Victor Safe

[CptedIV]

My grandmother has a Victor safe, its got a sticker that says it won an award in 1902.. The dial is completely worn so you can barely see the numbers. She apparently lost the combination 40+ years ago, and about 20 years ago had a locksmith come out and open the safe. She said he did it by hand, no tools. We can't find anyone in town that says they can open it without drilling. I watched a couple videos and have a basic understanding of how the dial works, I also have a mechanics stethoscope but from what I've read its more about feel than sound. I'd really like to try to open this myself, mostly because I'd like to learn, but also because the locksmiths here want to charge over 400 dollars to open it! I'll put a picture up soon. Thanks,

Ed

[Jaakko]

The information you are asking for is advanced material and thus not open for public discussion on this forum. My advice is to pay that 400 to get the safe open.

[CptedIV]

Oh, how do you get into the advanced section? Don't mean to rustle any feathers about this topic, just seeing if anyone can help... Don't have 400 bucks, and my grandma "believes" she has important documents/deeds/bonds she wants to get out.

[CptedIV]

Nevermind, I found my answer using search... This is absolutely an advanced section post? Is anything pertaining to safes "advanced"? What about masterlock padlocks?

Sorry, thats a little off subject.

I'm really just curious if you can hear a click or feel a notch where the fence lays on the disk to find each number for each disc... Once you have possible numbers, (4 for a victor safe) don't you just try each possible combination? If I had 4 different numbers, that would make 16 possible combinations, right?

Also the big heavier click would be the notch where the lever rolls over, and isnt a number, correct?

I've done quite a bit of research on this thing, and was just looking for a little advice. If all this is prohibited, tell me and I'll delete it and just keep fooling with it myself.

Thanks for any help!
Ed

[MacGyver101]

Is anything pertaining to safes "advanced"?

No, not everything about safes is advanced.

If you search around, you'll find some excellent posts in the public forums that people have written, showing disassembles of safe locks, pictures of neat antiques, and asking for help in identifying the manufacturer/model of old safes. Any discussion of how to manipulate/defeat/bypass safe locks, however, is reserved for the advanced forums.

I'm really just curious if you can hear a click or feel a notch where the fence lays on the disk . . .

Yes you can... but, unfortunately, it's not as simple as that. (i.e., the "clicks" don't directly give you any of the numbers in the combination.)

Sorry that I can't offer any more help than that on the public side of the site.

[Legion303]

viewforum.php?f=15

-steve