my safe, how secure is it?

[master in training]

I bought a safe from Big W (for all you Americans, its kind of like Walmart only waaaaay smaller), it was about £10 and I have since been wondering just how secure it is, by looking at it, there seems to be some kind of lever lock, but it appears to be a double lock, as the key has "bits" on both sides (sorry, im a noob and dont know all the terms for things yet).

Anyway, I've added a couple of pics of it, sorry for the low quality, I only have my phone to take pics with.

[HeadHunterCEO]

doesn't look like it is bolted down

not very secure

[master in training]

thats cuz i only just bought it...

i was wondering if anyone had seen the type of lock/key before, i've never seen that type before and just wondered if anyone knew how easy they were to pick etc...

[HeadHunterCEO]

i think your UK brethren can bettert answer that

looks like a 5 lever lock

[Buggs41]

If you can pick it. Sell it.

[master in training]

good advice

[Al]

These can be surprisingly tricky, especially if you have several high then low cuts next to each other - which you haven't

[master in training]

it was only £10 so its not too bad for what i paid, what kind of lock is it?

[stick]

looks like a 5 lever lock

Looks like a 5 lever lock.

[raimundo]

actually Im just guessing, but it appears that your key is fitted to lift levers on one side and possibly operate the bolt with the other blade, I would think that it would be a nice project to pick it, first find out what you can about it, put magic marker on the key especially around the bittings and then put it in the lock, turn it once, and take it out, make a drawing of the key with notes on where the marker is scraped off, then put it back in and turn it a lot to really scrape that marker off and make a second set of notes on the drawing. After that start designing a pick based on what is known about the key bitting , you have the advantage of having the key to work with, and this will give you a lot of information you need to design a pick, take special not of the part of the blade that seems to be the bolt operator, make a pick just to operate this at first, and put it in and feel the movement and resistance, then figure out how to modify it in a way that will allow you to add pick tips to lift the levers, Look for a broken music box, the type with the metal tines that are triped by a roller with cogs sticking out of it, see if the piece with the metal tines aligns with the key? you might be able to cut this down to a piece that will be able to operate all the levers at once and and simply bend back to meet the right depths, or perhaps you could anneal this piece of metal to make it easier to bend. in any case, it looks like an interesting problem, but all those UK (universityof kentucky) locksmiths, seem to already know all the tricks for these types of locks, read their two in one threads.

[Chucklz]

A good rule of thumb is to spend 10-20% of the value of your valueables on your safe. If I were to take the same ~$20 US and bought a "safe" I would only keep personal correspondence in it, and then only if I wasn't sure I wanted to keep it. Your lock may be difficult to pick (or not), but do you think that box would withstand a single blow with a 10lb sledge hammer? If not, don't keep valuables in it. Although, a few bits of costume jewelry, and a "coin collection" stored in there may make a good decoy.

[Varjeal]

I may be guess, but from the pic it looks like one of those ones that are meant to be hidden rather than sitting out in the open. Find a spot in your closet or something and hide it well (or mount it in your floor or wall)

[Al]

It'll have six or seven active steel levers plus a sprung guard lever.

The only Big W I can think of is off the Sheffield Parkway, where did you go?

[master in training]

thanks for all your help, im gonna try designing some picks to open it, my mate works in Big W so i'll see if i can get hold of an ex-display 1 that i can drill a few holes in to see how it works I'll have to see if i can find somewhere selling magic markers as well, i've only ever seen them in films.

The only Big W I can think of is off the Sheffield Parkway, where did you go?

I live in loughborough, leicestershire, theres one not too far from my house so i got it from there.


I'm also going around at the moment looking for somewhere to hide the safe itself...

[NKT]

£10!?!?! Good grief! I paid far more than that for mine.

They are fairly solid. I've had mine apart, and taken photos. I can post them if anyone is interested. It is a funny lock, there are no springs on the levers, so when you try to pick it, they all bind together, and move as one. There is just one spring, and mine has ten levers, plus a driver notch. The two sides of the key are always equidistant.

This picture shows the lock internals

The key looks like:

Code: Select all

       |
[------|
[------|
  [----|---]
     [-|------]
   [---|----]
      [|-------]
       |
       |


so the distance from one side to the other is always the same. The first two "bits" are the thick driver stump, which also hands the key.