my garage door. At that time I was just getting into locksport and had only to date
impressioned around a dozen locks (Weiser & Kwikset btw)(70% + success rate)(file
no machine except 0 or 1 cut). The lock was in the double cylinder design with a
weathered key still inserted on the inside of the door since time immemrorial. Now the
keyway is common to a 1176 KW1 blank yet the bow of the key did not match any
thing in the Ilco guide. However, things get stranger. As I proceeded to impression
this lock the initial markings on a Kwikset keyblank did not mic to any charted
spacings and stroke for stroke of the file found the depths to be nonstandard too. It
was slow going as the depth and space markings did not conform to kwikset values.
Early into the filing things did'nt look so good. I was barely getting marks and things
just did'nt feel right. The spacings were odd even for flat bottomed Kwikset pins. Hard
to explain as impressioning goes...So slow went the filing that when the key
eventually broke I did not attempt another go at it. I went on to take the lock off the
door, took it apart, and guess what I found? Yea a broken key... But even more
astonishing... a Plastic shell! Just a machined white plastic shell with brass plugs
sealing the bible. From the looks of the lock it looks late 60s or early 70s. Not Teflon
or Delrin - too old and cheap a lock for anything special. Little wonder I could'nt
impression it as there was no metallically frictive shell to bind the pins. Pins would
_ in the chamber and deform into the soft-walled pin chambers. The pin were
manufactured but of nonstandard lenghts. And when I finally extracted the original key
it was a real oddball. The shoulder had been cut back with no recognizable depths
that I could reference - on round bowed key with rough cuts on a Kwikset chasis.
And as I recall there was a mushroom pin in one of the stacks. I could'nt pick this
piece of junk either - just way too mushy. Little wonder it impressioned at all. A real
dog. Defeated, I reassembled it and put it back on the door just to fill the hole. I might
get around to a picture post sometime. And so I was wondering if anyone had ever
come across the likes of this lock - barring the junk aspect of course? I guess I can't
really call it a crap lock... but as odd as a three dollar bill. It beat me square. I
could'nt decode it.... The simple genius of it. Can't win em all I guess! Back to the lab
again.....
Cheers!
