Lockouts · Clarington
Broken Key Extraction
Overnight the deadbolt froze, and this morning the key would only turn partway. One more push and it sheared off flush with the face of the cylinder.
Broken Key Extraction
In plain words
What you have when the locksmith leaves matters as much as what was removed. The fragment is out and shown to you. The cylinder has been cleaned of grit, its pins and springs checked, and dressed with the lubricant its maker specifies. A new key has been cut from the key code or by reading the cuts on the two halves with a gauge, not copied from a worn original, and tested from both sides with the door open and closed. If the key broke because the lock was on its way out, a rekey or a replacement cylinder is offered as its own decision, explained first.
How the visit goesThe key went in like any other morning, you turned it, and something gave with a small metallic click. The bow is still between your fingers. The rest of the blade is sitting inside the deadbolt, and the door is locked.
Clarington
How the visit goes
The half in your hand
The bow and stub you are holding are worth a look before anything else. The cuts on it identify the key blank and give most of the bitting, so a replacement can be read straight from it and the fragment once they are side by side. Its condition tells a story too: thinning at the cuts, a slight bend, a crack line or a shiny worn tip all say the key was near the end of its life. The locksmith also asks about spares. A crisp spare, or the key code tag that came with the lock, is a better pattern for the new key than any worn copy.
Bringing the plug back to rest
Nothing slides out of a rotated plug, because the pins that the key lifted are still sitting at the shear line and holding the blade. So when the key snapped mid-turn, the first job is to return the plug to its resting position. The locksmith applies gentle rotational pressure with a tension tool, feeling for the point where the pins drop back into the plug and the keyway lines up with the cylinder body. Sometimes a light tap on the face helps the pins settle. Only once the plug is at rest is the fragment free to move, and only then do the extractors go in.
Your car key, rebuilt rather than replaced
For a vehicle, the head of the key that carries the transponder chip and remote buttons has usually been saved, and a new blade cut and fitted to it, so the car recognizes the key as it always did. The door lock and ignition have been tested with it, and the ignition wafers checked for damage from the break. It is a good moment to have a second complete key made, since a car with one key is a car one snap away from a tow. Lightening the key ring so it does not hang on the ignition adds years to both key and cylinder.
Broken Key Extraction
In the van
- Hook key extractors
- Compressed air for the keyway
- Key gauge and decoder
- Tension tool for resetting the plug
- Replacement cylinder or deadbolt
What affects the quote
Same fees day, night or weekend
1How far the locksmith travels
Every call-out includes the drive. A lock on the next street and one at a rural address an hour out are different trips, and the quote includes travel as its own consideration.
2When you call
Whatever hour you call about a broken key extraction — morning, evening, a weekend or a holiday — the amount is the same. Locksmiths are reachable at any time, and the exact figure is confirmed on site once the technician has seen how deep the fragment sits.
3Drilling and a replacement cylinder
On the rare occasion a cylinder must be sacrificed, the price includes the new cylinder or complete deadbolt plus fitting it, and that is agreed with you before the drill is picked up.
Broken Key Extraction: questions
My key is a restricted or high-security type. Can it still be extracted and replaced?
Extraction is the same careful process; the keyway is usually narrower and the cuts more complex, so it takes longer. The replacement key is different: restricted blanks are cut only from the system's records, so have the authorization card that was supplied with the system to hand, or the locksmith who installed it is contacted. Until then the spare, if you have one, keeps the door working.
How long does the extraction usually take?
It depends on how the piece is sitting. A protruding fragment in a plug at rest can be out in moments. A deep piece behind lifted pins takes patient work with hooks and spirals. A glued or corroded fragment may mean removing the cylinder and freeing it from behind. Cutting and testing the new key, and any door adjustment, add their own time. The locksmith gives a sense of it after the first look.
Can you extract a key from a padlock, mailbox or filing cabinet?
Yes. Small cylinders in padlocks, mailboxes, desk drawers, filing cabinets and cam locks on lockers hold a fragment the same way a door does, and the same slim hooks and spirals fit them. Their keyways are narrower, so it is finer work. Where a padlock is not worth saving, the locksmith will say so and offer a cut-off and a new padlock keyed to your preference instead.
Lockout Services
Broken Key Extraction near you
Below is the full menu of lock and key work available in Clarington, written for people who are not locksmiths. Each entry says what the service is, when it makes sense, and roughly how a visit unfolds, so you can arrive at the door already knowing what the technician is going to do and why.