Forgot how to dial the combination on that old safe? Think you got the right numbers but the handle is stuck? What safe should you buy? Ask your safe questions here!
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Hello everyone, I'm GPM. First post here. Been doing some research on what to look for when buying a safe. Having a ton of trouble with all the misleading advertisements unfortunately. Then on top of it, it seems like any real information is top secret. I've learnt what the U.L. ratings mean, difference between fire safes/burglary, proper anchoring/positioning, electronic vs. mech., etc..
My questions have to do with the actual safe mechanism.
1) If I buy it online, I wont actually see the safe in person. How can I be sure it's secure/built Ford Tough
2) I don't have money for fancy glass relocks but still would like to have the relocking feature. Any advice?
3) Also which lock mounting position should I be looking for? Is one direction more secure/less common to a sophisticated burglar?
I hope I put this in the right section. I wasn't allowed in a lot of the forums. Thanks for any help/replies.
Those are all good questions and someone will be by shortly to tackle them.
I am still learning safes but from what I have seen most S&G 6730 locks have a bolt relocker built into the lock, and most manufacturers such as AMSEC, Gardall, MESA, Hallon, etc have a special cover plate on their safe locks which in the event a bad guy were to punch the back cover off, it would release a metal spring loaded plunger/relocker and make it so the safe door handle could not be moved.
I don't know what the price point is to get a safe with glass relockers, probably $1000 and up, but I'll let some of our locksmith experts talk about that.
Glass relockers are far from antiques. Several Hayman and Gardall safes we sell have glass relockers as do many of the larger jewelers safes. I think the lowest priced one we sell that has a glass relocker is about $850.
Best value is to buy a burglary safe and then use a small fire box inside. Some locks have much better hard plate than others. I had to drill open an old Cary safe this week that was built in 1925 and it had some very good hard plate in it. Not only that it had two layers, one about 1/4 inch in was 1/2" thick and the second 4 inches in was 3/8" thick.
You should look for a group 2 lock, preferably S&G if going for a mechanical lock, for digital I prefer Amsec and S&G to LaGard.
Best thing to do is determine your needs, determine a budget and then talk to a local locksmith shop and see what's available.
cledry wrote: Best value is to buy a burglary safe and then use a small fire box inside.
Just wondering, but does being inside the thick metal of the burglary safe retaining heat hinder the rating of the fire box appreciably?
I think you have that backwards or are thinking of antique 1905 thick wall safes.. current technology burglar safes need not be thick walled. They just need to be difficult to drill be it by exotic metals, carbide chips, ball bearings, composites, or all of the above.
But that is a good question, even if the outer safe is only an inch thick, does a fire safe inside that "cook" faster than it's 1 or 2 hour rating, or whatever rating it happens to have.
