r/safecracking

As the title says, I got to open a Kaso Gem for the 4th of July, which is the best thing ever. I have been doing this for 19yrs now and I LOVE when I'm able to open these higher security safes. Posting here cause I figured other techs would appreciate it. I love this job so much and thank God every day that I get to do something I love doing.

Hi! I'm working at a museum this summer, and we have an old J&J Taylor Limited Toronto safe works safe.

We don't know what's in it, nor the code. But it was donated to the museum back in I believe 2020, and it would be nice to know what's inside.

My father is a Real Estate agent and found this left in the basement of a house he sold. Understandable as it took 3 grown men, ropes, sleds and ramps just to get it up the bulkhead and into a truck. Anyone seen a safe like this before?

Any help on ID or getting it open would be huge, thanks!

So, my local library has not had a key or combination for this safe since they took it over from what used to be the bank. They invite anyone who wants to come try to crack it have a whack at it.

Cracked my first Safe tonight!

Since my last post I’ve read “National Locksmith Guide to Manipulation”, watched numerous Rick Ammazzini videos and the Safe Manipulation Course videos by Spinning dials.

For manipulation I started by parking wheels 1&2 at 50, scanned and mapped the third wheel, it didn’t reveal anything so scanned and mapped all 3 together and found a low point in all the wheels at 35 so parked 1&2 there and scanned wheel 3 again. Gate at 88 appeared.

Scanned wheel 1&2 with wheel 3 at 88 and found a deep gate at 63, did a high low test and confirmed it was wheel 2.

Scanned wheel 1 with the other two in position and it opened at 22!

Spent 2 hours fighting to map wheel 3 on Saturday and then regrouped and killed it in 2 hours tonight!

Found a dual key lockbox inside but no goodies!

Thanks for all the support and tips!

I have the key but the lock seem stuck

Its mounted so i cannot use rubber mallet

Found a mechanical combination safe built into a masonry wall in an apartment I own. Undisturbed for at least 15 years, probably longer, no combination on record. I'd rather manipulate it open myself than call someone out. Dial photos in the comments (vendor sticker removed).

The lock: 100-graduation dial (0-99), black face, chrome bezel, no external handle - the bolt is dial-actuated. Hinges on the right, boltwork on the left. Looks like a standard Group 2 lever-fence lock, but it may be a clone or a region-specific make rather than an S&G. If anyone recognizes the dial or bezel, I'd appreciate an ID.

Method: AWL contact-point manipulation - park all three wheels together (left 4+ turns), read the left and right contact points, step 2.5 across the dial, graph the gap and look for where it narrows.

Where I'm at: Contact region sits about 7 to 17. One full sweep done. Lock seems left-dominant - the right contact barely moves. The front half gave a clean, smooth narrowing on the left contact around 38-40 with the right steady underneath, which reads like a real gate. The back half (60-97.5) is the problem: there the right contact moves a lot and erratically, and I can't tell if that's signal, a worn/eccentric mechanism, or me catching wheel pickup instead of the contact.

Questions:

1. How do you decide the mechanism is compromised versus your own reading being off?
2. Anyone manipulated a lock dormant for decades? I pumped it with dry graphite, which smoothed it up a lot. Tips for aged mechanisms?
3. Roughly how often do old Group 2 locks degrade to where manipulation stops being reliable even with correct technique? I've spent about 8 hours on this so far so want to know when i should just give up and drill it.

Thanks

Got this safe for free on Facebook marketplace, picked it up and brought it home, but the person failed to tell me that one of the keys was broken off in the hole. I’ve tried tweezers and super glue to try to pull it out, but was unsuccessful. Anybody have any ideas before I toss it?

Any recommendations to DYI opening this?

A friend has recently moved in to a house ( he owns not rents) and under the stairs is a cupboard within which, embedded in the floor, is a safe.

He wants to get it open but isn’t keen on digging out the whole floor!

There is a key hole, there seems to be an outer layer of metal and a second one that I can see via the key hole!

There is a hinge on the top side of the square and there are signs that previous owners have tried to drill to open!

Any suggestions? Locksmith? Angle grinder? Can it be x-rayed?

NB UK based

I have a Herring-Hall-Marvin safe I inherited from my father. I had a slip of paper with the combination on it. Had. I left the safe closed but with the handle half locked. I never had any problems with it. I bought a new house and was planning on moving the safe last. I told the person I sold the house not to mess with the safe as I was having a truck coming to pick it up on Monday. I arrived on Monday morning to find the safe locked and the dial turned. I asked who had touched the safe and they said no one did. I know better. Things had been moved in the garage, the main door was unlocked, and the safe locked.

My question is: is there a way for me to open it by my self or will I have to get a professional?

Okay I have been working on this safe for days now, this is my latest graph . Ran through the wheel with ??/53/22 then realized that I got 53 with awl so I needed to try and amplify again with right rotation. Did that and ended up with 52 which I assume should have been covered by the 53 dial. Then out of frustration I did high low tests again and maybe 22 is actually on wheel 1??? I'm tired so I might just be losing it at this point.

This safe has been in my family for a century now. We have the keys and everything, but we don't know the mechanism to open it or maybe it's just completely rusted.

The top key (3rd and 7th photo) turns completely and most probably, unlocks with a click sound and the lower larger key (4th and 8th photo) turns only 90°.

It was almost a perfect weekend of manipulations but I got my ass handed to me by a 6730. Couldn't finish it before they closed up shop and I'm on the plane home tomorrow.

I'm not too bummed about it except for the time spent. They sprung it up as a "if you have time"....