If you have a lock without the key, can’t you use blanks to figure out how to cut the key? We need to replace a dead-bolt, if not. Seems to me it can be done, but I might be remembering wrong. - Jinx
IANAL. UK, old mortice lock from the first half of the 20th century. No problem. I’m not sure about others, so I’ll bow out now.
IANALS but I have seen it done on an auto ignition by putting a key blank in the ignition and turning it, then filing down the areas that contacted the pins (?) in the lock cylinder. It was time consuming and a PITA. I have heard there is some sort of gun that will do the same thing much faster. Of course it may only be possible with certain types of locks.
These are Kwikset (Kwickset?) locks. Pretty common here in the USA, but it might be cheaper to swap out the deadbolt. Of course, we might want it “keyed” to match other locks for which we have a key…so, ideally, one key can do it all.
- Jinx
Yes, it can be done but you have to take the lock to the locksmith. It is also very easy to just key the lock to another key (of same blank type, of course)
Sure. A locksmith can do this either by disassembling the lock and examining the pins, or in-place using a technique called impressioning. Impressioning is slow and tedious but is sometimes the only option if the lock cannot be removed and disassembled for some reason.
It will probably be cheaper for you to go to Home Depot or wherever and buy a new cylinder that you can key yourself to match the existing locks. They probably have them near the key machine, rather than just out on the racks with locks.
What I’ve seen of these is you get the cylinder and a bunch of pins - put the existing key in the cylinder and place pins in the holes so they’re all flush with the outside of the cylinder, then re-assemble.
Alternately, just take the lock and the key you want it to work to a locksmith (or a good hardware store) and save a trip charge.
If you bring your lock to a locksmith, he can make a key for the lock. He’ll take the lock apart, take out the pins and measure them. He can tell what kind of key to use from the lock. Otherwise, you’d have to have the locksmith come and rekey your entire house.
I don’t think you can buy lock cylinders at Home Depot. Anyway, if you were able to, you’d then have to buy a pin set, and they’re expensive. Then you’d have to figure out which pin to put in your cylinder and in what order. There are certain tools you’d need to accomplish this. You don’t want to go that route. You’d end up spending a lot of money and probably still not achieve success. Either take the lock to a locksmith and have him key the lock, or have a locksmith come out to the house and rekey the entire house.
Some years ago I was a school governor. I was told that a key to a store room was lost, so the County sent a locksmith who was able to make a pair of keys from scratch in less than an hour. I discovered later that these guys were paid four hours to do a job like that as they were supposed to break in, repair the damage and replace the lock. These were fairly simple four lever locks.
I bet the OP solved his problem with his deadbolt sometime in the intervening 11 years since he asked for advice. I wonder if he can even remember what he ended up doing?