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Making new keys for old locks

MikeMA

MikeMA

pfm Member
Has anyone here had direct personal experience of having new keys made for old locks with missing keys?

I have a nice old 19th/early 20th century oak chest of drawers with five lockable drawers. The key - and I'm assuming the same key would have fitted all five locks? - is long gone.

There are plenty of locksmith and other websites offering the service but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has had it done and how successful and costly it was, and any recommendations.
 
Not answering your question, but if you have a key that looks like it might fit, have you tried it?

Old locks on everyday items tended to have very simple keys and were not very demanding of what key was tried. By extension, taking one apart generally reveals very simple innards that do not take a genius to work out what shaped key is required.
 
MikeMA said:
Has anyone here had direct personal experience of having new keys made for old locks with missing keys?

I have a nice old 19th/early 20th century oak chest of drawers with five lockable drawers. The key - and I'm assuming the same key would have fitted all five locks? - is long gone.

There are plenty of locksmith and other websites offering the service but I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has had it done and how successful and costly it was, and any recommendations.
Click to expand...

Yes this is something I’ve had done often. The cost will go up if he has to come to your house and remove the lock(s) and then come back and refit it all. In London, £75 + ish I would have thought.
 
Yes, I have done this with locks. As said before, this kind of old lock is very simple, if you get a similar key that will go in the lock it is simple to dismantle the mechanism and see how it works. You can then file the wards to fit.

I have done this with the old style of car lock and key, in this case it is easy beyond belief. You dismantle the lock, poke out the rotating barrel and push in a key. If it is the right key the wards retract to exactly the right point for the thing to become perfectly cylindrical, and it will turn. If it's not then the wards will be left poking out and it won't turn. So the fix is to put the imperfect key in and file off the protruding wards. Reassemble it and you have a lock that will turn with the original key and the one that you have made to work.

If this is beyond you then a local locksmith will do it easily, especially if you can remove the lock and take it to him.
 
Very old locks can be even simpler - the key has to rotate through a fixed "plate" and then it just operates a lever that moves the bolt. In such cases, almost countless key shapes would work.
 
i bought up a fair few drawer locks in a closing down sale a good while back. all made by legge, solid brass and recessed, musta been over 30 of various sizes,
and only 3 different kinds of keys did the lot. chances are the op's will be a single mechanism, deffo worth trying old keys if you have any, or buy a cheapo picking
set and watch a ytube jobbie. my son became quite good at picking simple locks.

if op stuck, could send some old keys to try, providing i can find them
 
Vinny said:
Very old locks can be even simpler - the key has to rotate through a fixed "plate" and then it just operates a lever that moves the bolt. In such cases, almost countless key shapes would work.
Click to expand...

blossomchris said:
i bought up a fair few drawer locks in a closing down sale a good while back. all made by legge, solid brass and recessed, musta been over 30 of various sizes,
and only 3 different kinds of keys did the lot. chances are the op's will be a single mechanism, deffo worth trying old keys if you have any
Click to expand...
I've seen these, they are typically only one-lever locks such as you will find on a briefcase or similar. Often they have a pin in the centre that engages with a drilling in the nose of the key, and this allows the key to operate the mechanism. As you say they are very, very simple devices.
 
Thanks for all the responses.

AudioAl said:
Is the lock fitted to the rear of the draw front or in a tenon cut into the draw front
Click to expand...
The locks are brass and fitted into a recess cut into the back of the drawer front, not sunk into a tenon, and held in place by four screws. I've not tried but I imagine it would be easy to a remove a lock to get a look inside. I may have a go later. I'll look out for some old keys to try too.
 
Vinny said:
Pedantry - it is a mortise, as in mortise lock - just remember tenon saw - tricky to cut a hole with a saw. (Or remember mortise chisel.) :)
Click to expand...

think it is a recessed lock. thought a mortice was a hole so to speak, not an open slot
 
blossomchris said:
think it is a recessed lock. thought a mortice was a hole so to speak, not an open slot
Click to expand...

Correct - but I was correcting the fact that it was said not to be a tenon lock. There is no such thing as a tenon lock or a lock that is "sunk into a tenon".
 
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I love the way these threads go.

Anyhow, it's spurred me into looking around for old keys and asking my neighbor if he had any and he did, one of which fits! So I'm sorted. I doubt I'll ever lock the drawers but I like to know that I could if I needed to. I think I need to get out more.
 
Excellent - not really a surprise with an old lock on general household furniture.

Cheaper than a locksmith too :)
 
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