Key Broke Inside Lock? Here’s Help!

Keys often break inside locks when turned with substantial force. Another reason might be that you have been using the key since the beginning of time and now, it just wants to retire! It’d be wise to rekey locks or discard older ones to make a place for new ones. This is for your own safety so that your keys don’t give up on you when you need them the most.

So here you are, with a part of the key in your hands, while the other part is inside the lock. You can consider calling a locksmith who will do the needful within minutes. But you can also try to get hold of the broken piece inside the lock by yourself. Extracting it and preserving it for your locksmith is important if you want to get a new key made. This will also cost you a lot less.

Remember, certain door locks such as those with removable cylinders might make key extraction much easier. You just have to prod it out by using a sharp, thin object from the other side of the keyhole. But some other door locks might make your work extremely complicated. In such cases, get in touch with a locksmith.

Here are some DIY methods using household objects and common tools to extract a broken piece of a key from a lock:

1. You can use one blade of a scissor. Slide it in the lock and try to carefully pull the broken piece towards you. If a small piece of the broken part is visible, then catch the piece between both the blades and pull it out.

2. Use superglue on something which you can put inside the lock, for example, a matchstick. Apply superglue on the matchstick and insert it inside - trying to touch the broken piece with it. Once you make contact, hold the position for a few seconds, so that it sticks to the matchstick. Gently take the matchstick out. It has the broken key piece stuck to it!

But yes, be careful to not spread superglue all over the door lock when you try it. Just a drop of it on the end of the matchstick will suffice.

3. You can use bobby pins or safety pins to extract the key piece. Another great tool would be tweezers! Insert them inside the lock and try to catch hold of the piece. Once you are successful, get it out.  

If you are unable to extract the broken key lock, you can call a locksmith. They have professional key extracting toolkits which help them to extract broken pieces of keys from keyholes with precision. If you are looking for a locksmith in Des Moines offering the same services night and day, then call 515 Locksmith now!