Making Picks

[1515Art]

I bought a little Hobart 140 MIG welder a couple years ago and have been slowly learning to use it modifying  picks I’ve bought to suite me better, one an Apex I put on a diet and added a shovel blade to plus an extra long handle I can use as a walking stick to make it easier getting around on uneven terrain. I’m getting a little better walking and just made a smaller version out of another Apex for when I’m healed up a bit more, I’m having fun learning anyway and enjoy making stuff. 
 

im sure many here enjoy watching off road videos, there a lot you can learn some of these  can be really informative, one I particularly like is Matt’s off road recovery if I’ve ever thought about rock crawling I’m pretty sure I don’t want too I hate being on off camber on trails and can’t afford rolling my Jeep but lots of good information for staying out of trouble.

I was watching a couple of his videos where he was road building using a claw hammer to help keep his rig from sliding off a narrow bench road and unless it’s part of the drama wondered why he doesn’t have a small prospecting pick on his rig so I thought with out asking  it would be a fun project to make something custom and send it to him just to see it it made it into his YouTube channel. Honestly if he wanted one I’m sure he wold have bought or made his own but I was looking for something to do that was fun and that I’d need to really work at sending it to someone that really knows how to fabricate and weld.

Digging through my old tools I found an old roofers hammer with an axe blade for splitting shingles, my starting point. Cutting that apart using the blade and half the handle socket I fashioned a pick end into the other half with a rabbit joint and welded that into the top half of my pick. Next I used a 1” pipe nipple notching it out to fit the top half cold forging the two pieces together, it’s a complex assortment of joints with enough surface area it should be pretty strong. Lastly I used part of an old pick handle short enough so as not to take up much storage space, the whole thing heavy enough to dig well but not much bigger than the claw hammer… well a little bigger. The blade is 4” across and from blade end to tip of the pick it’s 7 1/2” and from the top to the end of the handle a little over 16”. The handle is painted yellow but I cut groves into the soft paint a gave it a coat of gold metallic that I lightly sanded giving it a golden wood grain look covering everything with a crystal clear acrylic lacquer finish. I know the paint won’t last long but looks nice now.

So, will it wind up on the show, probably not… like I said I don’t even know if he’d even want one but guess I did this for my own fun so thought I’d share my story.

[1515Art]

The orange and white handle pick is my Apex Talon after the reverse shovel blade modification and the orange handle is that same Apex after the long handicap handle was put on the little yellow handle pick is my small Apex also modified with the reverse shovel point, I really like that style pick it moves a lot of dirt easily. The larger beast of a pick I bought off a WSPA member around 7 or 8 years ago at an outing, but it’s on the heavy side I keep it in case I need a pick that will dig through anything but it’s getting less and less likely I’m going to do anything like that now days.

[Rivers rat]

Hello funny things i went to a shop this morning to buy one to do the same with my spade..........modeing reinforcing learning............the welder was out of stock and was the best bucks for the money but i did bought the helmet/mask

I may ask you advise 🙂 i know how to weld with chocolate pretty well hope it will come handy

 

RR

[Rivers rat]

Ready to open a shop without a welder hahhahahah

 

RR

[1515Art]

On 1/12/2026 at 6:42 AM, Rivers rat said:

Hello funny things i went to a shop this morning to buy one to do the same with my spade..........modeing reinforcing learning............the welder was out of stock and was the best bucks for the money but i did bought the helmet/mask

I may ask you advise 🙂 i know how to weld with chocolate pretty well hope it will come handy

 

RR

RR, That Hobart is a pretty basic welder the everyone thinks is reliable and easy to get parts for I’m happy enough with mine. One tip that has helped me a lot is put a headlamp on your visor/shield, part of it has to do I think cause I wear glasses that darken in sunlight and I think they do that welding too, but even with just clear lenses it can be really hard to see the weld and I wind up getting off track so I just dbl sided taped a really bright headlamp to my shield that helps me see where I’m welding. Amazon sells ones made for welding that’s probably better or have some bright light you can shine on your work, anything will help.

