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I got a set of these a couple of weeks ago, just out of curiosity to see what they were like. I like the pick selection and they fit really nicely in my wallet, but my suspicions that the handles would be fidgety as almighty fuck to use were very swiftly confirmed. They're OK-ish for raking, but the feedback and control they offer is terrible. You'd have a hell of a job SPP'ing anything with that hook. If only there was a way to... oh fuck, would you look at that:



That, right there at the bottom, is no sparrows short hook. It's a southord slip-on cover with some sweeper bristle stuffed down inside it to make it less flaccid, and the hook from the credit card set pushed down inside it. Works a goddamn treat, I tell you what. The pick slides in nice and tight, and can be removed again easily to be packed back into the plastic case along with all its little friends. And when it's not busy occupying one of the picks, the handle houses a couple of extra wrenches (pictured on the left) - which gives you a bit more variety, and also serves to keep your handle from being swallowed up by the wallet pocket and getting lost.



This is how it all looks packed up. Slide the case open, take the wrenches out of the handle and slide in the pick you want. Simple as that. It's really comfy to use; feels just like using a peterson with dipped handle. Speaking of which, here's how it looks next to a peterson short hook:



Fuckin' A. What was once a gimmicky pice of shit pick set is now actually pretty friggin' good. I'm sure others have thought of similar ideas but if you have one of these sets that's just gathering dust somewhere because you gave up on it, now you can get some actual use out of the fuckers.

Damn solly! I never woulda thought those could be made to be usable outside of a total emergency situation...

Very interesting idea, I'll have to give it a try! Thanks for the idea

Sweeper bristles to make it less flacid! I'll take that under advisement.

That could be painful!

Gordon

Cool shit, lemme know how you get on! You can't use xeo tension cos enough force on it would eventually tear it through the handle, but for us mortals it should hold up quite nicely. I SPP'd a whole bunch of locks with the hook last night and it's pretty damn good. Not as nice as my go-to medium hook but it gets the job done.


Trust me. I am doctor.

Originally these were made by Southern Specialties. They are actually my idea and the pick selection was mine, too. Richard Stapleford designed the turning tool. The sliding "credit card body" was my idea.

That's pretty cool. I always liked the idea, but the handle size was a big problem for me (and others, I'd imagine). I wonder if the manufacturers would consider adding this kind of handle with some extra wrenches in with them like what I've done with mine. I guess it'd take away the novelty somewhat, considering it's not all one piece anymore... but it'd make it a hell of a lot more practical in my opinion.

When Richard and I were working on it we knew that it would be limited in what you could do with it. It was meant as half novelty and half emergency set. Had I been familiar with good ole' Raimundo's Bogotas I would have probably pursued him to kick in with his profile but back then I had seen the Bogota profiles and to be honest, didn't think much of them at all. Then Richard started copying it because someone else sent him one and he included it in one of the jackknife picksets I tested out for him and I thought it was a very effective profile and started getting various Bogotas, custom and production, from SerePick after that.

My idea behind the credit card picks was this, about 22 years ago, HPC made a little bit of kit they called the CIA Pickset and the CIA, being a customer as far as I know, bellyached about it and they changed the name to the KGB Pickset. Back then, the turning tools were similar to their other flat turning tools but the picks didn't have the textured handles that HPC would use for their wallet picks and a small tool roll of mini-picks called The Regal. So, later on, I had the better HPC mini-picks and had used their non-locking jackknife set and the SouthOrd thing and all of these ideas started being poured into this idea.