First Impression

[Papa Gleb]

Saying farewell to this beautful collection of locks I was given the pleasure to work with so figured since I have such a nice little collection why not snap some lock porn picks and share them. I could have took better pics but I really had 2m to set them up and take the pics. They still came out very well.

[HT4]

Wow. Did you impression all of those?!?

[Papa Gleb]

Yes sir. Its a challenge of its own. Like picking, we get rewarded with a turned plug, impressioning brings the same reward except the reward comes along with a working key and once there is a working key, the lock is in terms restored or brought back to life so in ways it even more rewarding then picking, at least for me .

[escapenrv]

Nice work Papa G.
I agree. I'm just learning to impression and it is a great feeling to get that plug to turn. I started with a few Kwikset and then Schlage locks. I worked through the progressive series that someone here suggested as a way to learn the skill. That helped a lot. I went on to impression about 10 old master locks I had without keys. I found a couple of Chinese master look alike locks that I could not do. Took one apart and found very small pins and non-standard depths. That is non- Master Lock sizes.
I was able to do one Abuss Disk lock.
I enjoy this aspect of the hobby (hobby for me, work for others). I am beginning to get a feel for what I see on the key and am getting better at knowing when to stop.
Again, thanks for sharing the nice work you have done. It gives me hope.....
Steve

[Papa Gleb]

Just wanted to share a little update. Thanks to the great work of Ringo with getting an HPC code card I was able to code cut keys for Jeff's locks. It was a bit of work because I had to eye ball the cuts then check the lock and do a pass to see which cuts needed to be cut lower.

Most of the locks turned on first try, some needed 2 or even 3 passes but at the end all turned, well almost all because one was sooo stubborn that I had to throw in the towel. Wasted 5 blanks on it and still no turn. I'm not even sure whats wrong because my impressioned key and code cut key look like they align perfectly except it didn't work. Oh well, it still has my impression key that works. So Mr. Moss now has beautiful WB logo locks with impressioned keys, code cut keys and bitting for each.

Oh and I finally understood what the chains on padlocks are for... its a carry case of sorts lol

Forgot to add that all of the blanks were also too long. The impressioned blanks I cut down to size with a dremel but for the code cut keys I didnt want that rough finish on the tip so I used the code machine to cut the tip. Drove the cutter as close to the jaw as possible then flipped the key.

[jeffmoss26]

I love it!!

[10ringo10]

great work - papa does it again love this topic

[Oldfast]

Yep, you're killin' it!! And getting loads of experience along the way. Very nice.

[Papa Gleb]

Notice the pin on the side of the lock. That is for chamber 3. Not sure how or why it got there but this lock has been tampered with. When I picked it, it felt like chamber 3 is empty but there is more, the working key does NOT work when that pin on the side is facing the ground. It was late yesterday and its still a bit early for this morning for me to figure out but at the end one more oldie has a working key.

[femurat]

broken spring? or maybe the spring is too short to lift the short pin up enough to reach the shearline.

great job

[jeffmoss26]

It was like that when I got it :O

[Papa Gleb]

Yea hard to say. chamber 3 felt completely empty or missing a spring

[GWiens2001]

The keys are looking good, Gleb.

Have used a number of magnifiers. For those with a lot of experience, or younger eyes than mine, no magnification is needed. Some locks and/or pins are also quite easy to read.

For some locks, I don't use magnifiers. For some, especially those with the twisty key ways like Yale and some of the Abus, I use a tiny 45x magnifier like the 60x one someone posted. It takes a little practice to use them, but for locks that have faint marks or very thin key blanks, it seems to do the trick nicely.

Have done a number of the 'factory look' keys, but they take more time. Also feel that the ones with curves work more smoothly in the lock.

Gordon

[Papa Gleb]

This beauty comes to us from Potti (aka Michael) in Germany. Its a Lince 5 pin padlock made in spain. Very nice and clean padlock but a very detailed logo. The padlock, although clean, has lots of on the keyway and Im not sure if they use weak springs or if its the ware. Potti sent me this padlock w. 1 blank which isnt a problem until I realized its a steel blank. In an effort to save my baby, my file, I went on a hunt and thanks to the brave efforts of Jeff (The Lock Butcher) and Jeff (Moss), I was able to get the next best thing which was a corbin blank. We lots of modding I preped the blank and went to work. Having previously decoded the bitting I know where to go easy and where to file more. I really went slow on this one for several reason, but mainly no wanting to snap this thin blank which took about 20m to make and cause more ware to the lock. Snapping a blank isnt a really big deal however almost always if it snaps in the lock you have 2 problem. 1 you need to extract the key and 2 if it snapped chances are it will leave a sharp part on the bow which will scratch the padlock at the instance it snaps.

[Papa Gleb]

This nice lock (unknown brand) marked Ford put up a good fight but I won at the end to find a rusted in shackle. With some elbow work I had the shackle open. If anyone knows what brand of lock this is please share.