Casein picks

[testore]

I have all of the popular picks. Wegen, Red Bear, Bluechip, TS ......and it occurred to me a few weeks ago that these have set me back over $100. I stumbled onto some casein buttons this weekend and made two picks out of them. I bought 9 buttons for $6.75. It took me 20-25 minutes on each one. They are as good as anything mentioned above. You can find old casein buttons easily, cool colors, and sometimes you can find faux TS too.

[Mandolin-Tele]

Wow Thanks....Great idea, how did you cut the buttons to pick size, what tools did you use

[JeffD]

I have all of the popular picks. Wegen, Red Bear, Bluechip, TS ......and it occurred to me a few weeks ago that these have set me back over $100.

The money I have spent on mandolins is a bit more than that.

I stumbled onto some casein buttons this weekend and made two picks out of them. I bought 9 buttons for $6.75. It took me 20-25 minutes on each one.

Pretty cool. Real cool actually.

They are as good as anything mentioned above.

If that were true you could easily sell them for half the cost of the boutique buttons and make some of that $100 back.

[testore]

Flat marble plate with sandpaper glued down to make each side the right thickness and flat. Put a little rosin on your fingers so it sticks enough to your fingers to glide back and forth in the sand paper. Stationary disc sander to shape the pick, file the bevels, buff the sides with an 8" buffing wheel. Easy!

[Mandobart]

Really cool idea! And they already have the gripper holes in them!

[Tom Cherubini]

What number sandpapers did you use? I assume you are using Wetordry sandpapers?
Thanks.
S.

[testore]

I just use normal sandpaper , I think it's about 280 or 320. It's ok to have a little coarse feel to the center for better grip. I only file and polish the playing edges.

[Jim Garber]

I would think you would just need to find the right size. One of the reasons I use Blue Chip picks is that for my guitar playing, they barely wear at all. I am sure that casein which I believe is a plastic created from milk proteins would be much softer than the plastic used in BC picks. For mandolin, however, it might be fine.

Of course, you can also make your own casein picks from scratch. It sounds from the above article that the plastic will actually not harden completely unless you use formaldehyde.

[testore]

That's why buttons make perfect sense. That have been treated with formaldehyde and are incredibly hard.

[Jim Garber]

Where can you find ones big enough?

[testore]

Antique shops have a million of them, eBay too.

[Mandolin-Tele]

I found one that will work its from an old jacket that I bought from a thrift store a few years back

Its very thick and a little bigger then a quarter with two holes

I'm thinking I can use a brick and sand paper and some files that I have

[Bertram Henze]

casein which I believe is a plastic created from milk proteins ...

Let's face it: it's cheese.

There has been this discussion about this on the SAW group which covers all the issues including how to make your own.

[PseudoCelt]

I've always assumed that Red Bear picks are made from casein. They are described as "polymerized animal protein", which is what formaldehyde-treated casein is. The John Pearse casein pick material looks very similar to the Red Bears.

I haven't yet summoned up the courage to set fire to my spare Red Bear pick to see if it smells like burned milk.

Patrick

[Bertram Henze]

I haven't yet summoned up the courage to set fire to my spare Red Bear pick to see if it smells like burned milk.

That would be a "pique brulee"

[Paul Busman]

How do you recognize a casein button?

[testore]

They are tooled, usually from a round or sheet stock. You can see the tooling similar to a lathe. Warm them up and they smell like sour milk. Do a quick google search and you can quickly see some of their typical details.

[Jim Garber]

The DIY aspect is enticing but frankly for under $10 a John Pearse pick made of the same material and in the shape I prefer is a lot less hassle than making it myself. I certainly understand it if you have a specific shape you like.

Also the BC picks are a different animal altogether. That plastic is practically indestructible. You can even run them thru the wash.

[j. condino]

There is a nice old story about Django Reinhardt showing up for a gig and not being able to find his guitar pick, so he popped a button of his jacket and used it for the show. John Pearse claims it was from his trousers and even makes a "Django's Button" tribute pick:

http://www.jpstrings.com/brpicks.htm#D Buttons

j.
www.condino.com

[Cwren22]

Testore…Any chance you could elaborate on the button-to-pick process for a non handy person like myself? I’ve got some buttons em route��

[Bill McCall]

Testore…Any chance you could elaborate on the button-to-pick process for a non handy person like myself? I’ve got some buttons em route��

You do realize that response was 9 years ago…..

But you can use a file to shape a button to your heart’s desire.