One in a million

[Tattoo Guy]

Got a call today from a guy I had done some work for before. He told me a tennant of his had locked herself out of her apartment with the ERA nightlatch (keys on the inside) this wasn't what he wanted me to look at though it turned out the lady asked her neighbour across the hall for some help and being the good samaritan he was happy to oblige. The guy proceeded to try his Yale door key in her lock and with a little wiggling around the door opened The landlord wanted me to check out the lock as it must be faulty and the tennant was worried that anybody could open her door whilst she was out or maybe even in.

So when I got to the job i had a good look at the lock which was fitted nice and tight, with no movement in the cylinder without the right key. At this point I was a bit sceptical about the guy opening the door with his key so the lady went over to the neighbour and asked him to try it again, he did and sure enough his key opened the ladys door

Upon further inspection of the 2 keys it turned out that from the shoulder of the guys key his 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th cuts where identicle to the 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th cuts of the ladys key and the 5th cut of the ladys key was equal to the leading edge of the guys yale key.

Now had I not seen it with my own eyes (and tried it myself more than once) I would never have believed that by putting this yale key into the lock and pulling it back one cut it would open the lock as it did.Surely this has got to be one of the strangest things I will ever come across in this job as I have often heard of lockies turning up to empty morice locks that will open with a screwdriver but come on, the guy across the hall having a near perfect copy of your key made by 2 different manufacturers thats almost x-files territory.

Has anybody else ever come across anything like this before or better still something stranger still.

[grit1]

Back in the day when I was working for my middle school [6-8 grade] I wanted a master key very badly, and even though the administration wouldn't give me one, I eventually got one [hehe] ... I was in a position where I used a building master key almost daily, so I knew the shape of it well. It was a 5 pin Sargent system in the R sections, so the key I used frequently was a master section RN.

At the same time I was [and still am] a junk collector and have always enjoyed flea markets. I went to a flea market during a big tractor show south of my home town, and ended up digging through somebody's big bin of keys for $0.10 a piece. I dug and dug and eventually found a Sargent key, in LK, with the old style Sargent head, that looked almost exactly like the middle school's master key. I brought this key to a super-market that happened to also cut keys, picked out my own blank [happened to be RN] and had them cut it over.

I went to school next day and lowe and behold it worked with a little jiggle! No other modification other than cutting it onto the right blank! The thing that gets me is that it would be impossible for say an old teacher or something to have put it in the bin, as none of the vendors at the flea market were local - they were all traveling from "distant land" to pedal their goods at the tractor show. Just for you info I did eventually get issued a master key for my middle school [and later for almost the entire school district] but that little miracle got me out of some binds occassionally. ~Grit.

[Chrispy]

Upon further inspection of the 2 keys it turned out that from the shoulder of the guys key his 2nd 3rd 4th and 5th cuts where identicle to the 1st 2nd 3rd and 4th cuts of the ladys key and the 5th cut of the ladys key was equal to the leading edge of the guys yale key.

That's freaky.

[vector40]

You're saying the last pin was put into position by the front (uncut) slope of the key?

[bonez]

very odd!

[Shrub]

I thought most aparment blocks over there all had the same lock so they could easily be masterkeyed for the owner but yes it was freaky.

[sledge-it]

Changed a 114 on a shop a few years ago, (new owners). Fitted a nice brand new lock......that the owner proceeded to operate with her old key!
Old and new lock keys were identical! 1000 to 1 chance I believe.
Tattoo guys odds must be higher though!

[Tattoo Guy]

Yes vector40 the last pin was indeed set by the uncut end of the key and Shrub I'm from Bolton but still there was no chance that the block was mastered as I know for sure the lock has been changed on this apartment at least twice since they were built.

[Shrub]

Sorry i should have got a hint by the fact that it says so right under your name UNFILL out your profile, then might not know where you are

[Dimmy Locks]

That story reminds me of a job I went to about 6 years ago.

Lady was upset that a friend of her son had a key that opened her door so called me out to change the rim cylinder. When I got their she gave me a right grilling about how could it bepossible 2 people in the same street had the same locks. I explained that for any given manufacturer there were limits as to how many key cuts there could be, and explained typically her key would work in probably about 700 other locks with a jiggle. I added she was just unlucky that 2 locks in same street were the same...Upon removing the cylinder, I called her over to ask if she'd ever had to call a locksmith out before, she explained she'd broken her key in the lock about 3 years earlier and a very nice man came to fix it for her. I then told her that not only would almost any key open her door but she could open it with a screwdriver... The "very nice man" had simply removed all the pins to "extract" the broken key. <sigh>

[Chrispy]

*cringes*

[Wolf]

Although I am new here I want to tell something:-)

A little while ago I came home late and there was no light at the front door so I was messing around with the keys trying to find the one for my door. I thought I had it and without any problem opened the door only to discover that I used my bycicle key I have had for years.

I must say that my frontdoorlock is very old and dinky but this was a suprise. I have tried it again thinking I must made a mistake or something but it worked. The keys don't really look alike but I just now tried it again to make sure and voila the door opend without any problem.


See the keys. Totally different! Weird?

W~

[Wolf]

Oops I hit the send button to fast. I wanted to add that only the first part of both keys are somewhat the same. Appreantly that seems to be anough.

Wolf

[Chrispy]

That is weird. Although I can sort of see why it worked.

[networx]

I have not been dabbling in this for long, but in the near past have ran across a few strange matches. One was on an American 5200- working with the Military, they like those locks... We were staying at another unit's center one training and needed to get to a closet- locked by a 5200 so we started trying keys and about the 5th one hit clean... they are a nice 5 pin lock, but we hit the mix right I guess...
About a year later, i aquired a Cushman Industrial vehicle, without a key. The lock was simular again to the AM3 blanks so again, I got playing- went through about 10 keys before it hit- but would not come out easily- so the nose was filed off and it still works today...
Anotehr favorite was many years ago when I ran a hobby store and my brother worked at the bike store across the road. One day he was going to pick up his bike he left there when he got a ride home, but forgot his keys, and grabbed mine by mistake from the car- he tried the key to my front door and it worked perfectly on theirs! That lasted about a month when we both got them changed.
Its a huge odds game, but a fun one when it hits!