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Tool Talk Discussion Forum

Cutting up a safe.

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Earl - IL

12-22-2007 13:45:10




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Scrapping out a safe that has to be cut up to get it out of the location. The door is locked & no combo. I think I can cut the hinges off & maybe remove the door. It appears to have a thin metal cover wrap & what underneath. Concrete maybe ?I suspect it would have a cast or steel inner liner. Its old, Cary Safe Co.1591 or 1691 on the dial Buffalo New York. Cant use a torch. But I think I can cut the hinges with abrasive saw. What is your thoughts. It is 24 X 32 46 high estimate 500- 700 lb Thanks Earl

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Dan in Houston

12-23-2007 08:33:59




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
Check out this website:

Link

Very interesting recount of the history of safe development and all the things they've come up with to make it hard to break into them.



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Kent in KC

12-23-2007 06:32:59




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
"Think ya used enough dynamite there Butch?"



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Earl - IL

12-22-2007 18:30:06




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
Thanks for all the info.The safe, the owner doesn't want. It has to be removed by Jan 7 2008.The building was sold & the current owner agreed to remove the safe. It is on the 2 nd. floor of a building. I wanted to take a window out and snatch it out with a extend boom crane.It a old, old building & they think the window will fall apart.Getting it out is the main problem. Saving the safe is not a priority. Thanks Earl

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railhead

12-22-2007 20:15:59




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 18:30:06  
All understandable. However a call or two to some locksmiths may prove to be more profitable for the owner than hacking or cutting on it. You may very well be pleased what a locksmith would pay for it.



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Earl - IL

12-22-2007 20:24:57




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to railhead, 12-22-2007 20:15:59  
I am not going to cut on it . I am passing on the advice. I called the locksmith about opening . He said max. $300. I will check to see if any wants to move it for the safe. Thanks Earl



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mjbrown

12-22-2007 18:00:24




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
My grand dad died with the combo to his safe. I took it to a lock shop and the smith was able to open it by feel or listening with no damage to the safe. He took off the sheet metal panel on the inside of the door when he got it open to read the combination and showed me how to chang the combo if I wanted to. I forgot what he charged but he was worth every penny.



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bo

12-22-2007 17:30:38




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
I have one. I replaced the lock in it and had to take off the inner sheet metal. The stuff inside was white and resembled some sort of composite like dried up dry wall compound. I'll bet it had asbestos in it. It was not concrete. I'd price a locksmith and see if it can fixed. Safes are valuable, you may be able to sell it to a safe company. You won't be able to open it by doing the hinges, mine has 1" hardened bolts that slide into the frame....all the way around the door. Price a locksmith.

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Bus Driver

12-22-2007 16:09:11




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
Safes can vary widely in construction details. In some cases, layers of copper are under the steel. Copper will not cut with a cutting torch and that was the reason for the use of copper. Safe crackers would use a "thermal lance", but I know very little about that device. Copper will cut with plasma cutter. Many safes have vermiculite within the walls. Vermiculite gives off water vapor when heated and this helps keep the contents cool in case of fire.

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I don't have a name

12-22-2007 15:24:57




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
There was a guy here in Vermont who was killed this summer when he tried to cut open a large old safe removed from an old building with a torch. Turns out the fellow who had it simply moved away and left it full of fireworks. There was enough explosives in it to give a mighty blast, killing the guy opening the safe and destroyed the safe companys garage he was working in. You never know what might be in it.

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L.C.Gray

12-22-2007 14:37:37




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
Drill it. Then lift the door off the hinges. Many times the door can weigh as much as the rest of the safe.

My dad used to buy old safes that the combo died with the owner. We'd drill them, repair the lockwork, reset the combo and repair and repaint the door then re-sell them. We never found anything valuable in any of them.

The drill method isnt too hard. I don't know where you'd get the details of it, but you basically drill in the right place, and reach in with a punch and break a cast piece to free up the lock bolts. We always just brazed the broken piece back together to make it functional again.

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s.crum

12-22-2007 14:00:32




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
Chances are the safe also has 3 or 4 lock bars down the sides of the door. So cutting the hinges is only a part of the battle. This is likely concrete filled. If your taking it out for scrap value, You'll earn every penny.



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railhead

12-22-2007 13:56:15




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to Earl - IL, 12-22-2007 13:45:10  
If it is a GOOD safe as most old ones are and the hinges are exposed, I will bet the door has inside bolts on BOTH sides. So, Cutting the hinges off will not get the door off. Most I have seen that do not have bolts on both sides have the hinges inside where you couldn't even see or get to them easily. If it were me (and I know it is not me....but...), I would call a locksmith to get it open and try to save it regardless of it's outside appearance. Have you priced a safe lately? They are HIGH and even ones at etstate sales that brought less than scrap price a few years ago are bringing very good money. I know a locksmith close to me that told me once if I ever bought a safe that had no combo, he could get it open and useable for me. I just never have ran across one. Mine I use now I have had for years, it is a ProSteel made in Provo, UT. It weighs 800 empty and has exposed hinges buut has 6 bolts on each side of the door. I bought it a long time ago out of the classifieds in the paper and have never ever regretted having it, not even when I have moved. Knowing your guns and valuables and papers are safe is a good feeling.

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504-2

12-22-2007 14:11:45




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to railhead, 12-22-2007 13:56:15  
Earl, Just as it has been said cutting the hinges will not open the door, call a locksmith and they will buy it and take it out. Oh yea another thing, some safes have knockout gas in the door and it turns to poison with age do not drill or cut the door. (brother is a locksmith)



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Davis In SC

12-22-2007 16:41:13




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 Re: Cutting up a safe. in reply to 504-2, 12-22-2007 14:11:45  
An old friend that was a jeweler had one of the safes that had some type of tear gas in the door.



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