Plasti Dipping DIY Handles

[Lumpy]

Hey All,

Spent the afternoon adding some PlastiDip handles to my Sparrows lock picks.

Picked up some Black PlastiDip (14.5.oz/429 mL) for $25.00 at my local Home Hardware.

Made up this super crafty pick drip holder cross (Soon to be patented!)

Here's what I did.

Coat number #1. (12 picks = 5 Minutes to Dip)

1) Wiped down and cleaned all picks with paint thinner. Removing any hand oils etc.
2) Shaked and opened PlastiDip.
3) Completely ignored PlastiDip instructions and fully plunged pick handle into PlastiDip.
4) Gently shaked pick upon removal to remove excess PlastiDip.
5) Clipped pick tip into super crafty pick drip holder cross.
6) Waited approx. 1 minute and tapped pick tip to shake excess PlastiDip.

I'm less concerned with the drip tails on this coat. Dipping the pick to just above
the handle shoulder. I let them dry for about 1.5 hours. Once dry I snipped off any
major drip tails or blurbs of PlastiDip with scissors.

Ready for coat number # 2!

Repeat steps #3-6 until desired thickness is reached.

For final coat i took more time to shake excess PlastiDip off to minimize drip
tails and give it a good final finish.

If you desire a texture or need some grittiness try adding pencil eraser shaving
between coats. I'm going to experiment with crushed walnut on some homebrews
next go around. Get creative!

I put 2 coats total on my Southord pick set. The Sparrows I'm aiming for 3 coats
total.

Hope this helps any fellow Newbies wanting to add handles to their picks.

This is first dip of the process outlined above.

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[LocksmithArmy]

thank you for this...

[mister sour]

those look good.

[omegaman]

looks like I will be purchasing some plasti dip for my sparrows picks I have the ones with the slide on grip handles

Great tutorial by the way

I just did a quick on-line search & I noticed you can get it in spray cans I wonder if that would stop the drip tails &
give a better finish.

catch ya lata have fun..............................................

[Lumpy]

looks like I will be purchasing some plasti dip for my sparrows picks I have the ones with the slide on grip handles

Great tutorial by the way

I just did a quick on-line search & I noticed you can get it in spray cans I wonder if that would stop the drip tails &
give a better finish.

catch ya lata have fun..............................................

I had the slip on handles as well. They kept moving/slipping and was bothering me.

I know I'm not the first to use this method but it does work good. 1-3 coats
depending on your thickness preference.

From what I've read the spray on version doesn't work as well. Goes on thin and
take many coats to build it up.

[10ringo10]

i could do with some of that dip,great idea L .

[Oldfast]

Nice work Kris... thanks. I may have to try this with a couple of my picks. I've always liked fairly thin handles...
so I like the idea that I could add some grip, but not a great deal to the overall thickness if I didn't want to.

[Tarquin]

I'd like to see the pics after the second coat to see how it turned out. I'd like to know how you feel about them after you use them a bit as well. I'm curious how much the dip plus pencil eraser shavings impact feedback, grip, and so on.

Now that I have a job, I'm thinking of doing some fun/cool stuff with my trusty ole' Southords, and I might dip my Peterson's too since I kind of don't like the black rubber color handles on them.

[uklockpicker]

Great job on those plastic dips

[NNFAK]

Just made one today and wanted to give my thoughts on it. For anyone worrying about it killing feedback I can tell you this, I have been picking with it for about half an hour now and it seems to be good (can feel all the pins just fine and feel clicks) but there is one thing, this might just be the HPC pick that I am not used to (Peterson all the way!) but the Plastic seems to put on a bit of weight, not too much but it seems to mask little snaps going on in the lock like in a American or something along those lines, not by much, you can still feel them just fine but I thought I would add it in there. To give you an idea of what I am talking about I had to really, REALLY try to find anything wrong with it.

Now moving on to how it feels, as I said before a little tiny bit heavier than how it started but I am really happy about one thing... My hands aren't slipping all over the damn place anymore and it is really smooth. As long as you know what you are doing it looks good too.

I will be taking this pick to work tomorrow to put it to the test against other locks to see how it goes. Well thanks for the idea Lumpy, it was cheap and if it turns out working great, and I am sure it will I can make a good bit more.

[Lumpy]

Glad it's working out for you NoNeedForAKey.

I can't take credit for the idea, I'm sure other members here and other forums
have used this method. I simply gave it a try and documented my adventures
to share with you all.

Enjoy

[piotr]

I just did a quick on-line search & I noticed you can get it in spray cans I wonder if that would stop the drip tails &
give a better finish.

It takes much more coats (and so time) to put on the equivalent of two dip coats with the spray-on product. I vaguely recall HC complaining about this also.