Arrow Control Key

A control key is not an operating key. On an Arrow interchangeable core system it does one job: it retracts the core retaining lug so the small figure-8 core can be pulled out of the lock and a different core dropped in. It will not throw the bolt or retract the latch. If you want a key that opens the door, you want an operating key cut to the cylinder, not the control key.

Six Arrow keyways are offered: WA, WB, WC, WG, WH and WY. The control key has to match the keyway family of the cores you are pulling, so order the letter that matches your existing Arrow cores. A WA control key will not enter a WB core.

No. The Arrow control key is cut to Arrow's own keyway sections (WA, WB, WC, WG, WH, WY) and to Arrow's control depths. Even where another brand uses the same small-format figure-8 core shape, the keyway and the control cuts differ, so the key either will not enter or will not lift the control lug. Match the control key to the brand of core in the door.

One control key per keyway, not per door. Every Arrow core in the same keyway and the same control section pulls with the same control key, so a property manager standardized on one Arrow keyway carries a single key for the whole property. Buy a second only if some openings use a different keyway letter, or if you want a spare on the truck.

The keyway letter is normally stamped on the face of the core or on the bow of your existing operating keys. Arrow control keys are offered in WA, WB, WC, WG, WH and WY, so check that stamp and order the matching letter. If your cores were keyed by a locksmith under a restricted section, ask them which of those keyways your system runs on before ordering.

With an interchangeable core system the control key is the whole point: it lets you swap a core in seconds without removing trim, taking the lock off the door, or disassembling anything. Without it you are pulling the lockset apart to get at the cylinder, which is the slow path and the reason IC hardware gets specified in the first place. For a locksmith or an in-house maintenance crew turning over units, the control key is the tool that makes the system work.

Handle it separately and tighter than a master key. Anyone holding the Arrow control key can pull a core out of any opening in that keyway and put their own core in, which defeats the keying system entirely. Institutional and MRO buyers normally sign it out to named staff and keep it off the general key ring.