Anatomy of a Key

Anatomy of a Key
When a locksmith works on a lock they are required to understand both how the lock works and how
the key works with that lock. Fortunately a key is often simple to understand and they all have a
basically similar anatomy to work with. Casual examination of any key will yield roughly the same
parts and most of us have stereotypical images of keys in our mind. We all know what a key looks like
and most look similar, but for a locksmith it goes deeper than that and recognises that there are in fact
many different types of keys and locks and that this is a result of how those common factors are
combined and assembled. Here we will look at the parts of a key and what they are for, and how a
locksmith might have to work with them.
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The first and most obvious part of a key is the handle. This is the part of the key you hold when you
insert it into the lock and when you twist it. Already though these can tell a locksmith different things
about the key. For example a very plain or very ornate handle might suggest that the key is a skeleton
key. Some key handles also have grips to prevent the key from slipping and to make it easier to get
traction to create torque. The majority of key handles are round or square.
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Depending on the kind of key, there will then be a neck or a blade coming directly out of the key's
handle. The blade is the part that contains the teeth or ridges that interact with the locking mechanism.
However on certain keys this will come out of the handle rather than directly out of the key, which
allows the key to be inserted further into the door making it marginally harder to pick. Those keys with
long necks are usually either church keys, or lever keys. The former is a mostly obsolete type of key
used mainly in old churches and gates, while the latter is a key used more regularly for internal locks in
homes - toilet and bedroom doors etc - providing a more complete security solution but not as much as
other types of keys.
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The blade then is the crucial aspect of the key, which contains the teeth designed to interact with the
tiny pins in most lock mechanisms. These then push the pins out of the chamber allowing the lock to be
turned unhindered and must be the perfect height, shape and number to interact with those pins
meaning there are hundreds of possible combinations. These teeth are sometimes included in the blade
in different ways - for example they can be on either side of the blade to create double edged keys or
even on four sides to create a crucifix key. In a sidewinder key however, the pins are actually embedded
into a groove along the inside of the blade.

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