Broken Key Extraction

Broken key inside a lock can happen to anyone. Normally many locksmith companies will provide broken key extraction, bot not all of them as it can be a tricky task to do sometimes if the locksmith technician does not have the right tools or much experience to do it. As a locksmith technician with many years of experience in the field, I came across many type of broken-key-inside-lock type situations. Most of the time it would be due to the fact the customer had to force the key to operate the lock for one reason or another.

I remember getting a call recently from a customer who claimed to have the key break inside the lock of the front door of his home as he was trying to unlock it. It was pretty cold that night, so I figured the key was probably worn out and broke due to the cold temperature out.I took the customer's information and quickly went on my way before it began to snow again.

Once I got to the customer's home, I saw that the lock he had on the front door was just a standard Schlage lock. At that point I didn't thought about taking a look at the other piece of the broken key and grabbed my extractor tool from the van and started working on the lock. Normally I never experienced any issues working with the extractor tool I had, but for some reason I didn't have much luck at that time. I then asked the customer to look at the other piece of the broken key and I saw it was a Kwikset key. I then asked the customer how he was able to get the key inside and he answered that he though the lock was frozen, so he decided to force the key using a hammer borrowed from the neighbor.

Shaking my head after hearing what caused the situation, I decided to give a call to a fellow Boise locksmith technician friend of mine for advice before I go into the last resort of drilling the entire lock. After getting him on the phone, he told me he had a similar situation before and what he did was drilling a small enough hole through the widest part of the broken key piece. Then, with a spiral type extractor inserted inside the hole, s vise grip type pliers needed to be used in order to pull the broken piece. After doing all the necessary preparations explained to pull the broken piece out, I was ready to "wrestle" the broken key piece with my pliers which after about couple minutes of work was successfully out.  

Ignition Broken Key Extraction

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Nissan Key Origination

In order to make a new key for a vehicle there are few things that most of the average locksmith technician knows. Most of the information for generating an automotive key most of the time can be found in various automotive locksmith guides and book. However, every now and then, I would run into a new piece of information that was not found in those books that would help me get the job done much quickly in an easier fashion.

I remember a few years back, I got called by a customer who broke the key of his 92 Nissan inside the ignition while trying to start it. Initially he called to get the broken key out of the ignition switch, but I assumed he may need a new key made as well. I took the job, but before heading to the customer location, I stopped at the locksmith shop to get a couple of blanks just in case.

Once I got to the customer's location, I did a quick review of the situation figuring my strategy of extracting the broken piece of the key since that was the first time working on this type of Nissan model. It didn't seem like something special, so I just used my extractor tool to get the broken piece out which didn't take too long. Once I got the piece out, the customer did asked me if I would be able to make him a new key and I confirmed.

According to the guides I had there was suppose to be a sticker with the code inside the glove compartment that would be needed in order to make the key. There was another option mentioned which was taking the ignition apart to get the code stamped on it. Obviously, I took the easier route and checked the glove compartment for the sticker with the code.

Unfortunately, as I opened the glove compartment, I noticed that the sticker was missing. At that point it looked like I would need to take the ignition apart to get the code. Since I didn't have any experience at that time messing with the ignitions of these types of vehicles, I decided to call a fellow Boise locksmith technician I knew for some guidance on the process.

As I got my friend on the phone and told him the whole story, I mentioned that taking the ignition apart may not be necessary. He said that if the customer still had the original key, I should be able to peel the rubber coating from the head of the key and the code should be stamped on the head. Following the new discovery, I took the broken key form the customer (which luckily was the original) and I did saw it had the rubber coating and as I started peeling it, the code was right there! I then was able to make a new key for the customer in no time!

Residential Broken Key Extraction Service

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