Broken key extraction in Fourways
Keys snap because they have been flexing against a stiff lock for months and finally gave up. In most cases the broken half can be drawn out cleanly and the cylinder carries on working. Whether that stays true depends almost entirely on what happens in the twenty minutes after it breaks.
Stop before you make it worse
The single most common way a straightforward extraction becomes an expensive one is someone pushing the fragment deeper with a screwdriver, a paperclip, a hairpin or the other half of the key. Once it is past the mouth of the plug there is far less to catch hold of.
Skip the lubricant too. Oil makes the fragment slick against extraction tools and attracts dust that sets like paste. If enough of the key is protruding to grip properly with your fingers, pull it straight out without twisting. If it is flush or inside, leave it alone and phone.
How it comes out
Extraction tools are slim hooks and fine saw-toothed blades that slide into the keyway alongside the broken piece, catch on the cut edge and draw it back. It is delicate work rather than forceful work, and the cylinder is normally unmarked afterwards.
The plug usually has to be rotated back to its neutral position before anything will come out at all, which is exactly why twisting the broken half in the lock tends to make the job harder rather than easier.
The lock is the real story
A key that snaps has almost always been bending slightly for a long time against a stiff cylinder or a door out of alignment, work-hardening near the shoulder until it fails. If yours had been getting harder to turn, the mechanism was the underlying cause.
Which matters for what happens next: putting another key into the same stiff lock invites a repeat. The sensible follow-up is having the cylinder cleaned and the door adjusted at the same visit.
What you get when you call us
Extraction before drilling
Drilling is the last option, never the first.
Cylinder normally survives
Most extractions leave the lock fully usable.
Root cause looked at
We check why it snapped, not just remove the fragment.
Treated as urgent
A snapped key in a front door gets emergency priority.
Broken Key Extraction — common questions
Will the lock have to be drilled?
Usually not. The great majority of broken keys come out with extraction tools and the cylinder is unharmed. Drilling is kept for fragments jammed beyond reach or locks already damaged, and you would be told before it happened.
Part of the key is sticking out. Can I pull it?
If you can grip it firmly, pull straight out with no twisting or rocking. If it slips or you are reaching for pliers to force it, stop — a fragment dragged sideways can jam in the plug and turn an easy job into a difficult one.
Is the lock still usable afterwards?
Normally yes. But if the key snapped because the lock was stiff, that stiffness has not gone anywhere and the next key will eventually do the same. We would rather deal with the cause while we are there.
The key broke in my car. Can you help?
We can open a locked vehicle. We do not supply or programme vehicle keys of any kind, so anything requiring a replacement key needs a vehicle key specialist or your dealer.
Related services
Emergency Locksmith
Stuck at your own gate or front door, at any hour. A technician is sent the moment you call.
Lock Repair
Doors move with the seasons and locks take the strain. Adjusted and repaired before they strand you.
House Lockout
Inside the estate, outside your own front door. Opened without damage where the lock permits.
Lock Change & Replacement
A move, a handover or a set of keys you cannot account for. Cylinders and locksets replaced on site.
24/7 dispatcher