skeleton keys

[junker]

how do u make skeleton keys? my best friend's girl is trying to do a little wedding planning while he's on afgahnastan and she wants them to put on people's seats with nametags on them, like as take home gifts and as reception things. what is a simple efficient way to make them yet not have them look horrible? cause she wants ALOT. any help would be much appreciated.

[CBrann]

If they don't have to work as keys ... cast pewter... with 2 part plaster mold... then surface treatment with nitric acid for aging/ blackening...... .

[junker]

any way to forge them? i have no clue how to cast things, or any idea where to get pewter

[edge9001]

just start with round bar and experiment. Although the cast perwter will give a more reproducable design. casting is not too complicated, watch you tube and ask around here you can find several ideas..

[Glenn]

There are a variety of styles and shapes of skeleton keys. Please draw or sketch what you have in mind so we can better advise how to make that style key.

[junker]

the simplest 1 possible to make, she wants over 200, but i've got months and months before the wedding, i just need to be able to tell her if i can do it or not

[Glenn]

A quick internet search and you get prices from $1 to $5 or more each if you buy them. Making them would cost at least that much. You may be able to do some simple castings with low temp (low temps for blacksmiths anyway) metals. I do not know how stiff they would be for use, but they may be ok for decorations. I have done this for coins, medallions, etc and it worked out well for short runs. The key (pun intended) is to have more than one mold so you can pour while the other mold(s) cool. Ganging several objects to the same mold speeds up the process.

[OddDuck]

Yep, this is definately a job for sand casting, and aluminum is relativelty easy to work with. You can get set up to do it quickly and cheaply. If you would like more info, PM me and I will give you my email address if you have more questions.

[thingmaker3]

How about making a punch & die with profile in the shape of a tiny key? Then hot-punch out of 16 or 14 gage strip under a power hammer.

[Jerry W.]

If you were to talk to a local locksmith, it may be possible that they be able to have them for you in a day or two. You may be able to get a better deal because of the quantity needed and that they do not have to be cut...

[kcrucible]

This is the sort of thing I used to do a lot (though I used jeweler's investment rather than sand.) Here's what you do... the fact that the key is basically 2d makes it easier, and the fact that it is decorative makes it even better.

Making a mold
--------------

1) create a model out of wood. leave a little stub off the eye as a metal inlet.
2) get a silicone mold kit. I'd wager that caulking would work just fine though!
3) Grease up the key so that it's not porous and fill a disposable container of some sort with the silicone and embed the key in it. Make sure that the depth of silicone is enough so that the key doesn't poke out. Make sure that one side of the key is exposed.
4) Wait for the silicone to set up and "harden."
5) Remove the silicone from the container
6) Peal the silicone off the key. Now you have a mold for a key!


Making wax keys
---------------

1) Heat up parafin in a double boiler.
2) Ladle parafin into the mold and wait for it to harden.
3) Peel back the mold and release the wax key.
4) Repeat until you have 200 keys


Creating the casting mold
-------------------------

1) in a metal container fill with "greensand" (look it up). A cut-down coffee can, a rectangular cake pan, etc.
2) Place a cylinder on the sand. Lay the keys down on the sand flat, radiating out. The stub on the ring should touch the cylinder.
2b) For really high density casting, you can lay them out in a row, ring-up. You need to take care that the sand fills all of the open spots on the key. Place a bar over the top of the keys.
3) Add another inch of sand and really pack it down. Remove the cylinder/bar.
4) When you're ready to cast, put the pan in the oven and crank the heat up to melt and vaporize the wax, leaving a cavity and pre-heating the mold.


Casting the metal
-----------------

1) Take your chosen metal and melt it. Get it VERY liquid. For an easy and pretty wedding cast, I'd personally recommend lead-free silver solder. It melts at a low temp, is relatively solid after being cast, and has the silverish look moreso than alluminum.
2) Take your mold out of the oven, then pour the metal into the bar/cylinder to fill all of the keys.
3) Let it cool, cut the keys off the bar and finish.
4) Repeat as neccessary to get u to the 200 keys.

[Mainely,Bob]

While we all like to make things by hand here I`d like to look at this from an industrial point of view and treat the friend as just another customer for a minute.

I`d first contact someone with either a water jet or other type of CNC cutting system and after supplying a copy of the correctly sized pattern ask for a quote for cutting 200+ out of a few different alloys.Stainless and brass would be 2 nice options.
Then I`d see how much it would be to tumble and electro polish the required number of items to the desired level.
After applying the normal mark up present the quote.

If I were donating my time for a friend I would just start collecting old keys and ribbon and play up the "something old" angle.

