040 A beginner's guide to key impressioning (3/3)

In this final episode of my 3 part series on hard key impressioning, I'll be attempting to create a working key from a Yale cylinder lock, using the principles and techniques I taught in parts 1 and 2.

[@JoePicksLocksport]

Fish I can’t say enough how much I enjoy your videos. Excellent job on the key impression. I intend to learn at some point and I’ll be right back to this series to help me along.

[@fishpicks4531]

Thanks mate - really glad you got something from the series 🙌

[@martinnewton6891]

Excellent explanation Andy, my only comment is that the bind and bump only needs to be done once and then release tension. Whilst the lock is under tension there is no benefit to having a second go at inducing a mark. The first time you bump, up or down, the pin moves position and is pushed away from contact with the key. It won’t return until you release tension. So the efficient process is bind bump up release, bind bump down release in alternate directions. I admit in practice this is difficult to discipline and control but if you work at it you will reduce time and minimise stress to the key.

[@fishpicks4531]

Ahhh sorry Martin - I don’t know how I forgot such a key part of the tutorial session. I should have made better notes or recorded our call! See - now I have no reason to berate my own students when they fail to pay attention in class!! 😬🙌

[@MichaelLitty]

Your videos are so informative, positive and delightful to watch and hear.

[@SnakePicks]

Awesome series, Fish! I really enjoyed these.

[@j.gabriel8573]

You did well sir, we have to have a start somewhere as we learn. I haven't gave a shot at impression and key creation, but I will soon be doing such activities as I get further into my journeys 👍

[@FriedPi-mc5yt]

Awesome video Fish! A great series of videos that take the mystery out of impressioning. It’s a good thing that lock wasn’t very old and was still young and impressionable.

[@fishpicks4531]

Haha very good! I get the impression that you gave that comment some real thought 😉

[@MrCocolitos]

Well done!! I love your impressioning's series !!👌

[@fishpicks4531]

Ah I’m so pleased - thanks 🙌

[@DoctorHogmaster]

Great closing chapter for this series! I have noticed that with my impressioning that the fact that my filing isn’t perfectly centered where the pins go and not perfectly spaced leads to the key often looking odd compared to a code cut key or somebody else’s impressioned key. I’m sure that get’s better with experience, but I much more prefer to pick than to impression in most cases, although occasional impressioning is fun it’s a useful skill to have if you get locks to which you don’t have keys and are having trouble picking. Cheers!

[@fishpicks4531]

Yeah I think it takes a lot of practise to execute well but, as you say, a good skill to develop. Glad you enjoyed it 🙌

[@flyt3774]

Just wanted to share my appreciation for all your videos (been having a bit of a binge :D ) Love the light analytical style you have, it's a real pleasure to watch and learn. Looking forward to future videos (and finishing off the back catalogue!)

[@fishpicks4531]

Really appreciate your feedback and your investment of time and energy 👊

[@squelchtone]

Well done, very enjoyable series!

[@PocketWomen]

Great tutorial, really well done, thanks fording these videos, cheers

[@fishpicks4531]

My pleasure - glad you enjoyed them 🙌

[@chriscapune7873]

Awesome Journey to a working Key!!! Wonderful series!!!! Thanks for sharing this!!! 🐾🐈🐈‍⬛🐾🇬🇧🍻👏👏👏👏👏👏

[@fishpicks4531]

My pleasure Chris - felt like a nice ending to the series to have managed to actually impression a key :) - apologies for lack of emojis - on my work surface and haven't got all the fun stuff!

[@chriscapune7873]

@@fishpicks4531 😀 all good!!!

[@petercharlesworth5809]

Hi Fish, I may be a bit of latecomer to your impressioning guide series, but I would still like to say that it is by far the best introduction and explanation of the subject that I have encountered! I have been trying to teach myself impressioning intermittently over a number of years and I have read “the book”, but have never been able to properly crack the subject. Your videos have not only introduced suggestions for equipment that would improve on what I have but have also given very clear guidelines for techniques that I had previously not grasped, and your use of microscopy is a game changer in terms of understanding the process. Keep up the good work, I have now subscribed to your channel. Best wishes, Peter

[@petew9087]

Great wrap-up, to a very interesting and informative guide. I shall be referring to this over and over, as I learn the art of impressioning. Thanks very much, have a great weekend- I've actually got one off, so I know what I'll be doing.😉👍

[@fishpicks4531]

Amazing - good luck and so glad you enjoyed it :)

[@qutube100]

Lovely job as usual MrFish!

[@fishpicks4531]

Much appreciated and thanks for checking the series out 🙌

[@tumblersfalllocksport218]

Excellent job!! Mad respect my friend!! you covered so much material in this series, and covered it accuratly. The mistake you made in filing your key which you discussed at the end is a very common mistake. From time to time in my work I will make that same mistake. It is very easy to get off center while filing.When you notice the makes moving drastically like yours did just follow and file the makes. Even with the mistakes you were able to make a working key and that , my friend, Is "THE NAME OF THE GAME". Again, Mad respect! Great Job on this impressioning series.

