by raimundo » 28 Sep 2011 11:06
well I watched the whole thing, but the only new information for me was that abus depths seem to take two to three strokes of whatever file he was using, (did he say goldblatt? ) for a full depth cut.
since I impression locks whos depths I do not necessarily know, I often have to be a bit more careful and do it the way I was taught in the early 1970's which is simply to make a mark and file the mark away and repeat.
cutting to a known depth is also a good technique especially for timed competitions. Jos mentions this briefly.
I may have made the first mention of impressioning on the lp101 years ago when I mentioned that any lock you cannot pick will probably yield to impressioning as impressioning is considered more of a sure thing for opening a lock that is difficult to pick.
The locks he impressions yield quickly, and since he also has the key available, he would not by accident file past the shear and go too deep because he probably can look at the key and simply name the depths by number.
keys with many deep cuts take longer.
tight locks like best brand, (which has two shearlines, 6 pin stacks or more, are more complex problems.
for a presentation, chosing a lock that will impression quickly is a good strategy, as would having a pre impressioned key fitted in an impressioning handle on the table to insure that you could quickly switch to the other handl e with at finished k'ey, means that you won't have any difficulty even if you have filed somewhere too deep and have to show the audience that sometimes it is just a little less straightforward every time.
no mention the knife edging of keyblanks
cutting away shoulders when the object is to impression a key in a padlock with drill breakers or cap lamination's in the way
to me these are still valid techniques since they have worked for me since Jos was in diapers.
I also have posted about the concept of impressioning at a door for a few seconds and taking the blank away to file it one step and come back a day later for the next step until you finally get a key. I believe I said in that post you could have a key in a month, because as I said, I file away the mark, rather than three strokes to file away a standard depth, and sometimes impressions are uncertain, if they are off the lateral spacing from front to back of the key, you may have to rebump to make certain,
I you break a blank and feel certain that you have not passed the shear on any of the information that you have already developed, of course you have to copy that broken key to avoid starting over at the beginning.
If you by some accident pass the shear and go too deep, you will keep binding the top pin in that collumn and keep getting marks below the level of the shear in that pin collumn, and if you reach what you know to be the deepest possible depth for that lock
on one pin collumn you will know that you passed the shear. Life is complicated sometimes
In no way am I trying by this post to diminish Jos accomplishments, His presentation is a very clear introductory talk but when you try it, you will still have to think your way through the problem.
If you are just starting out, you may want to buy a lock that is generally shallow cuts for the encouragement it will give you, but remember if you try it on a lock in the wild, without seeing the key, things may be different.
Jos mentions Tickel, the former fbi impressioner/locksmith, and says the techinque is at least that old,
In fact when I was taught in 1971, I was told that the technique was popularized in national locksmith magazine or some such trade publication in the later 1940's
Just my additions,
Thanks for the video Jos.
Wake up and smell the Kafka!!!
)
