Easily Copy A Key With The Help Of Spray Paint

Some keys are cheap to copy at your local hardware store, and others can be fairly expensive. Some you’re not supposed to copy, too. As Instructables user Brna points out, with the right tools you can easily copy most keys yourself.

All you’ll need is some (dark) spray paint, a vice, and any fine grinding tool. Here’s how the process works:

1. Put the key you want to copy in front of any blank key or an existing key that’s bigger.
2. Spray the front of both keys with spray paint.
3. Remove the original key (that you are copying) and you’ll see the key behind it will be darker in some areas, making an outline of the key ridges that need to be cut.
4. Use your fine grinding tool to remove the painted parts of the copy key.
5. Sand down any rough/sharp edges before using.

That’s it. It’s a pretty nice solution if you need to copy a key and don’t want to pay.

Easy way to copy a key [Instructables]