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Lockpicks (from trash...)



You can make decent quality lockpicks from the bristles that fall off normal street cleaner brushes.



Turns out the brushes on street roombas are actually a collection of flat steel bristles, with enough carbon in the steel to even be hardenable. Follow the curb down the street in any urban area and you'll find these in no time, I've reliably found them in a variety of countries in Europe, North America and Asia.


With a a 3 dollar set of needle files, simple pliers, and a lighter you can make a solid pickset.


Tension wrenches are made by heating the area you want to bend with a torch or lighter before bending. Picks and rakes are easily made by feel or drawing a profile in sharpie and working away the excess metal with the files. The same techniques can be used for flag picks and bypass tools like a "knife."


Recommendations and notes:

  1. Cleanup with sandpaper for smooth operation and minimizing damage to locks.

  2. Heatshrink tubing for grip and softer handles.

  3. Magnet-backed carrying pouch, it stops tools from fall out and can stick to a door or frame you're working on.

  4. Windsheild wiper blades often have a thin stainless steel backing that makes for thicker tension wrenches.




For dimple-lock flag-picks you'll just need a round handle for the steel. I made a collapsible/interchangeable one but anything round would work fine, probably even a hot glue stick. I used a segment of radio antenna tube, putty epoxy, and terminal block connector. The reversible flag pick can collapse into the body of the pick, being locked by the terminal block screw, which is easily turned with a tension wrench.

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