Vent picks help

[chance]

Hey yall I am about to cut up some old deer horns to use as vent picks. My question is what do some of yall use for the wire that is glues in them? I was wanting something stronger than a paperclip. Gonna us them as blanket prizes and gifts. Thanks for the help.

 

[Rifleman1776]

Hey yall I am about to cut up some old deer horns to use as vent picks. My question is what do some of yall use for the wire that is glues in them? I was wanting something stronger than a paperclip. Gonna us them as blanket prizes and gifts. Thanks for the help.

Timely post. I am about to start the same project. I can tell you from experience, do not use drill bits. I was given a vent pick with a beautifully scrimshawed bone handle. Sadly, the pick was drill bit, read that as 'very brittle' and it soon broke with just handling.
I'm thinking of going to a music store that sell guitar and piano strings. Spring steel wire should be just the ticket.

 

[hwalker]

Better ye, go to a hobby store and get brass piano wire in the right diameter. No chance of sparks.

 

[Macon Due]

Sir
Did you ever 'get' sparks ...using a vent pick? I think I might be a bit more concerned that the wrong material.'might' cause extra wear to my touch hole?
Macon

 

[Tumblernotch]

I've been using steel music wire for years. You can get it in several sizes including small enough for the smallest nipple orifices. It's soft enough to roll one end into a loop as well. It comes in 3 foot lengths at a Dollar or two each and you can get a lot of picks from them. I keep one tied to my pouch strap, a couple in my range box and at least one tucked in my old hat. You can buy it at a machine shop supplier and probably at about any hobby shop.

 

[necchi]

Yup, "Music Wire",,
Hobby Shops got the stuff, cheap, get a 3' stick fer a buck.
(they use it in model planes an such)

 

[skunkskinner]

A nail should work, beat it to the size you need and it will then have the old timey look.

 

[Black Hand]

I use baling wire. Twist a loop in the end, hammer the tip square, even up with file and then heat to red and drop in water. This wire does not harden very much so the heat-treat only stiffens it a little.

Save the antler for other projects.

 

[jdw276]

when I walk the dogs in the evening, plenty of pigeon feathers and others on the ground. They work pretty good.

Left over pheasant feathers do as well.

 

[gmarc]

.035 or .045 MIG wire. Its also copper clad.

 

[paulvallandigham]

I have made many vent picks out of Coathangers. The steel is too soft to spark- a safety issue-- and it can be easily formed using a propane torch, and a vise, and pliers. I cut a length at least 5 inches long- the length is your decision-- then hold it with pliers while I heat it red hot. I pound it with a sledge into a square, then clamp one end in my bench vise, and twist the rod, keeping it red hot with the torch. This gives it a decorative appearance. YOu can vary your decorations any way you desire.

I then flatten one end with my hammer, so that it can be made into a circle, or "heart" for a Handle. The wire will heat weld to itself, if you clean the two connecting surfaces with a fine file before heating and beating them together.

The working end, is filed to a "Point", with a tapered shaft long enough and small enough to fit through the TH, and extend across the bore to the other side of the barrel. Then, I round off the POINT, and file "flats" on opposite sides, to make a paddle like vent pick. The two sides that are flat allow me to move powder by just twisting the pick in the TH.

If you want to put a pick in an antler tip, then drill a hole smaller than the rod used, heat the rod up to red hot, and run it into the antler hot. It will cook the antler a bit doing this, and that will STINK :barf: , but the rod will stick permanently in the antler, unless you shatter the antler with a blow from a sledge hammer, or heavy rock.

If you want to avoid the odor, then use super-glue to glue the antler tip to the pick.

You might consider drilling a hole in the tip so that you can run a leather strap through it to hold it to your bag strap.

When I finish a vent pick, I heat the entire pick up red hot, and drop it in a tin of motor oil. The oil puts a black finish on the metal, that inhibits rust, and provides an even coating. If it every wears down, its simply a matter of re-heating the rod up again, and dropping it back in some oil.

OR, I have simply cooled the red hot rods by spraying them with WD40. The oil acts the same, coating the rod with a nice even black finish.

I have large wide hands, and my longer picks make it easier for me to control them in use. I found that I had no trouble selling the rest of those I made to others, who also liked the control they had over the short little wires they had been using.

I keep one pick attached with a leather string to my bag strap, and have a second one that holds the top of my Voyageur's wool cap to the turned up opening. The second one has been " Loaned" to other flintlock shooters on more than one occasion.

 

[Tumblernotch]

I use baling wire. Twist a loop in the end, hammer the tip square, even up with file and then heat to red and drop in water. This wire does not harden very much so the heat-treat only stiffens it a little.

Save the antler for other projects.

I believe he's talking about using the antler tips for handles for the picks. I should take some of mine and do that. Make it a little easier to find if I drop one at the range.

 

[Black Hand]

I consider vent picks a disposable item and can't see putting that much work into them. My point was to make them with the minimum amount of time and effort because I/you/they will lose it anyway... :grin: :grin: :grin:

Time spent on an antler-handled ventpick (at least made the way I would do it) - several hours.
Time spent on a baling wire ventpick - maybe 10 minutes.
Having several on hand - priceless.

 

[Stumpkiller]

Coathanger wire. Heated red hot, pounded to square to thin it and then allowed to slowly air cool (untempered). I then thin the tip to vent size by drawfiling it round.

You can get fancy and clamp one end in a vice and twist it while red hot. Makes a very decorative pick.

 

[Stumpkiller]

You can also gather natural ones. Vent picks an horn plug tacks grow on trees.

 

[cratwelder]

This is definately not period correct, but since I am a Boilermaker/Tube Welder, and they give the stuff to me for free....I use 1/16the SS and Inconel tig wire...and 3/32 also. No sparks...and tougher than sin.

 

[reddog]

Bingo,,,'cept I use stainless.
Swing by a welding shop, they will probably give you a couple feet free.

 

[Black Hand]

I use 1/16the SS and Inconel tig wire...and 3/32 also. No sparks...and tougher than sin.

Be careful! Tough wire can wear your touch-hole prematurely by enlarging the opening.

 

[sean138]

Old bicycle spokes. The rims I stripped out came from a 1935 boys bike. The spokes had to be replaced so I put the old ones to use as vent picks and chains.
Sean

 

[FPDoc]

I use hammered copper wire. No spark worries (I admit I havent worried about that anyway), the hammering hardens it so it doesnt bend easily and its cheap (3" of 12ga wire).