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How to Open an Old Safe

1. Most safes fall into two categories: the fire safe and the burglary safe. The construction of a safe is specific to its intended function. Depending on the owner's needs, a safe may be wall-mounted, set into (and seemingly under) the floor or simply bolted to the ground.
2. If you think you have the combo but cannot get it to work, especially with an old safe, try the numbers you have 10 times. When you get to the last number, try jiggling the dial back & forth. It sometimes helps to tap on the safe door while dialing. Do not force the dial.
3. Similar design to floor board safes which fit between joists of a wooden floor. Single layer of steel but extra strength from the brickwork around it. Most just have the keyhole and no handle, position of the keyway and handle can help us ID your safe. Types of safe lock and safe keys Single Bitted Safe Keys and Keyhole.
4. Prying the Safe Open Method. This is the simplest and oldest concept. Unfortunately, it is often.

​What's inside that old safe? Gold? Diamonds? Important papers? If you don't know what's inside, you're going to have to open it.

Prying Open a Safe This is the oldest, most common, and yet least effective method of attack when attempting to gain entry to a safe. In my experience, this is the most common method of burglary attempts. Most prying attempts don’t even come close to gaining access to a quality safe.

How Old Is My Mosler Safe? Year Of Manufacture Serial Number

Opening a safe is not a new concept. It is also known as safe cracking and it’s still something that many people are curious about.

Locksmiths are the professionals that handle this service. These experts could help with concerns related to safe lock malfunctions, lost combinations, fire, and robbery attempts.

Some people think that if something is inserted into the key hole of the safe then the lock would be opened. However, this is a misconception. If any object is inserted into the key hole, it could damage the lock.

Even the keys for the lock may not work if that happens.

This interesting video shows how to open an old safe:

Safe Opening Methods

The following are the different methods for how to open an old safe:

1.Prying the Safe Open Method

This is the simplest and oldest concept. Unfortunately, it is often considered as the least effective method of opening a lock safely. It’s also the most common method used by thieves to forcefully open one.

Many of the prying attempts only end in failure. However, by applying the required energy, strength, and time, not to mention a big enough lever, any safe could potentially be opened eventually.

2.Cutting the Safe

The concept is mainly utilized by professional technicians, although it is also sometimes misused by criminals.

This method takes more time and makes much noise, and creates a huge mess.

There are many new and high security safes available that have composite barriers to slow down these attacks. Also, there are many safes that use a layer of tar on its barrier to avoid unauthorized access.

3.Safe-Manipulation

Safe manipulation is a simple process of finding the combination of the safe during a certain process. Due to the variations in manufacturing, many safe locks give a very unique sound or resistance when someone tries to open a safe without a lock.

This concept needs a special knowledge of the lock being manipulated. Therefore, it is mainly used by the most experienced and professional technicians. This method is the most commonly used method because it makes work simple and it’s also effective if done right.

4.Drilling a Safe

Drilling a safe is another common method that is used by many professional technicians.

This is required when a particular safe is designed with manipulation resistant locks or electronic locks.

Note: You should have some basic knowledge of locks and safe opening to do this.

The main idea here is to make a tiny hole, which allows the safe to open.

This method may sound simple but there are many risks involved. Most of the modern and high security safes use barrier materials or hard plates that can destroy the entire drill box bits in less time. Some special drill bits and drilling concepts are required to break such barriers hard plates.

Another problem in drilling a safe is its glass re-locker.

Almost every safe uses a glass sheet below the spring loaded re-locking bars. When you try to drill, the drill bit hits the glass plate or sheet that automatically locks to avoid any attack.

Tear gas is also used for opening a safe, although this is rarely done. It helps in opening the safe easily. When an untrained or inexperienced person tries to open an old safe through drilling method, the attempt gets wasted.

Drilling a safe is the most common and practical method of opening safes because it creates only few simple repairs and it also works effectively.

5.Scoping a Safe

Another concept for how to open an old safe is scoping. It is the process of drilling a hole and fixing an expensive borescope into it.

When glass re-lockers are implemented as security measure, scoping is the most used option. When you choose this method, you should drill a hole and get the scope into a position to notice the change in key hole.

This concept is the most preferred method of professionals as it keeps the safe in its original form and working properly.

These are the methods for how to open an old safe. As a word of caution, the saying that it is better safe than sorry also goes for safes. It is better to seek the help of professional locksmiths rather than doing it yourself.

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Mosler Safe Parts

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