Constructing Picks

Although picks are relatively cheap to purchase it can often be quite difficult obtaining them and finding outlets which will sell them to you.

This need not be a serious problem as adequate picks can be constructed by oneself with a little hardwork and patience.

In order to make a pick it is a vital requirement that you have a grinder, as files will not shape the metal required to make a strong and long lasting pick.

This brings us to an important issue, i.e., what metal should be used and where can it be obtained? Well for a pick to be of any use it must fulfil two main criteria. It must be strong and it must also be thin, (to get past any fancy key hole which stands between you and the mechanism).

Such metal can easily be found in the form of hacksaw blades. These can be marked into the shape of picks by use of a permanent pen and can then be ground carefully to the shape required. This metal is extremely useful and can be used to construct the hook picks, rakes, bypass pick and lever lock lifter pick.

Feeler guage sets, as available from hardware or automobile shops, also provide metal which can be used. Although some of these are only useful for shims they can be used for picks or probes, (especially combination probe), depending on their strength and thickness.

The metal used for turning tools both for pintumbler/wafer and lever will vary. For a turning tool used to open a pin tumbler or wafer lock any springy metal which can be bent to the shape illustrated above, i.e, the straight forward simple turning tool type A, without the tool losing its shape will be sufficient.

The lever lock turning tool must be constructed from a much more rigid and stronger metal. It should be such that once in the required shape will not bend as it must be able to exert a strong turning force.