Doug MacQueen wrote The large side areas that are cut back will allow them to work in many different locks of this type. Sounds like what some might even call a master key, but in a lock shop they are called a skeleton key. A bit key may or may not have side ward cuts, but bitting being the term for the end lever cuts only. Doug .
Personally Iâd expect a skeleton key to be thinner in the middle, so it could work on more types of these locks. The middle section looks rather thick, so I suspect it is a skeleton or âcheap masterâ key for the range of locks it came from.
Iâm currently trying to come up with a new warded lock design which is more secure.
The reason, as Iâm sure you know, that warded locks arenât very secure is nothing to do with the actual warding, but rather to do with the fact that those wards can only detect if a key has nothing in a certain position and allow it to pass, and cannot tell if there is, in fact, almost nothing to the key.
All other lock types* can tell this: A cut too low on a lever lock, cylinder lock or even cheap wafer lock will block the rotation of the key. Some, like Chubb detainer locks and Abloy disc detainer locks can tell this to an almost startling degree. But a warded lock has no idea if it is the correct full key or a bit of wire, or, indeed, a cut-down key.
*A few poorly designed locks donât, but those are security flaws I wonât discuss here.
Anyway, in my opinion it isnât very skeletonised. Thatâs all I was saying.
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