On 2016-07-25, pyotr filipivich wrote:
Gunner Asch on Mon, 25 Jul 2016 07:32:07 -0700
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On 25 Jul 2016 02:34:37 GMT, "DoN. Nichols"
wrote:

On 2016-07-21, Cracka Jack wrote:
replying to DoN. Nichols, Cracka Jack wrote:
Safe combinations are permutations not combinations, order matters :-)

[ ... ]

Just how old an article did you followup to in this and the
previous one. I strongly doubt that the original poster of the question
is still on the newsgroup.

And using a thermic lance doesn't do much for preserving the
contents -- which *might* be important papers.

[ ... ]

While a lance will not "destroy" gold...it will...will destroy
everything else inside the safe, paper money, jewelry etc etc

A lance is something you use when you know the safe is empty..or the
contents need to be destroyed.

It seems to me that one could put the safe on a mill (if
possible), and "mill off" the hinges. Or round and round the door
till it is no longer held in place.

Hmm ... in a real safe, the hinges are to support the door when
it is open -- to keep it from falling and crushing your toes. :-)

There are a number of fat hardened steel bolts around the door
-- deep into the thickness of it -- which go into sockets in the frame.
Mill off the hinges and the door is still not going to go anywhere. :-)

And the Mosler and Diebold security file cabinets have at a
minimum a pair of big fat bolts going into the frame on either side of
the drawer front where the combination lock is mounted. There are
linkages which lock the other drawers to a lesser extent when the master
drawer is closed.

And -- one which I had decades ago had a big thick door which
had the multi-bolts on all sides arrangement with hinges designed to
roll back into the side of the safe on the right. The rest of the safe
contained a normal file cabinet. It was locked by both a combination
lock and a key lock. And those combination locks are designed so if you
try to drill them out, or break off the dial and then drive it through
the back of the lock, a secondary mechanism double-locks the bolt, so
you are back to milling off the border of the door -- which goes in
steps as you get deeper. Oh yes -- the lock is also protected by cement
filled with old carbide inserts, to make drilling a bit of a task, too. :-)

"Round and round the door" would work eventually -- but that
would be several inches thickness of hardened steel before you get
there. :-)

Or look into a portable mill setup.

I have a strong box which I thought I lost the keys to. If I
couldn't get it opened by a locksmith - that was the sort of route I
was figuring I would be taking.

If you still have it -- check whether there are fat bolts which
are operated by the locking mechanism. That might make full destruction
the main choice. :-)

And the security file cabinets come with labels specifying how
long they protect against various things, including "manipulation of the
lock" and "fire". But the fun one was "0 man-minutes against forceable
entry". (Explosives, I presume. :-)

Enjoy,
DoN.

--
Remove oil spill source from e-mail
Email: | (KV4PH) Voice (all times): (703) 938-4564
(too) near Washington D.C. | http://www.d-and-d.com/dnichols/DoN.html
--- Black Holes are where God is dividing by zero ---