Page 2 of 17

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:11 pm
by Oldfast
Thanks for lookin' guys. I never know what I'll run into. Or who. Or what I'll walk away with! lol

A few weeks ago, a nice couple gave me three dozen fresh farm eggs, lol. I'm down with that!
A fella yesterday gave me some cubed venison from his latest hunt. Scrambled eggs & meat!
Some people insist I take some money. I can understand that. I graciously except and tell 'em
I'll put it in the gas tank to help me get to the next fella that needs some help. But one thing
I always walk away with is a little more experience & some photos for my reference library.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:12 pm
by Oldfast
.
.


MAJOR Liftout Round Door (Old Style)


Image

The New style doors vary in several ways; The tag above the dial will be square opposed to the oval shown here.
The curved arrow displaying left & right will arc the other way (i.e. it will arc down, matching the curvature of the dial).
Lastly, the new style door houses a LaGard lock. Whereas the old style shown here has (what I believe to be) an S&G.


Image

The safe sets in the wall about 6' up. For the first time I found myself standing on my stool instead of sitting on it.
With my head touching the ceiling and my stool offering a rather small 8"x10" platform... thankfully this spin was
not all too painfully long, lol. However, it could have taken less time had it not been for a mistake I made right
off the top. I mis-tagged the the first gate I found to w2, when in fact it belonged to w1. In some cases there
is convincing evidence to lead to such a mistake. This was not one of those cases. I know because I ran
some tests after the opening to find out. A mistake that shouldn't have a happened. Lesson learned.
Also, I found the opening index on this one helpful. It comes to a fine point for precise readings.


Image

The secondary door, fitted with a bank deposit lock, seals off another compartment to the back.
(Sorry guys, I neglected to take a photo of the actual safe after these doors were removed.)


Image

Group 2 ... 3 wheel ... mesh change .... spring-load lever

DIALING: L R L Right to stop (84)
CONTACT AREA: approx. 94-0

Image

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 3:27 am
by MartinHewitt
Oldfast, was the deposit lock locked?

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 8:55 am
by rusirius
That thing is ugly as all hell... and yet I can't stop looking at it and thinking it's beautiful... WTH?!?!? LOL

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 9:52 pm
by Oldfast
MartinHewitt wrote:Oldfast, was the deposit lock locked?

It was locked, but wasn't blocking off the second opening.
It was just lying in the bottom of the first compartment.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:31 pm
by Fritz the Cat
You are definatly on a roll ! This thread is a must read for anyone interested in real world safe manipulation . I'm interested what is your "official" count in safe openings so far ? :smile:

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:51 pm
by Oldfast
Fritz the Cat wrote:You are definatly on a roll ! This thread is a must read for anyone interested in real world safe manipulation . I'm interested what is your "official" count in safe openings so far ? :smile:

9 successful openings... 1 fail... and 1 that I'll call 'pending' for now - as I'm not ready to give up just yet :)

I'll post 'em all here eventually. I'm just as eager to share my fails to see what I can learn from them.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 4:53 am
by MartinHewitt
Oldfast wrote:9 successful openings... 1 fail... and 1 that I'll call 'pending' for now - as I'm not ready to give up just yet :)

I am sure there will be in 20 years a book about you as the greatest safe cracker. :)

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:26 am
by mrdeus
Interesting read!

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Fri Dec 23, 2016 6:19 pm
by Oldfast
If you have any thoughts on this safe being something other than Detroit, let's hear it!
.
.

Detroit Safe


Image

This one stands just shy of 3' tall and 2' wide. The hinges,
and especially the corners of the safe seem quite distinct.

Image Image

DIAL is numbered 1-50 and the HANDLE turns clockwise to open.

Image

Image

I've also heard these referred to as 'skeleton' safes. Due to the exposed boltwork I suppose.

Image


Sargent & Greenleaf 6840
DIALING: L R L Right to stop
CONTACT AREA: approx 21-25

Group 2 ... 3 wheel ... hole change .... gravity driven lever

Image

Image

Image

Special thanks to Riyame for helping me put
an exact number on this Sargent & Greenleaf.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 11:23 am
by tumbl3r
What a fantastic way to chronicle you work! I could just read through this kind of thing all day... Thanks for sharing and a very happy holiday season to you and your family!

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 11:54 am
by MartinHewitt
We should try to make Oldfast more famous, so that he gets more calls for help and we more safe stories and pictures. But not to famous, so that he hasn't any more time to write here.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 1:41 pm
by Fritz the Cat
:D Does anyone know where in Detroit this safe comes from ? I never thought a safe company would be here in Detrot. I like the safe
I just opened my safe today , I'm catching up to you . 1 to 9 :D

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2016 9:25 pm
by Oldfast
tumbl3r wrote:What a fantastic way to chronicle you work! I could just read through this kind of thing all day... Thanks for sharing and a very happy holiday season to you and your family!

Happy holidays to you too my friend!! And thanks so much for the encouragement.
Hopefully my efforts will result in a semi-steady stream of goodies for you to read.

MartinHewitt wrote:We should try to make Oldfast more famous, so that he gets more calls for help and we more safe stories and pictures. But not to famous, so that he hasn't any more time to write here.

:rofl: Ha! No thanks!! :oops: I'm more than content to just be "that guy" that runs around opening safes. lol

Fritz the Cat wrote:Does anyone know where in Detroit this safe comes from ? I never thought a safe company would be here in Detrot. I like the safe I just opened my safe today , I'm catching up to you . 1 to 9 :D

Indeed, you're off to a great start! As far as the Detroit Safe Company; Terry (Andy) on ALLexperts,com
gives some history HERE. Andy has 40+ years in the Safe & Vault Industry and shares a great deal of
knowledge there. Though I've never posed a question to him directly, I enjoy looking through his Q&As.

Started by David Osgood Paige (D.O Paige), the company produced safes & locks
from 1865 until 1919, when it was acquired by the Diebold Safe & Lock Company.

Re: Safe Chronicles, Part II - Beyond the Lockroom

PostPosted: Sun Dec 25, 2016 4:04 pm
by Neilau
Really enjoying this thread. :hbg:

Do you ever offer to replace the" older" locks with "Newer - more up to date" locks?

Never know, some people might prefer that.

Nothing shady, but worth an ask.