> Date: Wed, 28 Jul 1993 09:05:29 -0500 (CDT)
> From: phile@pwcs.stpaul.gov (Philip J Ethier)
>
> Take the car to a decent locksmith. (S)he can make a key from the
> lock. I even know how they do it. Put a lump of camphor in a dish.
> Light fire to it. It burns with a sooty flame. Hold the key blank
> in
> the soot until it turns black. Stick blank all the way into lock and
> try to turn it. Carefully remove and inspect blank. File key by
> looking at marks. Repeat exercise many times until key works.
>
If you take just the cylinder (it's lighter and you can put it in
your pocket :-), it gets even easier. A good locksmith can put a
keyblank in, look at the wafer/pin heights and cut the key directly. Takes
about 2 minutes. I had this done for my Jag ignition key (I couldn't
take the car - it was in a pile of boxes, so I just took the lock)
Other than ignition locks, most of the lbcs use crummy wafer cylinders.
They're pretty easy to rekey yourself if you have a number of similar
cylinders scrounged from parts cars. And if you lose the key it's not
a problem - a good locksmith can pick one of those in about 5 seconds.
You can probably pick one yourself in under a minute with a paperclip.
--
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