Making a pick

[slk]

As to not hijack any other pick threads I wanted to ask this question. Has anyone here experimented in making a pick with various materials? I hear of ivory and buffalo horn, and some others. Just wondering what would hold up? Any techniques to cutting them, etc. It sounds like a fun thing to do if you had some material you wanted to experiment with.

Steve

[John Kelly]

My daughter gave me one of those heavy-duty punches for cutting out plectrum shapes from credit cards and such like. I use old credit cards and then shape them to more of an equilateral triangle rather than the elongated pick shape the punch makes. I use a cabinet scraper to bevel the edges (a good blade will do too) and then polish with 400 grit paper. If you position the card right in the punch you can get the raised numbers to be where you want to have a good grip on your pick. Works for me anyway!

[Denny Gies]

I had a guitar playing friend who used to make his picks.........wait for it..............out of plastic milk bottles. He loved them but I could never warm up to the way they felt and sounded.

[Tezzerh]

I've tried using a coin when I couldn't find a pick. Don't really recommend it!

[slk]

I just wonder how you would cut like a buffalo horn. Would you take slices off the sides or cut slabs off of it? Also old piano keys were made from ivory. They give those pianos away here. No one wants them.

Steve

[Jim Garber]

I used a sheet of ultem plastic to make odd-shaped classical picks. I could cut them out roughly with a tin snip or razor knife then smooth and bevel as needed. Take some time. Other esp organic materials could be more problematic. You can buy picks made of buffalo horn, cow horn, shell, metals, hardwoods, stone, etc. There are companies and shops that sell them.

[T.D.Nydn]

I've made picks out of all kinds of things,,including old piano Keyes and a dead snapping turtle shell.i do it the old school way with just a hack saw,files,and sand paper....

[wildpikr]

I've made picks out of all kinds of things,,including old piano Keyes and a dead snapping turtle shell.i do it the old school way with just a hack saw,files,and sand paper....

Was there any curing time, preparation or processing on the turtle shell before you made the picks?

[WW52]

I used a sheet of ultem plastic to make odd-shaped classical picks. I could cut them out roughly with a tin snip or razor knife then smooth and bevel as needed. Take some time.

Ultem is one of my top two of three favorite pick materials.

[T.D.Nydn]

Widpikr...I have made them from snapping turtle,painted turtle and a wood turtle.they were all dead when I found them.extremely rare to find a dead wood turtle.most of them were dead a long time,as I found just shells,barely skeletons in them.i just let them sit till dry.i once actually cut a cow horn off a friends cow once,really gross,has to go thru a cleaning and drying process,,,all of the picks were acceptable,but I don't want to get used to using something that is rare to get,,,,I use pickboy sharp carbon 1.14's !

[Beanzy]

I use pre cut 1.5mm sections of water buffalo horn normally sold for archery and knife making supplies.

[Willie Poole]

Where I used to work we used some nylon round stock for insulating the handles on some high voltage test equipment and I made some round picks out of it, they are the best picks I have ever used, no clack when they strike the strings like some plastic picks make...I drill a small hole in the center to help me hold them, they a just a tad larger than a quarter, i beveled the edges with a small scrapper, I still have two and guard them like they were gold...

BTW, the was an ad on the classifieds for a pick cutter (punch), I don`t know if it was for selling one or looking for one....

Willie

[Kip Carter]

I haven't made any for a while now but plan to put out another batch soon of my wood composite picks. These are very thin layers of hardwood that are laminated together in a carbon fiber wafer under high pressure. These are very strong and highly durable natural feeling picks that wear well and are extremely light in the hand.

[pops1]

I have made picks of Tauga and fossilized ivory, Tauga is a nut that is an ivory subsitute and the fossilized ivory was ordered from Alaska if I remember. They both sound good and are beautiful picks, tho can wear like most natural materials. The fossilized ivory needs to be kept dry as water can ruin it. Haven't made any for a couple of decades now, so don't know the availability of the fossilized ivory.

[bradlaird]

I experimented with making picks a few years ago and described it all in my book "The Mandolin Handbook" and also published it in my mandolin newsletter here. At the bottom of that page click on Free Newsletter Archive and then choose Issue 2.

Have fun and try not to sand those fingertips down to nothing when working on a belt sander.

[Paul Busman]

I've made a few picks from thin exotic hardwoods like Bloodwood and Purpleheart. They were pretty, but I found their tone quite muted.
I also made one from casein, which is a type of plastic made from milk:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Homemade-Plastic/

I rolled the resulting mass into a disc about 1/8" thick between sheets of wax paper then let it dry and harden completely. This can take quite a while- at least several days. You might want to leave it in a warm place, maybe with a fan blowing over it. Once it was hard, I traced one of my favorite triangle shaped picks onto the casein, leaving a bit of a margin and cut it out with a coping saw. I then shaped it on a sanding drum, flat sandpaper etc. After getting it to my liking in thickness and bevel I finish sanded it with 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper. The resulting pick is actually quite excellent and this was a fun project.

[ChCollins]

A micro mesh sandpaper kit from International Violin is a useful tool for pick making. I've been experimenting myself. This is one I recently made from an 1850's medicine scoop.

[WJC4]

I hunt snapping turtles for food. BEST MEAT EVER. I was planning on making some picks out of the shells next summer anyway. I don't like to waste anything on an animal, so that seems like a good use. I like a big, heavy pick with no snap so tortex has never worked for me. I'm curious to see how they sound. If anyone is interested in trying turtle shell picks, let me know. Depending on how much labor is involved, I probably wouldn't sell them for much over the cost of shipping.... assuming selling them is legal... I'll have to check into that.

[Jim Garber]

I hunt snapping turtles for food. BEST MEAT EVER. I was planning on making some picks out of the shells next summer anyway. I don't like to waste anything on an animal, so that seems like a good use. I like a big, heavy pick with no snap so tortex has never worked for me. I'm curious to see how they sound. If anyone is interested in trying turtle shell picks, let me know. Depending on how much labor is involved, I probably wouldn't sell them for much over the cost of shipping.... assuming selling them is legal... I'll have to check into that.

I would be curious but I have a feeling that they may not be all that "snappy" like the prohibited material otherwise people would have used it. I have heard of other folks trying land turtles with no success.

Decades ago there was a guy in Texas making cowhorn picks and I bought a few. Plastics worked a lot better and, for the most part, do for me now. No real need for organic material.

In fact, lately I have been playing a bunch of ukulele music and I play finger style, grew out my nails a bit and use those organic picks.