Drivers and homeowners who are dealing with a broken key often find themselves asking “can a broken key be copied?”, and this is a very valid question and concern to have, especially if you currently have a broken key on your hands. Answering this question involves exploring all the options at your disposal for copying a broken key. 

Before we delve into the options that can be explored for copying a broken key, there are some caveats that drivers, homeowners, and business owners should be aware of when dealing with broken keys.

Caveats Of Dealing With Broken Keys

Some people think that broken keys can be fixed with the simplest of solutions, as if you were dealing with a broken pencil or something that could be pieced back together by using gorilla glue or some other form of resilient adhesive. 

Keys are intricate mechanisms that are used in conjunction with door locks, and they are responsible for controlling access and flow to specific places, such as your car, home, or office. 

Dealing with broken keys requires the expert assistance of people who have dealt with these before. You will be hard-pressed to find a successful solution if you go about this on your own, or if you simply try to piece your lock together and call it a day. 

Doing so is the quickest way to find yourself back in this same predicament, and it is also a surefire way to make you spend more money than you need to on fixing your broken key and getting it copied.

How can a broken key be copied?

When dealing with a broken key, you shouldn’t be bent on focusing on repairing the key itself, because it might be damaged beyond repair. Armed with this understanding, it makes it easier to explore the processes that are necessary for copying a car key, house key, or office key.

In some ways, the answer to can a broken key be copied is a form of repair, and the answer to the question itself is yes, although not in the way you might think. Broken keys can usually be copied by focusing on the broken key itself, or the lock that it is paired with.

For a key to be copied successfully, there are some elements that need to be present. These elements sometimes include the pieces of the broken key, as well as information about the nature of the key itself. This will make more sense as we go through the options that can be explored for copying a broken key.

What options can you explore for copying a broken key?

1. Copying The Key Pieces To Craft A New Key

This process is one that usually only benefits keys that are used for either residential or commercial locks, and even then it does not extend to keys used for high-security locks or patented keys. 

In order to successfully carry out this method, it is important that you are able to successfully extract all the broken key pieces. If your key did not break in a lock, all that matters is that you have the necessary key pieces available.

Now, the most important key piece that you need is the blade of the key. This is the part of the key that has the grooves and serrations to help it interact with its paired lock. If you have this key piece, the broken key can be copied at your local hardware store, or it can be copied by a professional residential or commercial locksmith. If the relevant key pieces are not available, some of the other solutions below can be used to copy the key. 

2. Copying The Key Based On The Key Code

Copying keys to code is often a term that is associated with car keys, but it can apply to other keys as well. A key code is a set of numbers that are meant to signify which key opens a specific lock. So these numbers can be used to copy or replicate a broken key. 

Although on a surface level it may seem like car keys are much more complicated than regular house keys or mechanical car keys, the amount of information that is gathered on cars and their parts makes it easy to make a copy of the key when need be. 

The key code for a particular car key is tied to the VIN (Vehicle Identification Number). Although the process is easy to carry out once you get the VIN down, it is still a process that needs to be handled by someone who has access to the information regarding your vehicle, and has the skills to implement getting the key copy made. 

House keys and regular keys can also be copied using their keycodes if there are no restrictions on these processes that is. For instance, if the key is a patented key or specifically cannot be copied then copying it based on the key code will be much more challenging. 

3. Make A Copy Based On The Lock

Sometimes copying the key will have to be done by focusing some of your efforts on the lock that the key is used in conjunction with instead of focusing on the key itself. This might not exactly be the copying process that you have in mind, but it is still one that can be used to give you access to a key if you have one that is broken. 

Copying a key based on the lock can be done in a number of ways. It can either be done by impressioning the lock, or take the time to disassemble it and see how it interacts with the key that you want to be copied. In this way, a “copy” key can be constructed and used. 

Conclusion

Copying a key is a solution that can be used whenever you are faced with a broken key. In some instances, it may be in your best interest to have your key repaired rather than to have it copied. 

However, it is important to realize that repairing the key itself may be a form of copying it. Consulting a professional locksmith is your best chance of having your key copied flawlessly to the point where it can be put to good use.