03 How can I make my own picks and tension wrenches?
Description
This article is from the Locksmithing FAQ, by Joe "Spike" Ilacqua spike@indra.com and Henry Schaffer hes@ncsu.edu, major data collection effort by Scott Anguish sanguish@digifix.com with numerous contributions by others.
03 How can I make my own picks and tension wrenches?
You can file or (more easily) grind picks out of spring steel. It
is best to use spring steel - sources include hacksaw blades,
piano (music) wire, clock springs, street sweeper bristles (which
can be found along the street after the sweeper has passed), metal
from a plumbers "snake", etc. In a pinch safety pin steel, or even
a bobby pin (much worse) can be used. When grinding, keep the
steel from getting so hot as to anneal (soften) it. You may have
to re-harden/re-temper it. (See a book on knife making,
gunsmithing, or machine shop practice for a discussion on heat
treating steel. Spring steel is hardened and then tempered/drawn
so as to retain some hardness and to get quite a bit of
flexibility.) Some people prefer a rigid tension wrench and just
bend a small screwdriver for this, but many prefer a slightly
flexible wrench and use spring steel.
The "MIT Guide to Picking Locks" and the "Eddie The Wire" books
(see below) cover making these tools. There are many places you
can buy picks and tension wrenches. See the appendix.
Steve Haehnichen <steve@vigra.com> maintained an archive of GIF
and JPEG images of picks located at
ftp://ftp.vigra.com/steve/locks/ which are useful guides for
those making their own picks. But this link isn't working right
now - this is being checked.
Another archive has some pickes illustrated, but does not show
the rake pick.
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