Serving Watertown and the North Country

Masterkeying

Masterkeying is having one key work all the locks, another key work some of the locks if needed and each lock or group of locks have their own individual key that does not interchange with other locks in the system.

Masterkeying is a very complex subject that many in the lock industry don’t have a good understanding of. The information below maybe difficult to understand for many and is of a technical nature. It is not our intention to talk over anyone’s head on this site.

There are 3 methods of masterkeying:

Total progression

Rotating constant

Shoe box – (Bad method-causes lots of liability-sadly commonly used by incompetent technicians)

Total progression system puts a master pin in every chamber of the lock cylinder and also yields fewer changes than rotating constant. For some locksmiths total progression is easier to work with and most master key programs are based around this system.

Rotating constant system only has a master pin in the chambers needed. Offers more pick resistance than total progression. Rotating constant can yield a lot more changes than total progression. Most computer programs will accommodate small rotating constant systems but few programs will accommodate a fully progressed rotating constant system.

Shoe box masterkeying is not a system but rather a huge liability waiting to happen. Shoe box masterkeying is picking set of keys out of a shoe box and keying it to a masterkey. Duplication of codes can exist. It is possible to have one key that may act as a sub master to a group of other locks that is totally unknown.

There are many variables on what can and can not be done in a masterkey system. Some of the most sophisticated systems that we ever created have been smaller systems but had a lot of special needs.

The most knowledgeable masterkey specialists can and often do write the system by hand so they can provide all the necessary special requests for the system. Computer generated systems are great for straight forward masterkey systems that don’t have special needs. Some programs will still allow for many of the special requests but the technician must know how to use the computer generated charts to accommodate special requests.

If the masterkey system is for interchangeable core then there are other considerations to be taken.

All keys in a masterkey system are coded and all cylinders are also coded but in some cases not the same code.

Standard cylinders, Interchangeable cores and most high security cylinders can be masterkeyed. There are exceptions to this rule.