[@fishpicks4531]

Really appreciate the encouragement - thanks 🙌

[@SystemX1983]

Hi Fish, just one word: impressing! ;) now that I've seen this mini-series, many ideas come to my mind to improve the process of impressioning... for example a template made of acrylic sheet, acting like a cutaway lock, to mark the positions of the pins on the blank. My Impressioning grip is made from a squared rod of stainless steel, cut a slit in one side to insert the keyblank and some threaded holes for screws to fix the blank (had a hard time drilling and tapping those holes)... the additional handle is going to be the next modification :D Other ideas are still in development... Greetings from germany and stay healthy :)

[@fishpicks4531]

They sound like really interesting innovations - hope you make a video to share them with the community 😉🙌

[@SystemX1983]

concerning the template, of course you'd need a template for each lock mfg unless they had the same spacings. I think of it like a Sandwich of 3 sheets, where the middle one restricts the position of the key in the template, and the two outer sheets have slits on the positions of the pin stacks, so you can mark them with a sharpie. A set of horizontal lines for the cut depths would be nice also :)

[@SystemX1983]

@@fishpicks4531 nah, I'm not so much a video-guy ... but for sure I'd share CAD-Data or similar, so everyone should be able to replicate it :)

[@allynstarcher7333]

You seem to be having an easier time learning this skill than I had. Maybe it's because you have some kind of guidance, but regardless, congratulations are due. I still struggle especially when starting with a cut key. (Blanks are sometimes unavailable.) For the heck of it, try to impression the Yale push key. It's a whole different kind of challenge! I have spectacularly failed twice without having any success, but it has to be possible.

[@fishpicks4531]

Sorry to hear that mate - hang in there. Like anything, I guess it takes practice. Start with something easier, reduce the core to 2 or 3 pins until you can nail that - then add the others back in one at a time - creating a progressive skill ladder like this could help. 🤟

[@ilmpyt]

Thanks a lot for the videos! I'm new to the sport and I'm already an enthusiast! Started opening padlocks with paper clips.

[@JELConsultancy]

Great explanation, clear and concise. I have been trying myself on a classic car ignition but with no joy I don’t want to be an expert but I need a key for my car. Would you be able to impression me a key? Ray

[@robertobrien-t5p]

That was fantastic. Now alls I need is the name of the clamps you used in the video oh! And where to buy them.. Thank you.. Robbie from huyton Liverpool UK 🇬🇧

[@jeffandthings77]

Very nice job! I'm curious how many times you attempted before you finally decided you were ready to record an attempt. I'd also be curious if learning these skills could translate to making your own bumpkeys? Hmmm....

[@fishpicks4531]

Actually it was surprisingly few - I tried it twice before I made the recording - but perhaps I got lucky 🤷‍♂️

[@TheKeymaster1053]

I believe the reason your key looks different but still works, and why it lines up better when you backed one of them up, may be due to the amount of the shoulder that you removed when prepping this blank, may have not been the exact same amount as the supplied working key. Otherwise, great job! :) Mission Accomplished.

[@fishpicks4531]

Yes that makes sense - appreciate the comment :)

[@EdocDab]

Great final Fish and congratulations both on the series and getting your impressioning skills started👍The end screen of youtube didn't actually show other videos to click on. Not sute what's up with that. I can think of two reasons why the cuts are a bit off and I can be wrong on both. I have seen others warn about the file tending to cut away in one direction more than another. E.g. it can tend to run to the right side, moving your cut away from the pin center as you go. A remedy (didn't you show that in your series? I thought you did but am not sure) is to draw lines down along the key from your pin position marks, so during filing you can make sure to stay centered. I also see your initial markings were slightly unevenly spaced. I don't know if that is correct for this lock but I have seen others simply check this against key specifications and correct for that. Anyway you have experience and I just absorbed information so I can be completely wrong. Great series again and when I start impressioning, I will watch these again👍

[@fishpicks4531]

Thanks mate - the end card had to do with which device you’re watching on - my iPad doesn’t show them but my iPhone does, for example! I think you may be right about the initial spacing of the marks - I think in the future I’ll try just working from the polished blade and let the marks dictate the filing positions 😉

[@EdocDab]

Yeah that's possible. I'm on android. You can compare your methods with others and see the pros and cons of course🙂 Jos Weyers of Toool NL also has nice (old) videos and might also be able to answer specific questions, next to the people you are already talking to. He has a long history of winning impressioning competitions.

[@PickSmith122]

Excellent finish to the series Fish. I just have to ask how elated we’re you when that key turned for the first time? Looking forward to what you come up with next! 👏🏻✌🏻

[@fishpicks4531]

Yeah it was a real thrill actually and took me a little by surprise! 😉

[@PickSmith122]

It does that! It gives you that rush like when you pick a lock. You’re not expecting it and then hell yeah! 🤜🏻✌🏻

[@MrJools70]

You are a welcome sub to my list along with Noob,Bill among others,great stuff mate..Julian

[@fishpicks4531]

Great company to be associated with - thanks Julian 🙌

[@kilometrekm]

Could it be that the key's shoulder were slightly off during your preparation that cause the different length of blade inserting into the key hole, which in turn cause the difference on the 4th pin? Or maybe the difference of your filing width compared to Mr. Newton that has lead to different contact surface?

[@fishpicks4531]

Yep I think either of those could be possibilities - the margin for error is so slim with this kind of technique - but we both arrived at a working key so I guess it’s win/win 😉

[@auroraringz]

Where can a guy grab one of those handles? Been looking and can't seem to find one.

[@fishpicks4531]

I got mine from Hooligan Keys

[@808Unionist]

Fish how about doing a video on using Space and Depth Keys and Neolube to impression a key? It is a lot faster.

[@user-rw3qq2sr1z]

Rubberband . . ha ha ha 🤣🤣

[@RubberBanned]

That’s me!