Oldfast Impressions

[Oldfast]

I sanded my old house keys to remove the chrome plating, they came out cool... not sandpaper, an air sand blaster.

Haha! Nice. Not a bad idea actually. After it tore through the initial layer,
did it begin eating at the brass a bit? i.e. Soften/round out the edges
leaving you with that nice "heavily used/worn" look?

There's a few locks that look really nice next to a nickel-plated key...
but 90% of the time, I prefer brass. Unfortunately, more and more blanks
are now coming nickel-plated. I've (briefly) looked into various methods for
removing this top layer. Most of them though, seem to involve the use of
acids such as sulfuric, hydrochloric, or nitric.

Another thought that's crossed my mind - If plating is an electro-process,
it stands to reason that I may be able to reverse this process somehow with
my electro-monster. Some experimenting for this summer I suppose

[femurat]

Yes it did round off the edges. Air sanding is like sandpaper but it doesn't shape the metal like sandpaper does. Imagine you're painting with an airbrush: the longer you stay in one spot, the more it's sanded. So I had to move the key like if I was painting it, without stopping in one spot to avoid carving it or changing its shape. I'll look for the keys and post a picture of the ones I'm not afraid of sharing online. Some of them are still in use.

If your electro-monster works it could be very fun.

Cheers

[Oldfast]

....I'll look for the keys and post a picture of the ones I'm not afraid of sharing online. Some of them are still in use....

I would love a pic if you get the time. Actually, I was tempted to ask, but thought it inappropriate.
But I didn't realize you had blasted a few that aren't in use. Thanks.

[Oldfast]

We got lucky Jeff!!



Out of my dozen or so old keys... ONLY ONE had a bitting that started out higher than the one your lock uses!
Needless to say, I was VERY careful and took it quite slow as I deepend 3 of the 5 cuts to match your lock. lol

I believe most of these government issued US SET Americans are of the World War II era. Lots of history in em'.
Nearly all of them I see have taken on a beautifully rich, deep brownish/reddish hue. The big triangular-shaped
bows of todays American keys (not to mention, all bright & shiny) just never look quite right with one of these.

On a side note: Just like we discussed... these little gems can put up a fight sometimes.
I've encountered maybe a handful of them that were able to slap me around for a bit. lol

[jeffmoss26]

A regular AM3 key would have sufficed! LOL, that makes it even cooler

[GWiens2001]

Mike,

I have some of those same cut keys in my American pinning kit! Junkinc Bros.

Gordon

[Oldfast]

I have some of those same cut keys in my American pinning kit! Junkinc Bros.

They can come in handy... sometimes

A regular AM3 key would have sufficed! LOL, that makes it even cooler

lol. I first impressioned it with a regular AM3. It looks like shit but works like SILK.
It actually works better than the one pictured. I'll send em' both back with the lock.

[femurat]

Hey Oldfast,

as promised I took a couple of pictures of the keys I sanded to remove the nickel plate that I didn't like. I censored the bittings.

I sand blasted the first one and completely removed the plating. This has no effect at all on function since the bittings were not plated so I haven't removed any material from there.

2013-04-04 17.51.12_ok.jpg

2013-04-04 17.54.37_ok.jpg

At the time I did this I knew nothing about locks and I was worried that removing the plate from the bottom of the key could have been a problem. So I just sanded the sides of this key with fine grit sandpaper. You can see the key bow raised edges were sanded and the inner part was still untouched.

2013-04-04 17.52.20_ok.jpg

Cheers

[Oldfast]

Thanks for taking the time to snap some pics for me femurat.

Since you'd made mention of that, I talked with a friend of mine that works at an auto-body shop.
He said he'd be happy to blast a few keys for me. They have a small one too, where a glove runs
into a small box.... so you could hold the key and hit both sides with a light touch. We'll see:)

[xeo]

That SET US American came from me originally. Nice to see a key for it... and yeah did you try picking it? It picks real crazy!

[Oldfast]

Kinda funny actually... the first time I picked through it with no problem. When I tried again it
gave me some hell - even knowing the bitting! Those US SETS can be funny like that sometimes.

[femurat]

They have a small one too, where a glove runs into a small box.... so you could hold the key and hit both sides with a light touch.

That's what I used

[Oldfast]

...more for Sargent Mossberg

So in an effort to not tie up your locks longer than needed, I probably won't photograph most of em' this time around Jeff...
but I just couldn't resist but share the story behind this one, LOL. Here's a HERCULOCK 700 with a Wilson Bohannan keyway.

My impressioning left me with this.


*(WB's in the background) You were right... all 3 are keyed alike. My first key only opened 2 of 3. Might be my key,
or maybe one of the locks has more wear. Not really sure yet. Hopefully I can make one that works all 3 smoothly.



BUT HERE'S THE KICKER....

As much as I love WB locks, I have only a half dozen in my collection. And out of those... I have ONLY 4 KEYS.
I grabbed one of them as I headed out to the garage. I was gonna cut a few more of your 6-pin blanks down
and I wanted a key for comparison on length and tip shape. Well you know what's comin' next....

IT GOES WITH YOUR LOCK!! Made me laugh out loud.



Sure, there's only so many different configurations before the same one is used twice...
but I have only FOUR KEYS! HA!! It seems your lock Jeff, was destined to visit me

And (not to toot my own horn, lol) but I was pleased to see my angles nearly identical to a factory key

[GWiens2001]

Beautiful job, Mike. I also like the WB locks. Have three of them which I just received last week. Now I just need to make keys, cause there ain't none. Lucky me!

Do you have the depths and increments for the bittings on them? Or heck, just send me your key, and I'll tell you how many of my Wilson Bohannan locks it turns! Now THAT would crack me up.

Just received a package of locks from a friend in Finland. Opened it up, and he had included an ABLOY P3020 as a birthday present for my son. He was thriled. He included a few challenging locks, and told me I could not open the package with the keys until I had picked three of them. Picked four of them, so I can look at the keys, but will wait for morning, or more likely after work tomorrow. The remaining locks look like they are going to put up a fight. Tomorrow I'll take/post pics.

Have a good night, all.

Gordon

[jeffmoss26]

you da man!!!