
OldddffAASSTT the Spin Master Extraordinaire and American Lock Slayer
Posts: 4412
Joined: Thu Mar 31, 2011 3:16 pm
Location: Michigan
Re: What have you Impressioned today
adi_picker wrote:Hey jfw,
Nice work on those Schlage's mate, I also find the larger pin tumblers with more pins are more difficult to impression than smaller locks, or wafers. My guess here is that there is just more resistance due to the increased number of pins, stopping the bound pin from making a deeper, more noticeable mark. That, and it also seems to depend on the quality of the lock. Cheaper locks that have sloppier tolerances and leave more room for the key to wiggle, tighter, better locks just have less give. Case in point is the Lockwood padlocks I posted above, by far the hardest impression I have done yet, very tight locks.
Like yourself, when I first started to attempt impressioning, I also broke a lot of blanks. Slowly, as I have gotten better are identifying the marks left, I have been able to use less and less pressure, and now can complete the job with a single blank, most of the time. I found that it was my turning tension, not my wiggle that was too high, and decreasing this has helped a lot in this regard. I also now try and use the least pressure I can when wiggling, and if I cant find a mark, only then will I try the impression again with a little more pressure. In my experience, its only sometimes you need the extra pressure, so obviously using it only when required also cuts down on the wear and tear on the blank.
Great to see others here practising this skill! Its quite a rare, unique talent from what I can gather, something that even a lot of locksmiths cant perform, or cant perform well. When I impressioned the Jackson above, I made contact with the manufacturer in order to get the blanks I required for it. When he realised what I was doing with them, he offered me some paid work doing this for himself and other clients, all around Australia, as he couldn't find someone who knew how to, or was willing to do it. I look forward to the first lock coming in to me, get to practice more, and get paid!
Hope you or somebody finds my 2c helpful!
adi_pickrer
How exciting! Nice.