How to open an old broken safe?
Question:MY GRANDPOP HAS A VERY OLD SAFE. THE DIAL IS BROKEN OFF AND NOW THERE IS NO HANDLE LEFT. HIS MEMORY IF FADING AND HE NO LONGER REMEMBERS WHERE HE RECEIVED IT FROM OR THE COMBINATION TO IT. THE OUTSIDE OF THE SAFE IS CORRODED SO NO NUMBERS OR NAMES ARE SHOWN. ANY IDEAS WITHOUT COSTING HIM ALOT OF MONEY?
Answers:
Umm if the safe is broken, it should be open. If it's shut, it's still doing it's job.
(USE A TORCH)
bring it into a lock store and see if they can get into it
USE A FRIGGIN HAMMER
depending on how badly corroded you could probally use a hammer to get into it
Any home safe, or any old safe for that matter can be accessed A cutting torch or a plasma torch,<overkill> can cut an access hole in the top left side, or opposite of any hinges.
But take to a locksmith or have one look at it before destroying it, may be a valuable safe!
DON'T use a torch unless you want to catch fire to what ever is in side, the safe will have steel pins that insert into the door casing of the safe so cutting the hinges off won't help, get a metal hole saw and drill above where the dial was and you will see the tumblers and if you can turn the shaft you can position the tumblers to drop the lock, as for the handle being broke off is there enough shaft left to weld a make shift handle on, if so do that and you can open the safe, other then that a locksmith will charge around 150 to open it for you.
If the safe is not salvageable and you just want to open it the bottom is usually not as thick as the rest of the safe. Turn it upside down. Sometimes you can chop a hole in the bottom with an axe, or saw it with a metal cutting blade on a saws all.
Be careful about cutting through any side walls. If the safe is insulated, and old, it undoubtably contains asbestos. We now know that asbestos is bad for people. In addition, some safes from the late 1800's through the 1930's have been found to have tear gas booby traps in their doors. The idea was that when drilling for the lock, the bit would break a glass vial of nasty stuff.
Anyway with out prior knowledge of the types of combination locks used in the past, and with no dial, your chances of getting in are slim. Some things are best left to the pros.
donmohan is correct. But some old safes had more that just tear gas, some had gas that blistered the skin. My father had one. Some one tried to break in over night and when we came in the next morning we got burned. Never did find out what happened to robber.
A likely story.
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