My latest homebrew

[Solomon]

Holy shit, solomon is posting. I know right.

So I was looking at pics of old picks in musems and shit, and thought "holy shit those are badass" and naturally I decided to make myself a set that looked all old and shit. Made a short hook, miniature half diamond, city rake and a straight pick with a thicker shaft for bypass. There's a good selection of wrenches, couple of warded picks and a dedicated wire + tension tool for disc detainers too

Pics are massive so click here to see the full kit and here for a close-up of the main picks.

And here's a pic of the half diamond with some others for scale... I made it extra small so it can tackle padlocks with annoyingly small keyways but it'll still pick pretty much anything a standard size diamond can. Never made a HD before, surprised how well it turned out.

Pics are taken with my phone cos my camera is fucked. Well, specifically the LCD screen is fucked. Can't take pics worth a shit, they just come out black or out of focus cos I can't see any of the friggin settings. Can still take video though so I'm thinking about doing a quick vid, hung over as auld fuck today but I'm considering it cos boredom.

[Josh66]

What is the straight one (#4 from the left) used for? I see these in a lot of people's kits, and haven't quite figured out what they're for...

[Aedalas]

What is the straight one (#4 from the left) used for? I see these in a lot of people's kits, and haven't quite figured out what they're for...

I'm not sure about the others, but I have one I made specifically for a KABA 8 (that I still haven't managed to pick).

Straight pick.jpg

[Oldfast]

A very compact, effecient set that should open a wide array of locks (especially in your hands) lol

Built for nothing but poppin' locks... nothin' to do with beauty. Though they're beautiful in their own right.

I LOVE IT!! Very nice work.

[Aedalas]

Built for nothing but poppin' locks... nothin' to do with beauty. Though they're beautiful in their own right.

Form follows function, the way it should be in my opinion. What I really, really like are tools that work. I'm a bit Ayn Rand-ian sometimes though.

[selim]

very nice as alway's sol.

hacksaw blades ??

[jeffmoss26]

Just beautiful!

[Solomon]

What is the straight one (#4 from the left) used for? I see these in a lot of people's kits, and haven't quite figured out what they're for...

It's for bypass, mainly for locking dogs in cheap padlocks but it'll pop a 175 aswell. I could just use a hook or half diamond but it can put a lot of stress on the pick so I prefer to have something set aside just for it.

very nice as alway's sol.

hacksaw blades ??

Of course. Thin as anything and strong as fuck. Love em

[nozza36]

A man after my own heart , making shit that works !
Hacksaw blades are hard work , would you like a bunch of sweeper bristles Solomon ?
they're a lot easier to work with mate , pm me if you want to try them .

[Solomon]

I could say I'm more about function than form but really I'm just too lazy to put hours into each individual pick lol. I actually do wanna make a short hook with riveted handles at some point though.

How wide are the bristles? I've heard good things about them but never gotten my hands on any, I like hacksaw blades because there's a lot of material left over to keep as a handle. They're really no trouble to work with, I just cut out a rough blank with a thin cut-off wheel then grind it down from there, doesn't take too long tbh. It'd be cool to try a few out though just to see though, can they be bent without heating or would they just snap? I'm thinking at the very least they'd make great wrenches. Cheers for the offer

[piotr]

Bristles are good for making picks, they are extremely tough. The only thing they aren't good for is deep curves because they aren't wide enough. Bristles are much less brittle than hacksaw blades, they are intended to experience lots of flex in use. The only problem with bristles is -- as you mentioned -- handles. I'm a big fan of polymer clay but there are other options such as cord-wrap, wire-wrap, sandwiched between hacksaw blades with glue and heatshrink wrapped etc.

What I like about your homebrew kit and others' is that it shows that you can make a fully functional pin-tumbler and wafer picks from readily available material. It gives the to those online merchants that look down their noses at hobbyists and competitive lock pickers.

[Solomon]

Sounds good! I'm sure I could wangle some kind of handles for em. And yeah, fuck those guys. It's 2012 and we have the internets. Get with the times bitches

[jailersmith]

Just a thought, you could do your warded padlock picks on one piece and have a double ender. Great looking craftsmanship and the old world look.

[Solomon]

Just a thought, you could do your warded padlock picks on one piece and have a double ender. Great looking craftsmanship and the old world look.

Thanks man, I thought I was the only one who liked the look of old stuff this much lol. You know, I was actually thinking that when I was making them and decided against it. Dunno why.

[nozza36]

Solomon , pm me an address and i'll post you some bristles mate , i'm doing a postal run this weekend , they're 3 mm wide and soft enough to hand file , but flexible
enough to take a bit of a beating !