Monthly Archives: October 2016

Used Safe Deposit Boxes Can Be Useful

We sometimes get blocks of safe deposit boxes from inside large safes.  But a large local bank is getting ready for a renovation project which includes removing over 2600 safe deposit boxes of various sizes from a large vault.

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Safe deposit boxes typically have ½” thick stainless steel doors, while the bodies are light duty steel or aluminum.  They usually have dual key locks, a “guard key” for the bank employee, and a “user key” for the box renter.  Some come with combination locks, these are usually for bank personnel.

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Safe deposit boxes are not hot sellers but a few folks find uses for them.  Coin collectors, for instance, may segregate different classes of coins in separate boxes.  Ammo can be organized with safe deposit boxes inside a gun safe.  If you have a use for safe deposit boxes your local safe specialist probably has some around.  If you need 2600 of them call us right away before this group gets scrapped.

Gun Safe Ruined by Locksmith

The previous post was about a gun safe that was destroyed by a locksmith who had no idea what he was doing.  Last week we had an even worse instance of this kind of work by a different locksmith with similar lack of knowledge.

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The “victim” came to our shop needing to buy a replacement gun safe.  His had been ruined when he called a locksmith to open it.  The locksmith told him the only way to get it open was to cut a hole in the door. It had been a good safe with heavy steel and good boltworks.  As you can see the safe was butchered.  The locksmith left a pile of metal shavings on the floor and filled the customer’s entire house with drywall dust.  The customer was charged $1200! And now he needed to buy a new gun safe!!

The real tragedy is that the problem was a loose spline key in the lock (see July 25 post) which we would have opened without even drilling a hole!

The man is now the proud owner of a Fort Knox gun safe, but he is very angry at the guy who cost him lots of money.

Again – if you have a safe problem, call a trained safe tech, not just a locksmith.