Gutting an old York safe

[stonewallskullworks]

I bought an old York safe that was in pretty rough shape, I thought I was going to have to sandblast it and repaint but after a lot of buffing it looks decent now. I planned on gutting the inside to use it as a gun safe but I feel bad about gutting a 100 year old safe that has some unique history. Would I destroy and value by gutting it? Should I feel bad about gutting a historic safe? I really have no use for it though other than a gun safe. It is a double door safe and very heavy

[MartinHewitt]

You don't have provided any photos, so I don't know what safe it is and what's its condition. I really don't care about monetary value. What to do with old stuff depends for me on rarity and condition. If something is quite rare I accept more damage, because that is how history brought it to me. If it is more common, which I suppose a York safe is, I am more likely to do a restoration. I have an old S&G from the 1880s about. Not a rarity, but the case was heavily rusted. I got it sand blasted and repainted it. The dial still has to be done. It has heavy dents and the nickel plating is mostly worn. That means I will need the remainder of nickel plating stripped, fill the dings and get it replated. With the restoration I do I try to achieve a look which it likely had, when it was new. That means I would never give a safe a highly polished perfect mirror finish. Old safes can have a beautiful decoration. If that is in good condition I would not touch it.

You did also not describe what you mean with gutting it. Remove the isolation in the wall?

[Squelchtone]

depending on the model, watch out for Asbestos.

Could you post some photos, we love old safes, and can probably tell you more about it if we can see the outside and inside. are you hoping to gut the wooden compartment inside or remove the fire proofing material to make more room?

<--- How to Upload pics is in the white/blue menu to your left

[stonewallskullworks]

I just want to remove the wood shelves and the small steel box in the corner to make rifle racks. Smaller york safes are common around here, 20 min from york, but i have not seen one this large before. I will try and figure out how to post pictures

[Squelchtone]

https://ibb.co/2KVpSzx
https://i.ibb.co/ggqcd0N/Safe-after-buffing.jpg


https://ibb.co/6wnyYnP
https://i.ibb.co/2hnFqnt/open-safe.jpg

[Squelchtone]

she's a beaut!

I'd say feel free to redo/remove the shelving, it's not a museum piece, so it's cool to make it your own for your needs.

[stonewallskullworks]

she's a beaut!

I'd say feel free to redo/remove the shelving, it's not a museum piece, so it's cool to make it your own for your needs.

Thanks for the info and for editing my pictures, I am new to the forum, I just picked my first padlock this week with a homemade tensioner and pick.

Maybe you could give me your opinion on some speculations that I have, the safe came out of a garage in a forclosed house so the person I bought it from had zero info about the history of the safe. I am assuming that a safe that large, 72hx43widex33 deep, was probably for a business or pretty well off person. I was also thinking that a safe that large probably did not end up too awful far from its original location, you can see an initial and last name on the safe so I began researching that name in this general area and in the earlier 1900's time period and found a dry goods store owner with that first initial and last name. What would you think the chances are that he was the original owner of the safe?

[MartinHewitt]

Often the most important purpose of a safe was to protect the book keeping stuff from fire. Fires were much more common then. IMHO it is likely that you found the original owner.

[stonewallskullworks]

The safe says A. Rosenstock. I Found a J. Rosenstock Dry Goods store that was in Frederick MD that was later taken over by J Rosenstocks son Aaron, Frederick MD is about 45 minutes from the garage where the safe was found. What i find interesting is that there is only one known photo of confederate troops on the march during the civil war, that photo was taken in Frederick MD and in it you can see the sign for the J Rosenstock store and the picture is believed to have been taken be J Rosenstocks wife.

[MartinHewitt]

When has Aaron taken over the business?

[stonewallskullworks]

I have not found that info yet, I know Joseph died in 1892 and the safe was built after 1915