Old safe keys (I think)

[EuropeLocks]

I have several of these keys in my collection which I've attached. I have not been able to identify what type of lock they might have been from until today. The first two you have look like the type that might fit this drawback lock in the second picture. It was made somewhere between 1790-1810. Now the keys you have might be later.

One another note I question if these were actually hand cut wards. Some were a combination of warded and lever but as accurate as they are and the volume they were made I have to believe they were done by machine. The keys that are just warded like the one in the second picture, maybe. I have seen them a lot of different places. Just a thought.

[Dean Nickel]

While I can't be 100% sure I think that of those 4 keys two of them 1 and 3 are the same change key and the 4th one is a master key. This would imply that those three keys were part of a lock system for more than one lock.

[Doug MacQueen]

Yes, it does seem that the locks would most likely have been primarily hand made. I had forgotten that George Price gave a good account of the state of the art in Wolverhampton prior to 1856. And how amazed he was to find that Chubb was possibly the most resistant to using machine tools all the way up to the time when the book came out. Given the fact that steam engines were being made and used since the late 1700's it does make you wonder. Anyway my main interest is in finding out exactly how these keys were made. I see casting did start and stamping as well in the early 1800's for some keys. I know for a fact that the radius cut was chiseled out on some earlier keys but what about the later ones. Obviously Tommy Watson has achieved mastery in this work. Will he share his knowledge on this? Doug

[Doug MacQueen]

While at the Lancaster lock show I met Europelocks and had the pleasure of seeing his key collection up close and personal. What a pleasure! I purchased from him the second key down of the four shown in this thread posted on July 2. I didn't want to break up the mastered set. The more I look at this key the stranger it gets. After close inspection, it appears the ward cuts are primarily cast in the blade. Very little in the way of tool marks can be found except for the radius cuts and even there it is hard to determine exactly what was done. For the most part on the key very little in the way of filing or turning in general on the key can be found indicating a final fine sanding and polishing was done. It also appears the bow may be cast separately and soldered on. The blade and shaft are cast together as one piece and then the blade tapered. Where this tapering was done leaves the most noticeable tool marks on the key. Even the post hole appears to be cast in. For that matter even the two lever cuts appear to be cast in, strange as that sounds. So far I have been resisting the temptation to cut the key apart to inspect it more closely. I will try to take some close up pictures and post them. Doug