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Above is the beginnings of Key 145, to start the New Year off I thought I would have a change from Replicas and make another representation, I recently purchased this old WW1 folding key, they were mainly used in trench communications systems such as Fuller phones and the like, and I'm going to have a go at a general representation of this type of key, I've wanted to make a reasonably sized folding key for sometime, most folding keys fold to 90 degrees vertically or sideways, presumably to fit into the case where they were used, this YUH version will be a complete fold and although it is just a representation of the type it will, hopefully, have all the attributes of a fine long lever key with precision ballrace bearings and front contacts, of course there is no real reason to have a folding key these days but I'm sure it will be interesting to make just for the fun of it :() |
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| Above you can see how it will be mounted on its Mahogany display plinth when folded, the hinge is made and loosely fitted, the coin just supporting the arm so I can get an idea of how it will look when completed, the bearings are also fitted into the shaped mountings |
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| Above you can see the key with the metalwork completed, it was with much reluctance that I changed the knob fitting, the slotted knob was a bit to modern looking and to be honest didn't feel right, so I've changed it for a more traditional type, and I was also unhappy with the wooden base so changed it for Black Delrin |
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| And here is a view of the key in it's folded
position, It does shorten the key considerably, the action is very
good much better than I had hoped for, very precise and machine like
and can be adjusted to a feather touch which I like, all it needs now is a
clean and polish and the base varnished, it was quite tricky to make,
getting all the moving parts to line up, some of the main parts I made and
remade a few times to get it to look right, its a real oddball quite
unique and fun to use..
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