The question is,are these just decorations or are they meant to be keepsakes and a memory of the day for all the guests?
If they are meant to be a keepsake then invest as much time and energy as you are willing to and try not to be too upset to find some of them lying around after everyone leaves the reception.The bride and groom will treasure theirs(I`d link a pair together for them)and after all that`s what it`s all about.

[Sam Thompson]

It's possible to buy a variety of key blanks (even the huge cast ones that fit old churches, castles etc.) It may be worth asking if any of the companies that supply them can cut a batch; for 200 you should get a good discount.

[Frosty]

If you really want forged you can make a set of spring swage/ dies, one for the key shank, one for the key thingy end. and one for a cool handle end thingy, a skull would be super easy to do. The easy way to do the shank die would be clamp two decent thicknesses of steel in a vise and drill the contact plane. Open it and using a small flap or drum sander as in Dremel size break the edges so it doesn't leave a sharp flashing on the shank. Then weld them together with a piece of bent flat stock for a handle/spring. This one will literally be a spring swage.

Next using hammer, punches, chisels, etc. make a concave representation of the decrative handle end, a skull would be really easy. Again use a reasonably thickish piece of steel strap stock, say 1/2" x 1" flat maybe an inch long or whatever depending on the finished size you're looking for. This spring die only needs to strike one side unless you're a glutton for precision work so the top side can be left flat. Again weld the halves together with another piece of strap stock for the spring/handle. Don't forget to leave a matching swage from the decorative handle thingy for the key shank!

Last is the key part, again using the same reasonably thick stock. This one will be a bit harder seeing as it needs to be two sided so it'll look right. Using the same die stock I'd form the swage part so the shank is in place and chisel the key parts. They'll have to be half the thickness of the finished key and match pretty well.

This isn't going to be a fast or effortless project but once you have good spring dies it should go reasonably quickly per key. The blanks will need some forging and it may be worth making more dies to speed it up. It's a production job and any old time blacksmith worth his/er salt would be making dies. Time and effort is money.

All my best to the betrothed

Frosty the Lucky.

[junker]

they're both catholic so i was thinking a cross.

[Wesley Chambers]

they're both catholic so i was thinking a cross.

I got bored

[junker]

oh wow that's awsome, what program did u use to make that?

[Frosty]

Very nice Wesley! That'd be a reasonably simple design to make spring dies for and it's so appropriate. Darned near perfect in fact.

I gotta question for ya Junker. . . "Half retarded sea sponge?"

Frosty the Lucky.

[Wesley Chambers]

Thanks Frosty.

Junker, its the free version of google sketchup

[junker]

im gonna have to get that program, and frosty it's a bit of a joke from a conversation about forge welding on the forum.

[Chuck Fraser]

Make a pattern out of wax, wood, iron and take it to a fine art casting foundry. Have them give you a bid on the rubber mold, then get some of there wax, we used a wax called victory brown, much easer to work on than paraffin and pour them your self at home using a electric roster oven to melt the wax in, don' use your wife's roster oven it will ruin it, use your mother in laws, if your a blacksmith she dose not like you anyway.
After you get all of the key blanks made you can can make them each unique by carving names or what ever in the wax. then take them back to the foundry and have them cast in silicon bronze. It wont be cheep.
I know because I worked in a art foundry for 14 years before I went to blacksmithing full time 10 years ago.
Chuck

[Frosty]

im gonna have to get that program, and frosty it's a bit of a joke from a conversation about forge welding on the forum.

Ah, answering yourself sure simplified my reply, thanks Junker. I sort of figured the sea sponge signoff was an inside joke somewhere and am not surprised I should've gotten it in the first place. Heck, I sponge info all the time and passing it on has blown my rep WAY above what I deserve.

I've been using Google Sketchup for a few years now though I've never heard it called "junker". Of course there's a LOT of things I haven't heard.

I never thought of using Sketchup like Wesley did designing the key so I'll sponge the idea and play with it.

Frosty the Lucky.

[pkrankow]

If you are casting you can "weld" wax components together to make individual designs too.

Phil

[edge9001]

If cast with a wax loss process, there is another idea involving use of wax duplicats and the wax welding idea. make several (ie tons) of the keys blanks from wax. make the sprue, that little addition to the top of the key, and a large cylinder maybe 1 1/2 inch thick "weld" all of these in a circular fashion to the wax rod. layer them. when done you should have several layers of keys radiating outward from the cylinder. take this and cover in a ceramic or plaster. heat this to melt the wax, pour it out and you will be left with a mold, several more coats of this ceramic mix and you will have a mold that will allow you to pour something like 30-50 keys at a time.

btw if looking for a good source of zinc(i think it is zinc) new pennies are made from it and then electroplated in copper.

gotta love that show "hows it made".

[junker]

if i just melted the pennies down would the zinc mix with the copper?