On Thursday, September 29, 2016 at 9:42:27 PM UTC-7, Ignoramus2175 wrote:
A company is paying me $1,400 to remove three safes. Combinations are
not available.

Two of them are locked closed, they already attemped to open them and
failed, but they are easy to remove with a forklift so no problem
here. I will open them in my yard one way or another with torches and
abrasive saws, and so on. Nothing interesting.

The third one is locked OPEN, no combination available, but it has to
come out of a narrow door. Therefore, it needs to get its doors
closed. I thought that I could simply remove the lock from behind the
open door, using regular hand tools, after which the door handle will
operate freely and I could open and close the door at will.

This third safe is very beautiful in appearance and function and I
would hate to damage it.

The lock appears to be a typical old high end safe lock.

Is that a correct assumption that I can remove the lock and operate a
door?

thanks

Igor,

You are missing a great opportunity. Us locksmiths are often in need of a talented machinist or welder. Contact some of your local guys and offer a trade of services. Not only will they be able to give you a working combination, but they can also do a proper service and inspection to make sure the safe will not fail after you lock your stuff inside.

Roger

On 2016-10-07, wrote:
Igor,

You are missing a great opportunity. Us locksmiths are often in
need of a talented machinist or welder. Contact some of your local
guys and offer a trade of services. Not only will they be able to
give you a working combination, but they can also do a proper
service and inspection to make sure the safe will not fail after you
lock your stuff inside.


Roger, thanks. A little update on the safes.

I was able to open one of the two locked-closed safes by cutting a
hole in a side close to the lock, unscrewing the lock cover and
removing the lock mechanism.

Inside, I found a bunch of meaningless profit sharing meeting minutes,
other papers, two old certificates of deposit for $132,000 and
$140,000, and $11.02 in cash.

I cut a similar hole in the side of another safe, however I was less
lucky in opening it, as the safe had double doors and I had inside
access only to the inner door.

However, I was able to reach inside with my hand and look and feel the
drawers. I became convinced that the safe is completely empty inside.

I gave away both of these safes to craigslist scrappers.

Cracking them open was fun, but not profitable (as expected).

At least I did not have to pay for their disposal.

i