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I have made a pair of over lifter wires for the single mortise lock I have and they work fine. It made sense to make up a set for all the other gauges and then also make 2 in 1 tools for all the gauges. Here I have run into problems because none of the mortise keys I have (qty 4) have post diameters that are anywhere near to AWG or SWG sizes. My question is what gauge system applies to mortise keys ?.

I have on order from EBAY 20 ERA blanks, which are supposed to be 5 and 7 (thin) gauge and another 10 of some gauge or other (thick). I have no idea if they are going to be suitable for what I have in mind, which is basically making each 2 in 1 out of 2 brass keys cut down, some music wire (16 SWG) and some thin brass tube for the tension-er shank of the tool, to make it co-axial.

Thank you .....

I have the 5 and 7 guage curtain picks and the thickness is 4.53mm on one ans 4.84mm on the other s thats the measurements for the shafts of the tensioner that i have. Hope that helps.

Thank you for the reply. Your measurements seem to tally with the 4.621mm figure I have for a 5 gauge key. For the lock I have the keys measure , 5.13mm, 5.34mm, 5,34mm, 5.43mm, which to my simple mind would suggest a larger gauge. My problem is I have searched the Net and found only the following gauges, 5 , 5.5, 6 , 6.5, 7 , 8 , 9 ... and nothing seems to tie in with any wire gauge table. Probably a stupid oversight on my part, but I was hoping to find a published table of sizes that agreed with the keys I have.

I believe there is also a 3 guage too. But not 100 percent on it. Ive only just started on the mortice side of things but let me ask a guy who is well up on them and i'll get back to you.

Thanks a lot, I have only just started looking at lever locks and have no 'feel' for them yet. From a human interest point of view I have an elderly widow neighbour who has lost the side door key to her garage and it is not a 5 gauge for which I have made an over lifting tool. So at the moment I have no idea where I am at the moment. It is a mortise lock so I have to open it before I can remove it , to make a key for her. No I have not yet looked at impressioning mortise keys .... if that is possible. Real problems produce real solutions .... or so they tell me !

It's Imperial Wire Gauge . I have all the sizes somewhere .....

I got a little confused because I found seven wire gauge system tables, all different, including five Imperial gauge systems.
( http://www.sizes.com/materls/wire.htm )
The following table looks the closest ..

Gauge Imp. AWG

3 0.2520 0.229423
4 0.2320 0.2043
5 0.2120 0.1819
6 0.1920 0.1620
7 0.1760 0.1443
8 0.1600 0.1285
9 0.1440 0.1144

Of the four keys I have, one is 0.2120 which makes it five gauge. The other three 0.2030, which might make them 5 1/2 gauge ?. Two of these are brass Chubb keys. Thanks for your help.

The 5 gauge over lifting wires I mentioned in the above posting.

Nice work on those over-lifters! You really got a knack for making stuff don't ya?

Poverty inspires me Hi!.

I hear ya there... but the workmanship is quite impressive for sure!