safecracker at large

It's not uncommon for me to get a call from someone who wants me to come and open a safe after another company has visited, tried, failed, and left. The safe owners often tell me that the first outfit sent someone who spent anywhere from fifteen minutes to half a day or more in a futile attempt to get their safe open before giving up. It's really none of my business, but sometimes I can't help asking if the first person charged for the failed effort. Surprisingly, plenty of people tell me that they did pay something for the failed effort. When I ask why, a typical answer is, "Well, I had to give him something. He did spend time on it, and he worked sooo hard . . ." Unbelievable . . . did they ever consider that maybe he worked so hard because he didn't know how to do the job and shouldn't have been there in the first place? Worse, far too often the person who tried so valiantly and worked "sooo hard" did something that left the safe ...

Safe Makers' Names Callers often want pricing info, but when I ask about the maker's name on their safes they don't know. Many safes do have more than just the maker's name on the the front. It can get confusing. Here I've listed the names of some of the better known US-made safes: Some of the safe makers listed here have long since gone out of business, and some have had to resort to off-shoring some or all of their manufacturing to reduce or contain costs. But as far as I know, those named here at least started as US-based enterprises. As always, it's best to have a full frontal photo that you can text or email to whichever safe technician you call about a safe. The more photos and detail, the better. Also have a look at "Safe Signage," another blog entry here. The Names: Diebold Mosler York Hall's Herring-Hall-Marvin Victor Hamilton Aanon Adesco Armor Allied Allied-Gary Alpine Amsec Major Barnes Baum Blue Dot Blu...

Several months ago I had a call from an outfit that subcontracts me. The usual: Call a man about getting a safe opened. I had trouble contacting him at first, but finally one of his minions made contact. It seems lots of people have "personal assistants" who handle mundane "stuff" for them. If I could afford it, I would too. The assistant said the owner was selling his father's house. The safe needed to be opened and the contents, if any, inventoried before he cleared out. I said I needed to see emailed or texted photos of the safe. The photos were of a safe I'm quite familiar with. My record of opening this model without drilling is almost perfect. While it's true I never guarantee opening without drilling, I was nevertheless confident that I wouldn't have to drill that one (not that it's the end of the world). Later I did reach the owner, and quoted him $495.00. He said okay, and we made an appointment to do it a day or two later, first...

Ken Dunckel Safecracker Safe and Vault Service SF Bay Area and Northern CA CA License 1985 CA Contractor 553337 415-203-7298 Is Your Safe Combination "On File?" Lots of people whose safe combinations are lost/unknown ask me if there is some "master override" combination, or some "reset code" that either I or they can enter, open their safe, and return it to service. The answer is yes for some safes, no for others. Sometimes there is a combination that might be usable. It all depends on the safe make, the safe maker's policy around this sort of thing, and the lock installed on the safe. If your safe has a mechanical dial: (That is, a numbered dial that must be turned a varying number of times in alternating directions to open the lock.) Forgive me if I over-explain this. I just went through hell on the telephone yesterday with a lady who could not comprehend the concept of push-button electronic safe locks vs. mechanical. Depending on t...

Ken Dunckel Owner, Safecracker Safe & Vault Service in the SF Bay Area and Northern California CA License 1985 CA Contractor 553337 415-203-7298 Mobile kendunckel@aol.com A man who ran a garment factory in a nineteenth century Chinatown building hired me to open a big double door safe. It had been trapped in the basement since before the 1906 Earthquake. Lots of big old safes downtown are trapped now with so many sidewalk freight lifts gone extinct. At first there was a language problem, but we had common ground, since we were both fluent in Arabic numerals. I wrote down my price, he looked, said okay. The price I'd given didn't warrant spending manipulation/dialing time on a lock as difficult as I know that type to be, so I drilled and used optics to open it. The main door swung as the owner watched. Inside were three heavyweight burglary resistive inner chests, two key-locked, one combination locked. This was a very deluxe setup, then or now. They filled t...

Basic Pointers for Do-It-Yourself Safe Movers Truth is, safe moving is not for beginners, unless yours is so small as to be almost inconsequential in terms of its weight. That said, I at least understand the appeal of moving that safe yourself. It's the money, isn't it? You called a safe moving company (or maybe even a furniture mover), heard an estimate or flat rate quote, and it rocked your world. How could they want so damned much to move a box? Here are the rationales that get safe owners into Do-It-Yourself safe moving: Those guys want more to move it than I paid for it! or a variation of the above Those guys want more to move it than it's worth! Are "those guys" being opportunistic or unreasonable? If they're experienced and properly equipped to do the work, the answer is "probably not." Whatever the case, that's what gets a lot of people thinking about ways to avoid the rip-off safe movers. After all, how hard can it be? ...

Safe Lock Problems Electronic/Digital Safe Locks At least once a week, but usually more often, someone calls and tells me their safe's push-button combination lock won't open when they enter the combination. When asked, they're positive they have the correct combination. The Most Common Solution: Try a new battery first (or batteries, if your lock uses more than one). The best and perhaps most easily available batteries for electronic safe locks will be Eveready Energizers or Duracell. Other battery brands might be just fine for plenty of other battery-powered items, but trust me on this, in a safe lock you want to use either the Energizer or Duracell brands. Did I say "new" battery? I'm pretty sure I did. Don't be a dummy, okay? Quite often after telling a caller to try a new battery they call back and report that a new battery didn't do the trick, can I please hurry over and get their safe open? When I arrive, it often turns out that...