Key Cutting & Key Services Melbourne

Key cuts are precise. As a key wears, its cuts shallow and its edges round, so it no longer lifts the pins in a cylinder to the correct heights. The result is a key that needs jiggling — and, over time, accelerated wear inside an otherwise healthy lock.

It is also a poor idea to keep copying from a worn key, because each copy inherits and compounds the wear. A copy taken from an original, or a key cut to the lock itself, produces a far better result.

Some keys are deliberately difficult to duplicate. Restricted and patented profiles use controlled blanks that are not sold openly, and copies can only be produced with authorisation from the system holder. Apartment building keys and many commercial systems work this way.

If a key is stamped "do not duplicate", carries a system identifier, or came with an authorisation card, it is almost certainly restricted. Additional copies need to be requested through the owners corporation, building manager or system holder. That control is the whole point of the system, and it protects you as much as anyone else.

Key control does not require a spreadsheet, just a habit. Know how many keys exist for each door, keep a spare somewhere genuinely secure rather than under a mat or in a meter box, and treat an unreturned key as a live issue rather than an inconvenience.

For small businesses, a written record of who holds which key takes minutes and removes the guesswork later. It is also the fastest way to know whether a rekey is needed after someone leaves.

If a key is missing rather than worn, cutting a replacement does not solve the underlying problem — the missing key still opens the door. In that situation rekeying is the appropriate response, because it stops the unaccounted key from working.

Similarly, if a key turns but the lock feels unreliable, the issue may sit inside the cylinder. A new key will not fix a worn mechanism.