This was easier in Skyrim.

April 22, 2012 7:53 AM

I've lost a key to an old cabinet and I need to get it open, preferably without destroying anything.

I locked some things away in this cabinet before going on a trip and now I can't find the key for the life of me. A friend of mine told me to get a lock picking set which I did, but it seems pretty useless since the lock is not a barrel lock. Does anyone have an idea about how I can get back into this thing short of prying open the door?

posted by metsauce to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

locksmith
posted by pearlybob at 7:58 AM on April 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

This is one of the things that locksmiths do. When I bought a vintage cabinet (locked) I eventually called a locksmith, and it was not ruinously expensive.

Maybe wait till tomorrow to avoid paying extra for a trip out on Sunday.
posted by purpleclover at 8:00 AM on April 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Most of those old furniture locks are very simple, a lock smith probably has a replacement key.
posted by octothorpe at 8:09 AM on April 22, 2012

A locksmith isn't a bad idea. That's known as a lever lock, if you wanted to further research your options through Google or YouTube. Good luck!
posted by empyrean at 8:13 AM on April 22, 2012

You can buy skeleton keys at Home Depot, if it's that the kind of key it was.
posted by kimdog at 8:30 AM on April 22, 2012

Best answer: That keyhole looks exactly like one on my cabinet, which has an absurdly simple key. It's meant to keep kiddies out, not deter thieves, so I'd bet any key from a similar cabinet would work. If you're in San Francisco, you can borrow mine! Any friends have similar furniture? Maybe a vintage/antique furniture store would rent you a key for an hour?
posted by Quietgal at 9:09 AM on April 22, 2012

did you look in all the pockets of your luggage?...like, did you bring the key with you?
posted by sexyrobot at 10:11 AM on April 22, 2012

Just buy a ton of lockpicks and keep trying til you level up enough....alternatively, call a locksmith.
posted by no bueno at 8:10 PM on April 22, 2012

That's a very basic lock. I suspect that a hardware store might be able to sell you a range of keys that "might" work. They may even accept the return of the ones that don't.
posted by Joe in Australia at 1:48 AM on April 23, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks for the responses and those that helped me figure out that it was a key in the losest sense of the term. I went to a vintage furniture store and was given three old keys, one worked.

Cabinet opened, evil locksmith avoided many thanks.
posted by metsauce at 2:10 PM on April 24, 2012