Fixing Broken Keys in Doorknobs

If it hasn't happened to you before, consider yourself lucky, but keys do break off in doorknobs all the time.

It usually works something like this. You are rushing out the door and try to quickly lock the door with your key. As you move to lock up and pull the key back out of the lock, you hear and feel a snap. You look down to pull back part of your key. The other part is stuck in the mechanism in the door. What now?

The first option is to call locksmith. While this is the easy way out, it is also the costly way out. By the time a locksmith comes to your house, gets the key out of the lock, and puts everything back together, you will be getting a few hundred dollar bill.

Instead, why not fix it yourself? Contrary to popular belief, fixing broken keys in doorknobs is not that hard. Here's what you will need:

o Pliers or tweezers
o A piece of a thin saw blade (or other thin piece of metal)
o Some sort of lubricant such as cooking spray or WD-40

Here's how this works:

First, use the lubricant to spray the lock mechanism inside the doorknobs. You want to make it as easy as possible for the broken piece of key to come out.

Next, using the thin piece of saw blade, slide it into the lock beside the broken off piece of your key. There are two sides to every key - one side has a smooth edge and the other side has a grooved edge. Make sure to slide the piece of metal along the grooved edge. The goal is to get the teeth on the piece of metal to grab hold of the grooves on the key. Pushing the blade against the broken key, slowly slide it towards you. This may take a few tries, but if you work at it you should be able to work the key towards the edge of the lock. As soon as the key piece is sticking out of the doorknob, use your tweezers or pliers to pull it the rest of the way out.

In most cases where keys are broken in doorknobs, this is enough. But sometimes, the key breaks off when the tumblers inside the lock are not in a neutral position. In this case, use your long piece of metal to straighten out the lock so the tumblers will release the broken piece of the key.

No matter which case you're dealing with, sometimes this will take a little bit of patience to get it right. Don't get frustrated, or you can make things worse.

One thing to keep in mind is there is often a way to prevent this type of thing from happening in the first place. Make a habit of lubricating all your doorknobs and locks regularly. Also, if you know you are generally rough on items, take the time to periodically look at your keys. Often you can see cracks or weaknesses in keys long before they break.