Jay wrote:The curves did have a slight bend as you noticed. I straightened them by hand. Will let you know how they hold up.
The tension tools are nice but very flexible. I hope they hold up well on keyways that are a bit stiff to turn. More to follow.
Well-spotted Chris. Jay -- this isn't going to make me popular with
Storm -- but I think bent picks and inconsistent countersinking is unacceptable for premium picks. The
Storm picks are inthe same price range as
Peterson's and
Falle's hence they must be compared to that category of picks. When I buy
Gosso picks and I get a bent few I don't complain because it is what I expect from dirt cheap picks that are made in China. But when I pay a premium price for (purportedly) premium picks I expect them to be at least straight. Bent picks, poor finishes and inconsistent machining points towards poor quality control at
Storm. The
Falle's have been criticised for their sharp edges (and this is a fair criticism, I have owned two sets of them and know this to be true) but (a) they aren't claimed to be hand-finished; (b) I don't know of any Falle-Safe picks arriving bent; and (c) they are structurally sound and hence useful.
There are two reviews of Storm lock picks on YT (one of them from Kokomolock) and it appears that there are design as well as QC issues with
Storm picks. Both reviews point to the excessive flexion of the picks and one of them suggests that the curve radii of the hooks are inappropriate
for hook picks.
I was excited when I learnt about
Storm picks (as I was when I learnt about Schuyler's proposed set -- which is also in trouble at the moment) because I collect picks and was looking forward to adding them to my collection. But because I use them also I won't buy them unless they are useful. I am disappointed and hope that
Storm review their QC procedures and designs.
Finally, the photography on the Storm web site is poor in terms of a communicating the pick profile and dimensions to the prospective buyer. There needs to be at least one photo of each pick that is perpendicular to the pick itself, i.e. at a right-angle so that the pick profile is clear.
This distant 45-degree(?) shot doesn't help me decide if I actually want a H1 hook pick because I can't actually see what the business end of the H1 pick actually is. The full size photo is equally useless: it is still at a 45-degree angle and the head -- the important end -- is in the
background.
I hope that my criticisms are taken as constructive and we gain another commercial vendor of fine picks. Sorry for hijacking your thread Jay but this seemed the most appropriate place as I don't actually own any Storm picks and can not post a review thread.