>I always assumed that repair of a lockpick with a bent tip would result in less of a mod down than a pick that had broken completely. But I am seeing now that appraise just says how many times a pick has been repaired, with no distinction how badly it had been broken. So, is it more that a repair is a repair, and it doesn't matter to the mod down whether the tip was bent or totally broken?

The repair number itself doesn't directly indicate the mod of a pick. It may get used in the viability for LM reps, but as far as I know its not otherwise of direct relevance.

Repairing a bent pick improves the condition, but degrades the mod. (unless its been degraded below its floor by Edwina, in which case LM repair will bring it back up to the floor) Improved condition may make it better suited to resisting further damage rolls, but it makes those damage rolls more likely unless you also adjust down the range of locks you use the pick on.

If you want to degrade a pick's mod from fresh towards its LM floor, repairing it when bent is a good thing. Otherwise its almost certainly a bad thing. Its possible someone with enough knowledge about how the breakage system works could come up with situations where it makes sense to repair a bent pick, but I've never found one.