Safe - how to open?

[Jeff Wisnia]

still in business, maybe they would have a record of the combination?

I'll second that thought.

Last year I bought a barely used Lincoln automobile from a repair shop owner who was selling it for a customer of his, the son of an elderly gentleman who'd bought it new and passed away shortly thereafter.

When I was putting my car papers in the glove compartment I discovered two things "hiding" inside it:

A "Happy Birthday Dad" greeting card with an unused local restaurant gift certificate in it.

A little leather bag containing a very beautiful and old looking rosary.

I called the place which sold the car to me and got the name and address of the son, then mailed the items back to him that same day.

The next day we got a call from his wife thanking us and reminding us that both she and her husband had worked for our family business some 15 years ago, then later they got hitched. (Small world, huh?)

The happy ending was that the wife looked around and found the keyless door entry combination for the car and told it to me so I didn't have to pay a dealer to fiddle a new one into the car's computer.

An Irish-Catholic guy I knew about 40 years ago said that his family called stuff you found and kept which you knew belonged to someone else "The Devil's host" and that hanging onto it would bring you continuous bad luck. I choose to believe he knew what he was saying.

Jeff

[Dean]

Oh well,,a career as a safecracker is'nt in My future anyway.It was just a thought. I spose there was a hint to the quality of the safe judging by the weight,,but,,how can I know the weight is'nt from something IN it?On the other hand it was a roundabout way to get to the info You gave..I'm sure the OP is glad for it.. Dean

[krw]

Call Giraldo Rivera.

[<aemeijers]

No, I would have returned to the executor of the estate, or the attorney of record. Around here at least, many auctioneers ain&#39;t real honest. Yeah, keeping it was probably technically legal (although there is case law saying nobody should benefit from an obvious mistake), but it would have left me feeling scummy.

aem sends...

[Bill]

Contact savta.org and see if there&#39;s a good vault tech nearby. If so, call and describe the safe. Is there a handle separate from the dial? If so, try putting pressure on the handle (i.e. try to open the door) while turning the dial. See if pressure on the handle makes the dial harder to turn (even very slightly). If that is the case, the safe can probably be manipulated, or opened without damage. Depending on the mechanism, he might have to drill it, and that will cost plenty. Good luck.

[Bob M.]

Call a locksmith, or go to them with pictures. They may be able to get into it by drilling a small hole and looking around with a thing called a borescope. They then plug the hole and the safe is still, well, safe.

Did you try the more obvious numbers, like 10-20-30, 20-40-60, the man&#39;s birthday, or his anniversary date? Or perhaps it was never changed from the somewhat standard 50-25-50 default combination.

If you&#39;re in a big city, you might find a locksmith that has a device that clamps onto the dial and spins it continuously for many hours until it finds the right numbers. Such tools are expensive and not very common.

[Bob M.]

Are you serious? Never mind the logistical problems of keeping such records, this is a huge security breach, and any company that does this doesn&#39;t deserve to be in business.

[West Alarm]

Jeff,

The happy ending of this story for me was reassurance that good people are still doing good things. Those items, while useless to you, probably mean the world to the surviving family.

You probably didn&#39;t mean to..... but you touched my heart with that. I&#39;ll bet a year&#39;s salary that you did the same to the family. Thanks.

[mm]

You know, I&#39;ve seen things likethat in movies, but a few years ago I had a toy safe, about 5 inches x 4 x 4, all plastic with a clear plastic inner door so one could see the gears, with notches in them that had to line up to open the safe, and even this toy was better designed than one would be that was harder to turn when a handle was turned. There was also no way to listen with a stethoscope. I forget how they did this, and for some reason I don&#39;t know where the toy safe is, but its design was simple but silent.

[DanG]

I bet you can&#39;t even get a wooden 1 3/4" door out of its opening by removing the hinge pins unless you hurt the door or the jamb, unless it was hung very sloppily..

[Anonymous]

Very interesting question.

You buy a house. A day, or a week, or a year later you find a stash of cash in the attic.

I would presume that the cash, ( and anything else you find ) is LEGALLY yours.

Any exceptions ?

[jd]

call the comapny that made the safe. They will tell you what information to collect from the case, and can then give you a combination. If that doesn&#39;t work, call alocksmith. A good one should be able to get it open without damaging it. When you speak to them on the phone, give them as much info about hte safea s you can.....

[Jim Yanik]

"Bob M." wrote in news:f8KdnZUxKPGBqVTYnZ2dnUVZ [e-mail]:

These days,keeping such records is easy,with modern computers.

Doubtful criminals would contact the manufacturer(and fax necessary documents),who might have a record of the theft and notify police.

At least the company could recommend locksmiths who have the capability to open it.

[Dean]

Even well built doors ca&#39;nt be too tight between the jamb or they wo&#39;nt open without scraping,,but,,far as I can see,it&#39;s all moot.. Dean

[Bob M.]

..that can be hacked into, stolen or otherwise compromised. Still a very bad idea.

No they wouldn&#39;t because they wouldn&#39;t know. If they gave you an answer at all, it would be "Look in the yellow pages under Locksmiths".