Impressioning lever lock question

[cheerIO]

OK, I have read posts and papers but I still am having difficulty understanding impressioning lever locks.

I have "impressioned" a single lever lock. But the only reason that worked was because I was able to see what was going on inside and knew when to stop filing.

At the moment I am attempting to impression a 4 lever lock.

My problem is this:
The texts say to mark the key, insert it, turn, then file where there are marks. This makes sense to me for a warded lock. But with a lever lock, if you have filed a bitting to the correct height, there will still be an impression mark there because the key has to contact the lever to lift it.

So how do you know when to stop filing on a mark?

The first time I tried, I just filed everything off so the key didn't contact anything. What am I missing?

[smokingman]

The mark left in the blank will be on the side of the key at first,
but as it gets under the lever it will start to move into the cut you
have filed.
I stop there and go to the next place until the same happens.
After you have all your cuts in place and the blank can move farther
under the levers you can fine tune them into full rotation.
Everyone has their methods, but this works for me.
The "key" is to get all your cuts spaced/started and and go slow.

[globallockytoo]

The mark left in the blank will be on the side of the key at first,
but as it gets under the lever it will start to move into the cut you
have filed.
I stop there and go to the next place until the same happens.
After you have all your cuts in place and the blank can move farther
under the levers you can fine tune them into full rotation.
Everyone has their methods, but this works for me.
The "key" is to get all your cuts spaced/started and and go slow.

excellent advice

+1

even a correctly cut depth, will still mark, usually with a more pronounced impression. That should be your signal to back off any more filing of that lever and move on to another.

[GWiens2001]

I find that when using a Sharpie, the marks on the levers that are at the correct height do disappear. Soot (from candling or smoking) is more delicate and leaves more of a mark, but there is much less of a mark than when the lever is not at the correct height.

Gordon

[cheerIO]

Thanks for all the advice guys. It's starting to make sense.

I will put this into practice tonight. I'll let you know how it goes.

[GWiens2001]

Will say that when I first impressioned a lever lock, was expecting the marks to never go away. But the marks are more from when the levers bind while the key is being turned. No binding, no marks.

Gordon

[Lauren]

I have never tried impression of a lever padlock while in the locked position. The concept sounds possible, but way too difficult for me, especially with high tolerance locks like the "NEW CHAMPION". I have ONLY done impression of an open locks while the levers are trapped by the stop. I think it's important to understand the difference. I rather decode a locked lock with more definitive data rather than chewing up key blanks that take hours to make. The technique requires more mastery of each lock, similar to by passing, however.

[Divinorum]

I recently bought a lot of old lever locks at an antique shop. They are all the barrel key type. I was hoping to impression them as I am having a really hard time picking them. They are stiff and double sided. I think impressioning these lever locks is going to be really difficult for me.

[Lauren]

It's not as hard as you might think, if you know the lock and some tricks. Post some pictures, please of your newly acquired locks.

[billdeserthills]

OK, I have read posts and papers but I still am having difficulty understanding impressioning lever locks.

I have "impressioned" a single lever lock. But the only reason that worked was because I was able to see what was going on inside and knew when to stop filing.

At the moment I am attempting to impression a 4 lever lock.

My problem is this:
The texts say to mark the key, insert it, turn, then file where there are marks. This makes sense to me for a warded lock. But with a lever lock, if you have filed a bitting to the correct height, there will still be an impression mark there because the key has to contact the lever to lift it.

So how do you know when to stop filing on a mark?

The first time I tried, I just filed everything off so the key didn't contact anything. What am I missing?

It sounds to me like you filed at the tip of the key. If you look at most lever locks you'll see the tip is usually left untouched, as it is the part that actually retracts the bolt. I have impressioned many locked lever padlocks and while it may take awhile it isn't too difficult. I have a couple of rules that I follow, first, until you know better, don't file the first cut at the tip of the key, another one is once a new cut begins marking, stop filing the old cut and move to the new one, at least until the key is mostly finished. Some lever locks need to be "reverse impressioned" in order to do this turn the key in the opposite direction to get your marks. You still have to turn the key in the correct direction every few tries, in order to know when you have finished cutting it. Once you get the key finished enough that the lock opens, you can generally look inside and see where you need to file to finish off your key perfectly, as most lever locks aren't terribly picky