[Jim in Idaho]

On 1/11/2026 at 3:29 PM, 1515Art said:

I bought a little Hobart 140 MIG welder a couple years ago and have been slowly learning to use it modifying  picks I’ve bought to suite me better, one an Apex I put on a diet and added a shovel blade to plus an extra long handle I can use as a walking stick to make it easier getting around on uneven terrain. I’m getting a little better walking and just made a smaller version out of another Apex for when I’m healed up a bit more, I’m having fun learning anyway and enjoy making stuff. 
 

im sure many here enjoy watching off road videos, there a lot you can learn some of these  can be really informative, one I particularly like is Matt’s off road recovery if I’ve ever thought about rock crawling I’m pretty sure I don’t want too I hate being on off camber on trails and can’t afford rolling my Jeep but lots of good information for staying out of trouble.

I was watching a couple of his videos where he was road building using a claw hammer to help keep his rig from sliding off a narrow bench road and unless it’s part of the drama wondered why he doesn’t have a small prospecting pick on his rig so I thought with out asking  it would be a fun project to make something custom and send it to him just to see it it made it into his YouTube channel. Honestly if he wanted one I’m sure he wold have bought or made his own but I was looking for something to do that was fun and that I’d need to really work at sending it to someone that really knows how to fabricate and weld.

Digging through my old tools I found an old roofers hammer with an axe blade for splitting shingles, my starting point. Cutting that apart using the blade and half the handle socket I fashioned a pick end into the other half with a rabbit joint and welded that into the top half of my pick. Next I used a 1” pipe nipple notching it out to fit the top half cold forging the two pieces together, it’s a complex assortment of joints with enough surface area it should be pretty strong. Lastly I used part of an old pick handle short enough so as not to take up much storage space, the whole thing heavy enough to dig well but not much bigger than the claw hammer… well a little bigger. The blade is 4” across and from blade end to tip of the pick it’s 7 1/2” and from the top to the end of the handle a little over 16”. The handle is painted yellow but I cut groves into the soft paint a gave it a coat of gold metallic that I lightly sanded giving it a golden wood grain look covering everything with a crystal clear acrylic lacquer finish. I know the paint won’t last long but looks nice now.

So, will it wind up on the show, probably not… like I said I don’t even know if he’d even want one but guess I did this for my own fun so thought I’d share my story.

Nice work, Clark. I made mine from a piece of 1/4" plate, and a section of an old shovel. Shovels are tough, and I hard-faced the pick end.

Jim

[Mark Gillespie]

Nice picks

 

[Wild Bill]

Those are very nice tools!  I have four used plow discs about 19” diameter.  I’ve already dedicated them to long range targets as steel silhouettes.  Weld up the center hole and fabricate a frame to hang them.  I’ll probably acquire more for digging tools.  I’ve made crevicing tools before but I like what you guy have made!  Thanks!   🤠 

[1515Art]

On 1/15/2026 at 10:11 AM, Jim in Idaho said:

Nice work, Clark. I made mine from a piece of 1/4" plate, and a section of an old shovel. Shovels are tough, and I hard-faced the pick end.

Jim

Thanks Jim, that means a lot coming from someone as good at welding and fabrication as yourself. The Aluminum you welded for me while you were being modest is fantastic really and has held up perfectly to all my abuse. I used it a couple months ago clearing a wash in a remote area and it’s a great tool much easier than digging by hand alone I can say for certain now. I’ll do a little write up for everyone and show off you skills, aluminum is much more difficult than steel I know because I tried it once. First I tried it but forgot to switch the polarity for solid wire, after realizing I went back a couple days later for another try unfortunately I forgot to close the main valve on my argon tank and it was empty, I tried anyway but could not get enough heat to penetrate the aluminum plates so gave up. Someday I’ll fill the tank and try again but I’m really unsure if the argon is best or another gas mix?