All Natural Homebrew

[TheNatural]

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

Rai, I am heeding your advice and making some smaller hooks this time around. I think they are probably still a little deeper than your slight hooks though. I am afraid of interfering with the adjacent pins but I do see your point about agility in the keyway. I will have to practice to get used to it I think. Thanks for the tip!

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

Thanks Jeff! I didnt mean to make it look like the sargent logo but your right haha! Now I just have to pick my first Sargent lock with it. I salvaged a sargent mortise off of an old door that was about to be tossed in the dumpster along with another door that had a papaiz lock on it. I've picked the papaiz but not the Sargent.

[Alera]

I really like the wing-ended handle that you did. Really good work, man!

[TheNatural]

Man it has been way too long since I posted here! Winter came and I was lazy and stopped making picks for a while. Anyways I am back in the saddle with two new picks to show you guys! Here is a smaller wood handled piece I just made the other day.

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This next pick was kind of a failure, by which I mean it didn't turn out the way I had it pictured in my head. This is the one with the handle material I hadn't seen used before. It is a castable plastic called silmar 41 and I got it from a company called Ill Street Composites for 35 dollars a gallon. It is relatively easy to use and you can add coloring and all sorts of stuff. I hope to try more with it in the future. It is supposed to be "water" clear but I had to sand it down and did not have the patience (or enough material left) to polish it back to total clarity. The blue stuff at the bottom is colored glass that I had expected to be suspended within the plastic but before it hardened it all settled to the bottom. Anyways here it is.

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Thanks for looking, any questions or advice are welcome!

[flywheel]

I have a bunch of wet/dry silicon carbide sandpaper from 400 grit to 2500 grit. I would like to see that handle completely clear. I can send some sheets if you promise to post pictures of the results. PM me with your address if interested.

[mastersmith]

Awesome pick!! Your skills are rapidly improving. One of the neat things about this site is watching the progress right in front of our eyes. Great job!

[Oldfast]

Indeed! Great stuff! Hell, I would even like that with no handle at all

[GWiens2001]

Indeed! Great stuff! Hell, I would even like that with no handle at all

Grasshopper, think of a handless short hook with no pick. Then you will have attained enlightenment. Though your lock may not open.

Gordon

[TheNatural]

Thanks guys!

I got some nice, fine-grit sandpaper from flywheel today so I am going to see what I can do about bringing the Silmar 41 handle to full clarity. Thanks for looking!

[TheNatural]

Ok, I couldn't seem to get the haze out of it but it looks alot better than it did. The first picture the pick is totally dry, while the rest of them the handle is wet.

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I don't know why it would'nt clear up with the higher grits. I went up to 1500 and stopped because there was no visible difference between it and the 1000 grit. Also as I mentioned before I sprinkled crushed glass into the plastic before it dried so that might be adding a little haze to it maybe. Also, I stupidly left my picks in my humid basement for awhile and a bunch of them developed some rust. I believe that is what the dark spot towards the front of the handle is. I have no idea how the rust could leech under the plastic like that. When I look at the pick from the end there is no separation between the plastic and the metal there, but whatever. Anyways I hope to do some more experimenting with this new handle material with some other picks I am making. Maybe a plastic buffing compound and a dremel will bring the shine out more. Otherwise, I can just cast a finished handle. the only reason this one isn't completely clear is I did some shaping and sanding on it. It' is "water clear" when it hardens.

[flywheel]

If you pour a dollop of that silmar 41 onto some aluminum foil and let it harden without doing or adding anything would that show how clear it can be potentially?

As for the polishing with higher grit problem; how hard is the plastic? Can you deform it with your fingernails or does it feel like a hunk of glass after it hardens?

[escher7]

Sand to at least 600 grit, going opposite directions as the grits get finer so you can see the previous scratches disappear and then buff with either a clean wheel or just a touch of white buffing compound. Be careful not to overheat the plastic and you should get a nice mirror finish.

[TheNatural]

If you pour a dollop of that silmar 41 onto some aluminum foil and let it harden without doing or adding anything would that show how clear it can be potentially?

As for the polishing with higher grit problem; how hard is the plastic? Can you deform it with your fingernails or does it feel like a hunk of glass after it hardens?

Yes. That should show how clear it can be but the pictures of the pick when it is slightly wet is about the clearest it will get. I suppose it will be slightly clearer without the glass in it but there won't be a dramatic difference.

The plastic is very hard. It is not as weighty as glass and I am sure it would scratch easier but I don't believe that I could deform it with my fingernail. Now that I have polished it it is very glossy and smooth on the surface but for some reason it still looks "frosty". I think I just need to try again with a different pick. It is hard to find a mold to do it easily though. For this one I used a glass test tube and hung the pick from the top but I am hoping to find a better way of doing it. Anyone have any bright ideas?