It probably depends on the manufacturer and style, but in my experience they do not hold up well over the long term. I'd be glad to hear of any better solutions as well.

I don't know about shaving the plastic ends off, but at least for the car keys, you can have duplicates made on a flat blank. It's probably less trouble.

Multiple rings with logical groups of keys (or each key separately if they don't group logically) and a small carabiner. Not particularly elegant, but it works really well.

The best thing to do is strip your keychain down.

Last time I did this I had seven keys that I couldn't even remember what they were used for. I have a split-able keychain like the one the OP put up, and it works fine. I wish I could use those fancy key wallets but most of my keys are funky.

VW / Audi / Mercedes for example uses those huge jumbo car keys. You can't easily put them anywhere because they're a laser-cut key with a fob built-in! Even the valey key is big!

I usually have two keychains. One for two car keys and a the key to my 'scoot. The other keychain has house-keys and a trunk key for the trunk on my 'scoot.

This is largely because I don't have a remote for my garage door, so often leave a vehicle running while I go into the house, hit the button, and jog back :)

As a grad student who has an office key, building key, lab key, experiment post (I do a lot of outside work) key, gate key, several shed keys, bike key, house key, car key, keys to both of my parent's houses and to my brother's house, mailbox key, well, you get the picture...I had to impliment the following hack to keep track of everything.

I keep my house, car, mailbox and bike keys on my main key chain. I can't get anywhere or do anything without that chain and it is always with me.

In my messenger bag, that I don't leave for school or the experiment station without I keep the second key chain (always!) to get me into any of the areas related to those two locations.

In my car I keep my relative's keys. They live in towns separate from mine so I know that I need my car in order to get to those places and then that key chain is always available to me once I reach my destination.

I also keep a separate "bar" key chain right my door. I don't carry a purse so if I go out with my friends for the evening I only need my house key and car key (if I'm even driving...usually I walk...gotta love small towns). There's no decoration on this key chain, just a ring with the two keys so it fits very neatly in my front pocket.

I had to practice a bit before I was able to figure out which keys needed to be on which key chain and where the best storage place was for each, but now that I have it down I've had no problems.
:cool:

Good thinking, Lachia.

I have to chew on this a bit. We have a 2-car, bicycles and motor scooters household here so I have to figure out a good way to manage but I do have some keys that require transportation and other keys that do not. Very clever method of thinking it over.

In my head right now I tried to do it by distance - I don't take the bicycle more than X and the scooter more than Y miles, but they are also weather dependant. I don't take scoot or bicycle in heavy rain or snow, but I'm confidant you have me on the right track now.

Much obliged!

UVA?

I use one of those leather key wallets from Wilsons leather.
I found the plastic on the key copies I had made were very thick and hard, but melting it off with a candle worked fine.

I decided to go the carabiner route to swapping different sets of keys in and out. It's by far the easiest method, and much more extensible should I need to add more keys than a valet key holder which appears to be limited to a fixed number of key rings.

I'm still trying to figure out how the make my key handles smaller. Since I only have a limited number of keys to my bike locks, I didn't want to try and dissect them for fear of ruining them. The local locksmith says the keys are too new (these are the square laser-cut keys that replaced the bic-pen pickable cylindrical locks) and he doesn't have the equipment to duplicate them. I wrote to both Kryptonite and OnGuard to ask if they can make keys without the fat handles, but have yet to get a reply.

Going through this process, I discovered a cache of keys that I'd forgotten about in my fireproof box. For the life of me, I don't know what they are for, so I put them in an envelope and put them in my box of stuff to discard in a year if it's not needed.

I also found that I have some keys that I don't need all that often, but still come in handy. For example, I have the key to my parent's house, but they live far away and I only visit for holidays, so I put the key in an envelope and filed it away for the next time I make a visit.

A

A guy I knew once worked in a university science department stockroom where they kept a photocopier. He would just lay his keys on the copier glass and photocopy them, label what the keys were on the copies, post one copy, file the other. Gotta be careful not to scratch the glass.

Are the handels plastic? I have found that a lot of newer keys have plasitc molded on the handle usually with a logo (mar maker for examle) and even the copies are made that way. Buy I found that holding the keys over a candle I can burn the plastic off (outdoors, very stinky) and make thin keys.

Write those companies and keep writing...eventually they will pay some sort of attention...

emory: Va Tech :) way cooler than UVa :eek: