Huge Chubb detector padlock - key fabrication.

[oldlock]

Just a quick post on a key I have nearly finished making for this padlock. I don’t use the word unique lightly but this lock is unique in my experience in terms of it sheer size. At over 200 mm X 150 mm X 40 mm thick and weighing nearly 5 kg.
The lock is the property of a US collector. It is not for sale and I will not disclose the name of it’s owner so please don’t ask. This is being posted with the owners consent.
The lock being of sufficient importance to warrant the work and the owner placed his confidence in my doing the works correctly it was sent all the way to Australia for me to work on.
The lock is a Chubb 6 lever, definitive detector with extensive false notching and barrel & curtain. I don’t have my serial number list to hand but it’s between 1851 – 1876. I’m sure someone will jump in to date it more fully. I think the owner is going to have the records checked further.
The shackle guards were somewhat ‘bent’ on receipt and the shackle was frozen. I made tool to spread the guards and this allowed the shackle a fraction of a mm of movement. An examination of the lock provided two initial issues, about a 100 years of muck and dirt inside the the detector was engaged. A few days in penetrating oil and a bath cleaned it out and allowed the bolt a very little movement.
As a note the following process is a lot easier to write about than it was to do !
I fabricated some initial tooling and picked the lock to reset the detector.
The lock was then picked open, the very strong springs and false notching + the detector made this a somewhat lengthy process and I had to make a dedicated pick & form tool to accomplish this.
Once open it was half-thrown, the lever heights measured and recorded and the key fabricated from scratch to suit it.
I’m just waiting on instruction from the owner as to the degree of polish of the key and it will be on it’s way back. A challenging job for sure – but the integrity of the padlock is 100 %, it’s patina is undisturbed and it works perfectly. I hope this is of interest