It’s been a long, hard day that just the sight of your house gives you some comfort. You march up the porch and try to unlock your door. Like life hasn’t thrown enough at you for the day, your key break. The feeling of despair and hopelessness start to creep up on you. People say “never give up”. But at this point, it’ll be a great idea to quit – for a while. Because whatever you do from this point determines if you get to sleep in your house tonight. Before you do anything, calm down, rein your feelings of anger, frustration, disappointment. Read this article and use one or all of the tips to get your broken key out of the lock .
So here is your First-Aid for Broken Key stuck in Lock
Fixing a broken key in a lock
#1 Don’t Use The Key
It probably crossed your mind before reading this to use the key. As long as you don’t push in too hard you should be able to unlock the door, right? No, you definitely do not want to do this. No matter how careful you feel you are, using the key will not unlock the door. Besides, the more exposed the broken part is, the easier it is you to pull it out. If you force your key in too hard, the rest of the contents of this article will be virtually ineffective.
#2 Use a Broken Key Extractor
This is a tool most professional locksmiths use to address this problem. If you can lay your hands on one of these, good for you. Using them requires special care. If your hands are too shaky, you may end up pushing the key farther into the lock – the extractor will be of no use at this point. To effectively use the extractor, carefully place this tool in the key, hook the teeth of the extractor on the teeth of the keys. Then turn and pull. This may take several attempts, so have some patience and repeat the process until the key is successfully out of the lock.
#3 Use Strong Adhesives
Using adhesives to tackle this problem seems like adding salt to injury which of course is what it’ll be if you’re not extremely careful. Apply a strong adhesive like super glue to a small piece of strong wood. Very carefully, attach the wood to the key and wait for the bond to set. Make sure the glue doesn’t come in contact with the cylinder. When the bond is set, pull the key out. It should come clean through. This procedure works best if the key is a little way out of the cylinder. Don’t attempt this if the key is deep in the cylinder.
#4 Strike the Cylinders
This method works best for padlocks and locks with removable cylinders. What you have to do is to strike the cylinder or padlock on a solid surface, preferably a hammer. We advise you strike the cylinder/padlock from the bottom where the keyhole is. Striking the other way works fine too. A little side note here: when striking the lock, the keyhole should be pointed downward – towards the ground. The gravitational assist gives the key the extra pull needed to free it from the lock.
No matter the type of lock, any of these methods should work as long as you use the right tools and are extra careful with your hands. But if all these fails, call a professional locksmith available 24/7.
