So, as an odd hobby I enjoy going to industrial auctions and what not. Most have moved online for now. 3 weeks ago I was looking at a restaurant auction online and saw a safe in the mix. Didn't think much about it and bid $30. A week goes bye and I end up winning the safe, $37.50 after fees/taxes. Who'd a thunk it? So I go to pick it up thinking no big deal I'll have em' drop it in the back of my GMC 3500HD. I should have read the fine print, its 30"x33"x44" and heavy. Did I mention heavy? I estimate its close to a ton or more. While its on wheels, at that weight, the steel casters would have dented the bed of the truck so I came back with a thick sheet of OSB in the bed 4 days later. This thing set the bed down pretty good. I normally have 240lbs of sandbags to help smooth the stiff ride but with the safe in there, the truck rode like an 76' Coupe De'ville! The truck honestly felt like it would roll over if I took a turn to fast. Anyway, I get it home and unload it with my neighbors skid steer with forks. His skid steer is good for 2500lbs and it had the rear wheels skating the ground. Rolled it into the garage, cleaned off the stickers on it and said, "Crap, no combination!" Like I said, I should have read the fine print, "30"x33"x44" and heavy, no combination." Which brings me to the title of this thread. Anyone know how to crack a safe? I'd rather not destroy it as it turns out this thing is more than 120 years old. It was made by Hall's Safe Company in Cincinnati, OH in the late 1800's. Its kinda cool. I am sure there is nothing in it but I'd like to open it to see. ideas?
start by calling a locksmith, see if they can point you in the right direction? or google it and see what kind of resources there are online for people who are totally doing legal safe cracking
Good luck with that! Go to youtubes and watch The Lock Picking Lawyer. He's more into picking locks but I remember seeing him work a safe or two. He has a video with a safe cracking robot and it's cool as f@ck. You might have to hire someone with one and it'll cost you but it'll be cool to watch (if you have hours/ days).
I watch his videos, "Click on 1, nothing on 2, click on 3...open!" My wife said I should send him an email to see if he wants to come do a video on it. The safe robot he has was like $4k or something. Might have to check with some local lock smiths.
Where are you located? Most "Safe Stores" should be able to help. I'm not talking Academy and Bass Pro, but places that sell safes and thats it. I've had really good experiences with Parkers Safes and Vaults in TN if you are in the Southeast.
There are locksmiths with the robots that'll do the safe cracking for you. His videos are like crack. I stumbled on to him and watched the video 'cause I was bored, now I'm hooked.
For $130 I would buy this thing and learn to open it myself. A stethoscope might help too. Aw, hell......Thanks Dave......I think I'll buy one just for fun. https://www.sparrowslockpicks.com/product_p/sdial.htm
@Evad101 You can start here: https://halls-safes.com/american-made-safes/ Might be worth ringing them up and seeing what they say.
Downtown in Montreal, there was a locksmith that could do it just by feeling the knobs. He was pretty good at it and opened some really old safes we had at my previous job.
My brother is a locksmith and does safe opening as a side business. Usually it is a combination of finesse and brutality to get them open. Once they are open he then restores them. Where are you at? Most of the safes he opens end up with little of value in them.
I can open it. I need some putty, and some...lets just say a few other mostly common household chemicals. How big of a "rather" is that rather not destroy it? Cause I would Butch and Sundance that mother effer...
Does the machine listen or detect changes to the dial? I watched it, and it looks more like a brute force method of cracking the safe, i.e. try every combo until it opens. Guessing that is why the video said it takes 8-30 hours to get the combo.
Our house was a foreclosure, when we bought it there was a similar sized, but older looking safe in it. The prior owners apparently had a go at it as one hinge was busted as was the main latch lever. We drilled it and stuffed a borescope in, saw webbing that looked like it might be for a holster and ammo and decided to go further. I used LOTS of cutoff wheels to cut a window in the back steel, then hammers and chisels to bust out the concrete, finally the cut off saw again to open the interior steel. Sadly, no firearms, ammo boxes were empty. It was a long day getting into it, but had a ball.
Make a sheet of all possible combos and every day try two or so for a while (after going and finding the number of numbers at the manufacturers site). Make it a game and have some fun you might get lucky. Even better if you have family and everyone tries some each day.
