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An alternative title would be ... "Why didn't I think of that ! ".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDd1SZZYJ7w

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9zRaiK-GdM

Now that's the damndest thing!
Clever!

They've been around for a while now dll, but they are expensive and usually quite specific to model. One can make them at home, but it's not too easy and has to be made particualrly accurately to function well.
So all those reasons mean that they are pretty rare and usually only used in countries where these locks are really common (Italy, Spain...)

I took a look at
It looks like a homebrew. I guess to make one you would only need a key, grind/cut out most of the internals, cut a slot and then put in something for resistance in the slot to hold the feelers (Wax? Putty? Grease?). It all boils down to getting the best solution for keeping the feelers in check while not being to flimsy (i.e. wrecking the selfimpressioning bit).

Otherwise there's the drill-through approach where the feelers get pushed down through the body of the modified key but that seems more risky as in getting stuck in the lock and wriggling out the feelers leaving a mess in the lock.

I love these things, I believe they're called 'Magic Keys'. They were invented originally for the Mottura double sided locks (I think) but the principle has since been extended to quite a range of locks.

It is true that they are lock-specific. I love the homebrew version, it seems pretty easy to make your own versions of this tool.

I think it is especially pertinent in the UK where lever locks are still used extensively. Some locks present a problem in that the height difference from the highest to the lowest cut is greater than the distance that the sliding pins are allowed to travel before going through the key and hitting the curtain.

It is a very cool concept though and is on my 'tools to make' list for sure. The false gates would not stop it from working - once some were levers at the real gate and some in false gates, the one(s) in the false gates will then bind and continue to self impression.

80553 - How would the pick get trapped in the lock if you used the 'drill through' method?

I just imagined that if you don't jam the pins in good they would simply slip out the backside - or at least "overset" in the impressioning meaning, i e pushed to far.

While you can pay for picksets for normal picking speciality tools for self-impressioning (i e not keyblanks, keyholder and files) seems like a DIY-only arena kind of like the mortice-2-in-1-pics because of the flexibility you need to adapt to different keyways and levers.