Jimmie wrote:Jacob Thanx in advance for posting some images from your DIY tool...
Had an idea a while back to modify a pistol-grip saw set to use it as a pull-out impressioning tool. A saw set is used to set (bend outwards) the teeth of a handsaw when sharpening it. The idea would be to hack-saw off the front part of it, rig up a way to fix a key to it, then use the plunger to press against the face of a lock. Here are two styles of sets. The pistol-grip style looks kind of like an old pull-out tool.
Here is how they are used on a saw blade. You can see the plunger sticking out to bend a saw tooth (the V-shaped piece of metal pointing upwards). A squeeze of the handle pushes out the plunger.
Purchased the pistol-grip saw set in the first photo from eBay, $10 delivered...and did not have the heart to modify it. I still use, and sharpen, old saws and there is no way that a saw set of this quality is going to be made again. But, while wandering through a junk store a little while later found a saw-set for $2. It was missing parts anyway, and really rusty, so nothing to lose.
Here it is cleaned up, excess metal removed, and a hole drilled and taped for a thumbscrew. Put a roofing screw washer under the thumb screw--metal on top and rubber on bottom. The plunger was ground flush with the face of the tool. Had to be careful about where to drill the hole to hold the key--the shoulder of the key needs to bottom out in the lock without interference and the tool's plunger needs to have enough travel to push against the face of the lock. In the photos it looks like the key is too far back on the tool, but there was enough adjustment in the diameter of the thumbscrew to pull it forward some.
Here is another view of it. The handle is depressed part way and you can see the plunger partly sticking out.
Tried it out on a pin tumbler (all they are good for) and it is a mixed bag. I do not see how one can use them to get a key started, even with a zero cut key. They leave marks uphill from the root of each cut. Had to twist and rock to get things started. Now once things are going just right it makes tremendous marks on the key. But my feeling is that it is sort of a gimmick. Sometimes gimmicks are just what you need, but it will not replace normal impressioning for me. Maybe if things are going well with the Vise-Grips and then nothing seems to leave a mark, maybe then it could save they day.
If I were to modify the set-up it would be to have a way to better secure the key blank to allow for both the twist and rock Vise-Grip style and the pull-out style of impressioning. Maybe instead of using a thumbscrew and washer, instead make a cut in the tool that is the same thickness of a key's bow and have a thumbscrew go though it crosswise and pinch the blank in place.
On side note, here is an old trick to shortening screws with a grinder. If you have an old strap hinge in your junk box it makes a great way to hold screws without them being propelled into the next county by the grinder.
