safecracker at large

Make Me Laugh? (Some of the stuff here reprises of previous comments, some not) Hiring a safe technician to open a safe or seeing one at work awakens the frustrated Inner Stand-Up Comedian in many people. Understandable, I guess. It's usually their first contact with a safecracker, and most customers don't have a clue what to expect. All they have to go on is what they know from movies and television. Their questions and comments reflect this. In the name of diplomacy, service vendors like me have to politely grin and bear it. But sometimes those in my line of work fantasize about some of the retorts we could make, especially to the more clueless and unmannerly people. In fact, I have to confess that depending on circumstances and customer, sometimes I give in to the urge. "Are you going to use dynamite?" Or, "Are you going to blow it up?" You have no idea how much I'd like that. Or Is that what you want? (A few years ago a friend in th...

Ken Dunckel Owner, Safecracker Safe and Vault Opening, SF Bay Area and Northern California 415-203-7298 kendunckel@aol.com   Here are a few things to consider if you're in the market for a safe. What follows here isn't a complete and comprehensive list of considerations. That will vary from buyer to buyer. Think of this as a starting point. You should get the best safe you can afford, and you should buy it from a company that services what they sell. (Hint: Try calling Costco, WalMart, Sam's Club, or Office Depot and ask to be connected to the Service Department.) Type of Protection: Think . . . What am I protecting? Documents, cash, valuables, or all three? What is the biggest concern? Fire, theft, or both? There are fire-rated safes, burglary-rated safes, and safes with dual ratings (fire and burglary). Your best bet is to get a safe that has a UL Rating for fire, burglary, or, better still, both. Any such safe will bear a UL label attest...

More Than I Paid! Ken Dunckel Owner, Safecracker Safe and Vault Opening, SF Bay Area and Northern California 415-203-7298 kendunckel@aol.com "You want more to open my safe than I paid for it!" I hear that a lot. While it's often true, it's also true that my labor charges have nothing to do with what you paid for your safe. That is, unless there's some rule that says my charges must always be lower than what you paid to own it. Where is that written? Pretend you acquired a locked safe for free. If the rule that I can't charge more than you paid for it is in effect, would I have to pay you to let me open it? Shocked callers often fail to acknowledge that this is my living, not my hobby. When I visit people's homes and businesses to do my work, I don't take appraising looks at their cars, homes, or stores, then announce that they get paid too much for whatever it is they do. Q & A The big box store...

©2012 by Ken Dunckel Safecracker Safe and Vault Service  SF Bay Area & Northern CA kendunckel@aol.com 415-203-7298 A Fly On The Wall Observations while working on safes . . . Because of the work I do and where I do it, I get exposed to a lot of different work environments. I get to see what people do (and don't do) in their daily work, hear them talking about topics that interest them. As a self-employed individual, one of the things I envy about some people's job situations is the benefit packages. Especially government jobs. People in government (city, county, state, Federal) jobs might not be getting rich  at the work, but it seems (with some notable exceptions) that if you land that government job at almost any level, you're (generally) in a much better situation than people working in the private sector. Once a worker has passed probation and is settled into the job, there are things like paid health care, paid sick leave and vacations, employee r...

Copyright 2012 by Ken Dunckel Safecracker Safe and Vault Service Serving San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California Licensed and Insured 415-203-7298 kendunckel@aol.com In the past month I've followed the work of two misinformed do-it-yourselfers. 1) A property owner found a safe left behind by the previous resident. Not only was it in the way of the remodeling, he was curious about whether there were contents. A contractor doing work there assured the owner that he could open the safe. Long story short: The contractor failed. He didn't give up until after doing grievous damage to the safe with hammers and grinders. In other words, a safe that could have been opened with zero to minimal damage and made usable was reduced to a piece of unrepairable junk. After paying me to open it, the owner had to have it hauled out and scrapped. This was a clear-cut case of "contractor machismo." Plenty of able-bodied guys with pickup trucks and job boxes f...

Copyright 2012 by Ken Dunckel Safecracker Serving San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California CA License 1985 CA Contractor 553337 415-203-7298 kendunckel@aol.com Gun Safes and User Expectations One of the biggest mistakes gun safe owners make is expecting too much from their safes. If you buy a gun safe to store a collection of expensive long guns and handguns, you're doing the right thing safety-wise. If there are children in the home, any firearms need to be stored where a kid can't lay hands on them; no brainer, right? Second, an owner doesn't want to lose one or all of his or her weapons in a burglary. Firearms are popular theft items. Losing personal property is hurtful enough, but it's more disturbing to think yet another nice handgun will end up in the hands of some lowlife. Fact: Most residential burglars don't come equipped with the knowledge or tools needed to defeat a safe that can't be carried off. That last comm...

Advice For Prospective Buyers of Used/Locked Safes By Ken Dunckel Safecracker: Safe and Vault Opening and Repairs San Francisco Bay Area and Northern California 415-203-7298 kendunckel@aol.com It's common for a caller to tell me something to the effect of, "I bought an old safe with no combination. How much would it cost to have it opened?" Sometimes the caller tells me how much he or she paid for it, sometimes not. However, by then it's way too late for good advice. And that good advice is this: A person with a locked safe and no combination, whether it's relatively new or ancient, has nothing to sell. Older (pre-1940 or so, but that's arguable) safes generally do have more eye appeal. However, if the safe you're looking at can't be used, eye appeal is all that it has; it has no value until it's opened and made usable. The person trying to sell a locked safe for which the combination is unknown or nonfunctional has probably heard...