Need advice on vintage Chinese lock without a key
Posted: Mon Jun 26, 2017 1:33 pm
I have a lock with no key.
Long story short, this is the lock on a Chinese chest I just inherited. Age unknown, but at least forty to fifty years old. The previous owners apparently lost the key.
Currently the lock is, well, locked, and the only way to open the chest is by unscrewing the lock from the chest. I'd love to be able to open and close the chest without doing that, which means finding a way to make a key that will open the lock. I'm not an amateur locksmith or anything like that, and I've been asking local locksmiths what my options are. None of them seem to know where to start, but one of them pointed me to this awesome forum.
Does anyone have advice on what might be possible with this lock, and how I should proceed here?
Thanks.
Long story short, this is the lock on a Chinese chest I just inherited. Age unknown, but at least forty to fifty years old. The previous owners apparently lost the key.
Currently the lock is, well, locked, and the only way to open the chest is by unscrewing the lock from the chest. I'd love to be able to open and close the chest without doing that, which means finding a way to make a key that will open the lock. I'm not an amateur locksmith or anything like that, and I've been asking local locksmiths what my options are. None of them seem to know where to start, but one of them pointed me to this awesome forum.
Does anyone have advice on what might be possible with this lock, and how I should proceed here?
Thanks.