chinese angle lock - help

Hariot-brass

please, someone, im missing a key for a chinese angle lock which is on a antique trunk. what do i do?
does anyone have any information for me.
i cant find any info on the net. is there a way to replicate the key, are most of the locks the same?
do i get a new lock, if yes where.

Billy B Edwards Jr. CML

At the link below you can see an animated example of how your lock works by pressing the PgDn button 2 times. There are many dfferent shapes of keyholes for these locks and the complexity and quality in my experience are directly related to the age of the lock, older = better quality. Be careful not to damage a better one. Similar locks are still made today in the Orient and are readily available there.
BBE.

http://www.1st-net-lock-museum.com/ot1.htm

Hariot-brass

thats great thank you!! here is my problem though, i live in South Africa and not sure how to go about unlocking the trunk. the key has been lost and i dont want to replace the lock with something else because it would just spoil it i feel. no one is SA knows anything about these locks or have any advice in helping me.
what should i do

Paul Prescott

I know a couple of people in SA, and one of them may know someone who can assist you. Whereabouts are you located ?

Hariot-brass

edenvale, johannesburg

Paul Prescott

Hariot-brass wrote
edenvale, johannesburg

I’ll ask.

Brian Denyer

Hi Hariot :

There are a few Chinese locks in my collection that I had to pick open. It was done with HPC type of tools. Then I could see the flat springs that locked it and make anoriginalkey for it. One caution toobserve is that one or more of the springs may be damaged or broken from abuse making it very hard to open. One storefront lock had 4 springs to overcome. The key can be impressioned from brass bar stock that is bent into a L shape. The leg of the L is usually very short. If you obtain a small one of these locks from ebay then you can see how the key is inserted and pushed foreward.

Brian………………………………………………..

Hariot-brass

thank you Brian, hopefully that works

Brian Denyer

You are welcome Harriot.

Please let me know if I can provide any other information?
Hope the key works out for you.
It may help just to look at the different key shape variations
on ebay or other sites as a basis for filing your own key.
Some are quite ornate while others have a oriental flavor easy to copy with some file work.

Brian ………………………………………….