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Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 4:25 am
by femurat
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I finished a key for an old Abus padlock that I started one month ago and left unfinished. I thought I filed too much and since I was tired I put it away for later. Looking at the key with fresh eyes made me see two marks that, once filed, allowed the key to turn. Since it took me just ten minutes to finish it, I decided to impression another padlock.

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This is a small 3 pins Yale padlock that I bought at a flea market without a key. It's old but not worn out. A nice and easy padlock to impression.

Cheers :)

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Tue Nov 07, 2017 8:40 pm
by jeffmoss26
Found this Russwin padlock in a drawer at work, locked with no key. Used my pippin file with some help from the trusty HPC 1200 and made a key :)

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 6:29 am
by adi_picker
Lockwood 234

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Usually wouldn't bother to impression such a common lock, I have at least 30 that I have repinned that I use for practice. This one, although the same model is a much earlier revision than I have come across before, and I needed to keep my impressioning skills up. Have 3 more to be done tommorow, this one was done with just a file, but I am going to try using the Blitz as well tommorow to speed things up.

adi_picker

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:11 am
by 10ringo10
Its a great skill to have and love to see old locks being used - brought back to life as they would be thrown away sadley

Really need to buy a replacement file today if possible as the one I have is worn out - round needle file pip pip

thanks for the post - good day mate :razz:

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Sat Mar 03, 2018 7:18 pm
by adi_picker
Cheers Ringo,

I think its almost a necessary skill for a collector, yes? That's if you don't want to be paying the locksmith what you paid for the lock to have a key made ;) I can also agree with a lot of the sentiment above, it is incredibly satisfying when you get the working key, I do the same as Gordon, and turn it hundreds of times in the lock, just marvelling at what I have achieved!

adi_picker

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Tue Mar 06, 2018 2:05 am
by adi_picker
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Success! Did these five over the last couple of days. Used my Blitz, which really sped up the process, and made the marks much easier to see.

adi_picker

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2018 3:35 am
by adi_picker
Jacksons JP152A

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My first lever lock impression. Much easier than pin tumblers, just have to be careful how much meat you remove from the bolt-thrower. This is a Jacksons lock, made in Tasmania, Australia, made for the Federal Government for use locking ballot boxes. The 'CofA' stands for Commonwealth of Australia.

adi_picker

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2018 8:11 am
by jharveee
Sweet! I have made very few keys for lever locks.

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2018 5:53 pm
by jeffmoss26
no picture but I made a key for a Rascal scooter today. Y11 blank

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Wed May 23, 2018 10:56 pm
by macgng
Antique Canada P.O. Lever Padlock:

CPO-Lever.jpg


Had a decent picture of a key but had to do a number of things to the key blank to get it to fit and work.

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Tue May 29, 2018 7:55 pm
by jfw
I know everybody knows how easy these locks are to pick, so you maybe laughing.. but to impression? This one put up a fight due to the first few deep cuts. Brand new SC1 deadbolt.

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This is the result of NINE blanks later, the help of a key cutter and caliper.

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Wed May 30, 2018 8:50 pm
by jfw
So that first attempt felt like too much of a rush job. I decided to see if I could impression the SC1 dead bolt again. Yes I know the code, but I'm only going to file when I see the marks I like not thinking about the code. I had much more control on the 2nd attempt. Go it on the FOURTH blank. It was easier to get good marks this time around, probably the first time put some wear on the plug. I also handled the jiggling better.

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Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Thu May 31, 2018 11:15 pm
by Oldfast
Way to stick with it. Lots of learning and experienced
gained from what could otherwise be very frustrating.

From what I can see of your cuts, I'd say you have
good control of your file. You have nice valleys &
nice gradual slopes. Keep up the good work!

Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 5:24 pm
by jfw
Thank you Oldfast for the positive feedback, comments like that keep me motivated to continue this journey.

So I went and swapped out the last SC1 dead bolt with a brand new bronze finished one. Got it on the SIXTH blank. Was difficult to get the marks just like the last dead bolt, but once I got good tension control without breaking blanks, the key began to unfold. I really put heavy tension on that sixth blank, but it wouldn't break. Much clearer pictures this time around then my last post.

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Re: What have you Impressioned today

PostPosted: Sun Jun 03, 2018 8:01 pm
by adi_picker
Hey jfw,

Nice work on those Schlage's mate, I also find the larger pin tumblers with more pins are more difficult to impression than smaller locks, or wafers. My guess here is that there is just more resistance due to the increased number of pins, stopping the bound pin from making a deeper, more noticeable mark. That, and it also seems to depend on the quality of the lock. Cheaper locks that have sloppier tolerances and leave more room for the key to wiggle, tighter, better locks just have less give. Case in point is the Lockwood padlocks I posted above, by far the hardest impression I have done yet, very tight locks.

Like yourself, when I first started to attempt impressioning, I also broke a lot of blanks. Slowly, as I have gotten better are identifying the marks left, I have been able to use less and less pressure, and now can complete the job with a single blank, most of the time. I found that it was my turning tension, not my wiggle that was too high, and decreasing this has helped a lot in this regard. I also now try and use the least pressure I can when wiggling, and if I cant find a mark, only then will I try the impression again with a little more pressure. In my experience, its only sometimes you need the extra pressure, so obviously using it only when required also cuts down on the wear and tear on the blank.

Great to see others here practising this skill! Its quite a rare, unique talent from what I can gather, something that even a lot of locksmiths cant perform, or cant perform well. When I impressioned the Jackson above, I made contact with the manufacturer in order to get the blanks I required for it. When he realised what I was doing with them, he offered me some paid work doing this for himself and other clients, all around Australia, as he couldn't find someone who knew how to, or was willing to do it. I look forward to the first lock coming in to me, get to practice more, and get paid!

Hope you or somebody finds my 2c helpful!

adi_pickrer