First Impression

[Oldfast]

Great stuff here Gleb. Every time I turn around you're postin' another one.

You're workin' hard, learning lots, and gaining experience all the time. Nice!

Can't wait to see the couple that have started a recycling pile of brass for you. lol

[jeffmoss26]

Well done, thanks! That is the Yale small pin tumbler Y52/Y6, I don't want to bore you with the OEM keyway designation...hope those original blanks were okay to work with.

[Papa Gleb]

Jeff my pleasure and thank you. The brass original yales worked great and I have plenty blanks left so time permitting, I will try to maybe make the cuts looks more original since now i have a yale cylinder and original key to compare too

Oldfast and everyone elswe, I need help . I have a lock that wont give me marks at all. I tried wiggle, pull, bump, thinning the blank, zoom 10x, 40x, 60x and even UV still nothing. I really dont want to send Jeff his locks back without a key made but I have my white towel in hand. Combined time spent is approximately 15 or more hours. Any help or suggestions or even questioning my methods to make sure I am doing it right, would all be appreciated.

[jharveee]

Maybe it is a push-key padlock.?
Got a photo?

[Oldfast]

..... I really dont want to send Jeff his locks back without a key made .....

Ooooooh shit!!! Don't do it! I can't even begin to tell you what will happen if you
send one back with no key. I tried it once. DO... NOT... fail the Sargent. lol

Yeah, a picture might help. Can you/ have you picked it?

[jeffmoss26]

Yeah...let's see which lock it is! lol

[Papa Gleb]

I tried to log on to the weekly meet on my laptop by wifi was horrible. Maybe issues in my area. Anyways, it's a tiny 4 pin WB padlock. The size of a quarter. I'll post picks tomorrow. I did pick it and decide it but after first pass I get no marks.

Also I have a 6 pin Russwin which felt that the 6th pin was stuck so I couldn't even pick it. Let it sit for a day then picked it twice and decided it. Started to impressioning and get no mark for the 6th pin. Tried silver and brass blank but 6th pin gives zero so I tried to pick it again and same thing. 6th pin feels suck up in there again. I can feel it's all the way up. I added some lube but didn't help. Any ideas?

How about the sharpie/marker trick. How does that work and what marks do I look for? Do I just sharpie the top of the blank and wiggle till the marker is off at some spots?

[Papa Gleb]

Forgot to snap a pic of the lock. Will do so when I get home but anyone has any info on the sharpie or share what they do when they get no marks?

I decided to put that locks aside as it was f**king with my confidence a bit and decided to pick up an old yale Y1 keyway. I could not pick this lock so I decided to just go for it. After 2 attempts, I realized I was getting different marks as the keys came out different and not one worked. I come to find the twists in the yale blanks can be misleading to find the marks. Ill post pics of this one too.

For the record, all of these locks currently discussed are regular pin tumblers.

[Papa Gleb]

Here is a picture of the tiny WB 4 pin and the Russwin robust 6 pin that has a stuck 6th pin. Upon further investigation and more WD40, there is differently something wrong with the Russwin. The excess WD that came out was full with tiny tiny metal shavings and that is NOT from impressioning as I brush the blank every time before putting it into the lock. I even tried a soft mullet on it with no results so I am stumped.

I also would like to hear some feedback to a sharpie trick on the top of the blade of the blank. Anyone tried this?

[jharveee]

4-4-14 005.JPG

I use the Sharpie sometimes Just like "Smoking".
When you bind and mark, the ink rubs off and is easy to see.
Sometimes I also scribe the pin spacing on the side of the blank.
Although I don't think any of this is going to help with your locks
that have other problems.(Pins Sticking).
Think I would soak them in some cleaner for awhile.
Let them dry.
Blow air up them.
Beat them with a hammer.
Wash
Rinse
Repeat.
Good Luck.

[Papa Gleb]

Thanks Harvey. Ill try the sharpie on that little WB that doesnt give any marks. I also took a good look into the pins and instead of looking like this,
\ /
\______/
they are so flat they look like this:
\_________/
which would explain why I get no marks so a sharpie might deff be what I need to attack this.

As for the Russwin, Ill wait to hear from Jeff before putting anymore chemicals in just to get the confirmation.

[jharveee]

Yes, of coarse.
Be careful not to damage lock.
" Beat with Hammer" should have been worded better.
Nudge with leather mallet with just enough force to free pins.
As far as what cleaners are to be used.....I would leave that up to the owner of the lock.

I would also try "Harsh Language".

I see you have a different Key Grip(holder, handle). How do you like it?
So many things to spend money on I haven't got around to getting one.

[Papa Gleb]

The drawing of the pins didnt come out as I thought but Im sure you understand that the pins have been worn flat.

Thanks, your right, It wasnt a hammer but a soft mullet and I wrapped the padlock in a few layers of leather before hitting it. To be even more correct, I didnt hit the padlock with the mullet but rather his the hammer with the padlock if that makes sense. It didnt appear to help so Im holding until I hear from Jeff.

Making sure everything leaves in the exact condition as it arrived is very important to me. I dont even put the padlocks into the vise without thick leather on both sides even tho the vise has hard rubber bumpers or pads.

Harvey, I seen you made a thread about knifing the blank and posted a video which was about 2 hours. In the video they showed a guy impressioning a door lock however aside from knifing, he also used the file weird and I didnt see anyone question this. Instead of having a perpendicular angle with the file and blank, the guy used the file about a 45 degree angle which I found weird not to mention it made the finished key just disgusting but it made think that there has to be a reason for it. Has anyone seen this before? If I need to better describe it, let me know and Ill post the link.

[Papa Gleb]

The drawing of the pins didnt come out as I thought but Im sure you understand that the pins have been worn flat.

Thanks, your right, It wasnt a hammer but a soft mullet and I wrapped the padlock in a few layers of leather before hitting it. To be even more correct, I didnt hit the padlock with the mullet but rather his the hammer with the padlock if that makes sense. It didnt appear to help so Im holding until I hear from Jeff.

Making sure everything leaves in the exact condition as it arrived is very important to me. I dont even put the padlocks into the vise without thick leather on both sides even tho the vise has hard rubber bumpers or pads.

Harvey, I seen you made a thread about knifing the blank and posted a video which was about 2 hours. In the video they showed a guy impressioning a door lock however aside from knifing, he also used the file weird and I didnt see anyone question this. Instead of having a perpendicular angle with the file and blank, the guy used the file about a 45 degree angle which I found weird not to mention it made the finished key just disgusting but it made think that there has to be a reason for it. Has anyone seen this before? If I need to better describe it, let me know and Ill post the link.

[Papa Gleb]

I made a grip for $1(see youtube) to see if impressioning is for me which it was/is and then I invested into the Pro-Lok handle which is GREAT. Its the cheapest grip out there ($37) and well worth every single penny. It holds a blank SUPER SUPER strong. Has a nice feel and weight to it. The only thing is that the handle is hollow. I dont know if that is a cost saving measure or if its to make the grip lighter. A heavy grip can make it harder to control your strength not to brake blanks. It does leave marks on the blank but that not a big deal. I would say the next best thing is using the windshield removing tool. There wont be much needed to make it functional and its steel so its gonna last a life time. The tool that has little grips on it costs about $25. Spending $25 plus an hour or so to make it functional will at the end cost me more than buying the commercial handle.