Best i-core

[pjzstones]

hi. i was just wondering if best interchangable cores are able to be impressioned? also where would i be able to get some L key blanks?

[FarmerFreak]

Can they be impressioned? Yes, but they are difficult. They have two shear lines, while impressioning you can't control which shear line(s) you are getting marks from. Add that to the fact that Best has tight tolerances, and you have one nasty lock to impression.

I'm sure you can get some blanks off of ebay. Or just do a quick google search, you shouldn't have a problem finding blanks.

If you aren't good at impressioning right now. I recommend that you take a step down from the Best and work your way up. If you can't impression Schlage/Corbin/Sargent reliably, do yourself a favor and leave the Best alone. If you can impression those really well, then have fun with the Best, it will fight you but you'll be ready for the challenge.

[ElAbogado]

Can they be impressioned? Yes, but they are difficult. They have two shear lines, while impressioning you can't control which shear line(s) you are getting marks from. Add that to the fact that Best has tight tolerances, and you have one nasty lock to impression.

I'm sure you can get some blanks off of ebay. Or just do a quick google search, you shouldn't have a problem finding blanks.

If you aren't good at impressioning right now. I recommend that you take a step down from the Best and work your way up. If you can't impression Schlage/Corbin/Sargent reliably, do yourself a favor and leave the Best alone. If you can impression those really well, then have fun with the Best, it will fight you but you'll be ready for the challenge.

Good advice FarmerFreak, Best locks are truly in a class of their own. Most locksmiths use a rotary pick (drill) to open them, as the time spent picking or God forbid, impressioning them is excessive. The one real weakness of this system is that possession of a single core from any best/falcon/ksp system will allow a control key to be made, and that is a compromise of the entire system, as the control key is as powerful as the grandmaster key.

[pjzstones]

thanks farmer and elabogado. that's what i was pretty much guessing but i figured i'd ask any way. i'm not planning on impressioning one anytime soon i've only done masters 1's and 3's. i was just curious because i picked one to the control line and i was planning on making a key for it and i was wondering if you weren't able to get it to the control line. i figured most locksmiths or what ever would just drill them but i just wanted to know if it was possible to impression them for future reference.

[inverseentropy]

If you can pick it to operating line, it is possible to take the lock apart by removing the ring clip on the back. You can then re-pin it to some existing key, or perhaps decode it if you are extremely careful when disassembling. Just as a warning, I've never done this so I don't know how difficult it is to put the thing back together. I think the proper way to disassemble involves pushing something into the holes on bottom until the caps on top pop out, and then perhaps doing the opposite procedure to put it back together. There are tools for this but they are expensive.

[unlisted]

Ya... no. to take it apart properly (and not have a total mess) you need a i core tool and some other fun expensive tools