyone has done handles like this before... I would be surprised if no one had, but I haven't ever seen them before (given I have only been doing this for a few months). Anyways, I'll be posting those in the next week or two!

[jeffmoss26]

That is beautiful. The back of the pick reminds me of the Sargent logo