The key snapped in the lock. Leave the stub where it is
A broken key comes out in ten minutes if nobody has touched it, and in an hour and a new cylinder if somebody has been at it with pliers.
4 minutes to read · 30 July 2026 · Written by the Torwick engineers
A key does not snap because you were rough with it. It snaps because it has been bending for months. Every time a lock is stiff, the blade flexes at the shoulder, and brass hardens as it flexes. One cold morning it parts, usually at the first cut.
Why the stub is easy to get out
The broken half is sitting in the keyway with the pins resting on it. It is not gripped, only held by friction. A broken-key extractor is a thin barbed blade that slides in beside it, catches a cut, and draws it out. Ten minutes, no damage, and we can usually cut a new key from the half you are still holding.
What makes it hard
- Pliers. They only reach a stub that is already sticking out, and they round off the edge an extractor needs.
- Glue on a matchstick. It works in videos. In a lock it glues the stub to the pins.
- Pushing it with the other half. The two broken faces slide over each other and drive the stub deeper.
What it costs
Extraction is part of a lockout: £79 in the daytime in Coventry, including a new key cut on the van. If the stub has been chewed and the cylinder has to come out, it becomes a £95 lock change.
The lock was telling you
A key that has to be jiggled is a lock that has moved, usually because the door has dropped on its hinges. That is a hinge adjustment, not a new lock, and it is the cheapest thing we do.