One key fits (almost) all …

As long as I am into locks (and opening them) I have had a fascination with ‘restricted’ keyblanks.

One of the systems you still see a lot here is the ‘KB’ series sold by Nemef (and made by CES). There is a range of twenty different profiles in this system, and in my impressioning kit I carry five blanks of each profile. Three keys are the long ‘six pin’ version and two are the shorter ‘five pin’ version.

Nemef KB serie

Until last weekend. “DeciBell-120”, one of the most loyal Dutch Toool members, showed me a trick. If you take keyblank number 14 of the CS20 series and cut away two grooves, the blank will fit all twenty profiles!

Nemef KB blank modified to fit all twenty profiles

When I told my local locksmith he ordered a bunch of them, and over the weekend I put my keyway king to work. And now my impressioning kit is not as heavy as it used to be as I am carrying eight keys instead of one hundred …

If any of my readers are familiar with similar tricks/stories I would love to hear them 😉

4 Responses to “One key fits (almost) all …”

  1. henk says:

    Wow!!!!That is some news,Decibell,good work!!!!!

    Barry,your back will be thankfull now I guess:-)

  2. JackNco says:

    Wow thats quite a trick. nice find DeciBell.

  3. cybergibbons says:

    One of the common Union master key systems in the UK relies on different key profiles to create sub-master keys. In careless installations I’ve seen a key that only works on 3 rooms be modified into one that fits over 200 simply by removing some of the ridges.

  4. raphidae says:

    This is an old post, but I figure I can give it a shot: who sells the aftermarket KB keys (the golden ones)?

    I once purchased 200, but I’m now to my last 5 and the company I bought them from in the past doesn’t exist anymore.

    If someone can point me to where I can get them it would be much appreciated (mail: r@phid.ae).

    Thanks!