Copying Keys – Behind the Scenes

Our real estate agents here in Abilene, Texas are always needing to make key copies here at Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Stovall, REALTORS (previously Stovall, Realtors). We’ll show you behind the scenes on how we make our copies. Be warned: some screeching noise is involved.

Hi, I’m Steve Stovall with Stovall, Realtors, and today you’re going to get to see something that we don’t normally show people. We’re going to go back to the workings of Stovall, Realtors and a real estate office. Come with us.

This is a room we don’t normally show the public, it’s our key room. Kind of messy, don’t look around, just look at the key machine.

Ok, so today I’m going to show you how to make a copy of a key. Seems like kind of a boring thing really, why would I do that? Well, it’s just one of the services that we offer here at Stovall, Realtors. We offer that to our agents because we’re always needing copies of keys, and so we have a key machine.

First thing we’re doing when we’re making a copy of a key is we have to get the right plank. We have all kinds of different planks over here, and you can tell by the head that they’re different, but that’s not what’s important. What’s important is the way that they’re cut. See how all of these have a different shape? All of these kind of do look similar; I’m trying to find one that’s really different. Okay, here’s one that’s going to be very different, that’s why whenever you use the wrong key sometimes and you try to put it in the door it won’t even go into the door, into the lock.

Well once we find the right key shape, and we’re going to put the copy over here, and the original over here on this side. Basically, what we’re going to do is trace this along here, and it’s going to hit right there, and then the copy is going to get cut by this wheel right here. Let me show you how this works. It’s a really bad sound.

Once we go one way then we’re going to go back and go the other way, just to make sure that we get all of that that’s not supposed to be there. Then we’ll rub off the edges here to make it smooth so that it’ll go in the lock.

And there we have a copy of a key. That’s how we do it.