Making Key Copies: A Movie Trick That Really Works
Although a locksmith has a more high-tech and efficient way of making copies of keys, some of the ways you have seen characters in the movies make keys actually work. If you would like to try the soap key copy in particular, here is what you need to do.
Supplies You Will Need
In one popular movie, the convicts in a jail steal the master cell key and imprint it into a soft bar of soap. If you want to try this, you will need:
- a soft bar of soap, such as Dove or Ivory
- a key you want to copy
- a durable but easily melted metal, such as iron
- a metal file, to soften ragged key edges
- a pan you do not mind using and throwing away after you melt the metal
Make sure you open a window when you melt the metal because the fumes can be toxic in an enclosed space. Also, the iron filings are toxic, so be sure to work with metal crafter's gloves at all times.
Creating the Soap Key Mold
To begin with, you will have to warm and soften the surface of your soap bar. Drop the soap into the hottest bowl of tap water you can get and leave it sit for about five minutes.
Next:
- Press the key into the surface of the softened soap. You may have to press very hard to get an impression deep enough to make a copy thick enough to fit the lock accurately.
- The key mold in the soap should be complete. Do not just copy the key's notched end. Include the head of the key because you will need leverage for your fingers to turn it in the lock.
- Melt the metal in the pan over high heat.
- Pour the liquid metal gently and carefully into the soap mold.
- Wait for the metal to cool.
- Blanch the soap and key in cold water once the metal begins to solidify. This speeds the cooling process and makes the key very hard to break off in the lock.
- Pry the cooled and hardened key from the soap.
- Use a metal file to sand down any rough edges so the key will fit in the lock without having to jiggle it to make it fit.
- Test the key in the lock. Make adjustments using the metal file.
Now you have your own homemade key. You can repeat this as often as you like, but if the original key starts to wear down and does not work in the lock itself, you will need the help of a professional locksmith, like Timberline Locksmith Service, to recreate the original.