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Large Handmade Bridge Ward Keys in Brass
Made a few of these some years ago for the main doors of one of the famous Welsh castles.
All handmade and silver-brazed but nothing overly fancy- they were working keys cut to fit the main lock and had to withstand not only heavy use but also the inevitable abuse from contractors, being dropped, thrown around etc.
Roughly a foot long (30cm) and just under a kilo so about two pounds in weight, theyre the largest keys I've made by a substantial margin.
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All solid brass, the shafts were made as one-piece with the collars integral, all turned between centres on the lathe, and the bows turned from slices of thick wall pipe. The ends of the shafts are turned down to a projecting male pin for a very strong interlocking joint into the bow.
The wedge shaped bits were roughly hack-sawn from a solid block about 5/8 of an inch thick and then hand filed to shape. They have an interlocking tongue and groove type joint projecting into a slot milled in the shaft for strength.
All the joints were silver-brazed using Easy-Flo, a key this size does take some heating but it's made easier enclosed in fire bricks to reflect the heat back in, and of course using the largest torch nozzle available on the Propane kit. Forget the small portable torches that sit on top the gas can for this- a large Propane torch at full throttle will take your hat, beard and eyebrows off from five foot away!
The last picture shows as much as I dare let it rip in my workshop which is only 8 foot square- the heat hits the far wall and roasts the ceiling even at this setting.
This one blank thankfully escaped being cut and has made a nice memento up on a wooden beam in our back room ever since.
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Here's a couple more normal size...
Back in the 1980s if you wanted a double bitted Mersey key blank then you pretty much had to make them. Not really difficult, but getting the exact angles perfect on the two open 'v' bits was the tricky bit. Before Blanks became available I made quite a few like this, all silver-brazed with JM Easy-Flo. Still fiddly keys to cut afterwards too, A small turn of the key action produces a big arc of lift of the levers, so precise radiused chamfering is essential- the later 14-Lever versions are even more critical than the earlier 10 Levers.
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This steel round bow example is actually from one of my own safes- a steel John Tann Grade 1A I've silver-brazed into a modified brass Mersey bit.