Key blanks explained: keyway codes, blades and shells
A blank has to match the keyway, accept the chip, and fit the shell. Getting two right and one wrong is the most common ordering mistake there is.
Key blanks are the highest volume line in this trade and the one with the most returns, almost always for the same reason: a blank that satisfies two of its three specifications and fails the third.
The three specifications
- Keyway: the blade profile, which decides whether the key physically enters the lock. Identified by a code such as HU100 or TOY43.
- Transponder: whether the blank accepts a chip, and which family. A blank sold empty needs a chip fitted separately.
- Shell or head: the housing, its button count, and whether it takes a flip mechanism or a fixed blade.
All three have to be right. Matching the keyway and getting the chip wrong gives you a key that turns and does not start. Matching the chip and getting the keyway wrong gives you one that will not go in.
Blade, shell, or complete
A blade is the metal alone, for replacing a broken blade in a shell the customer already has. A shell is the housing without electronics, for a case that has fallen apart around working internals. A complete blank is both, ready to cut and program.
Buying a complete blank when the customer only needs a blade is the cheapest mistake on this list, and the easiest to avoid by asking what is actually broken.
Reading a keyway code
The code is often stamped on the blade or on the head of the original. Where it is not, the profile is read from the lock or matched against a reference. Once you have it, ordering is unambiguous, because every blank and blade listed here states its keyway code.
Stocking sensibly
The distribution of what comes through the door is uneven, and the profiles you meet weekly are a short list. Stock those deep and order the rest per job. A wide, shallow stock ties up money in blanks that will not move.
We list 586 blanks and blades, which is the deepest line here, and the counts on each keyway are visible on the category pages.
Before you order
- Keyway code, off the original or the lock.
- Chip family, if the key needs one.
- Button count and shell type.
- Blade, shell or complete, based on what is actually broken.