Cedar Chest

My sister J was changing houses and downsizing to quantity of stuff she is required to cram into her domicile. She asked and I accepted the possession of a cedar chest that belonged to my maternal Grandmother. There were two minor issues, it was in Toledo and it was locked without a known key.

The first issue was no problem. My van can handle the cedar chest and with help from my nephew BW, it was in the van in no time.

The second issue proved slightly more challenging. My father had tried every skeleton key in his possession in an effort to open the chest. The closest thing to working was the key to the door of the grandmother clock, but it would not work.

So K and I get the chest back home and get it unloaded from the Van. It is heavy because it still has STUFF in it, stuff that is not mine. So K and I go looking at the usual places for a "blank" skeleton key without success. After 5 PM, we get a suggestion to try an Antique dealer in the Downtown area, but they close at 5.

So the next day, K goes to the Antique dealer and buys a blank key for $4,using the one from the grandmother clock as an example. The dealer voiced scepticism to K that I could get the key to work and he provided the name of a local Locksmith to make this key for us if needed.

The glove was thrown down. It took me only about an hour of drilling, filing and fitting, but I found success. It took drilling out the center of the key to make it fit over the pin, shortening the flange part and install the groove in the right location. Below is a picture of the crude key that I made. It works fine.



So J, if you find a key that looks something like this, I am open to having it sent to me.