See full list on wikihow.com. Insert the stethoscope ear pieces into your ears. The ends of the stethoscope should be slightly bent forward to follow the natural curve of the ear canal. Place the bell of the stethoscope on the door of the safe near the combination mechanism. Turn the dial to the right slowly until you hear the lock click. More MOSLER Safe Co. Is a prestigious safe company and is found in all your major banks. Would make an excellent hand gun safe. Made of steel plates with no concrete. The safe was made by Mosler Standard Safe Co. A model number of 266948 is written on the round portion of the handle on the outside of door. Nothing indicates the age. Once the safe is clean and dry you can start to sand off the original paint if you want a super shiny smooth finish. If you are ok with an antique finish you can skip this step. Sand all components with a belt sander being careful of sparks. I used 120 grip paper because I didn't want to many scratches. This mean it took me a long time.
His sure hand dances over the dial slowly bringing it to rest on the number 32. Pulling off his ski mask, he presses a keen ear against the cold metal door to listen for the last tiny, but tell-tale click. Beads of sweat appear along his hairline and trace their way down his forehead. After a few tense seconds, he sits back with a knowing smile. After entering the last number of the combination, the thief opens the safe as if it were his own?
In the movies, master thieves and spies can deftly defeat a safe in a matter of seconds using little more than steady hands and a good ear. Safecracking isn't really that easy of course, but expert safecrackers really can get through just about any lock mechanism. It's a matter of having the right tools, the right skills and plenty of patience.
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In this article, we'll examine the fundamentals of this rare skill and show you the ins and outs of safecracking.
Despite the tried-and-true design of the safe, it contains a fundamental weakness: Every safe must be accessible to a locksmith or other authority in the event of a malfunction or lock-out. This weakness forms the basis of safecracking.
In order to understand safecracking, you need to first understand the safe and the basic mechanisms that are used to protect it. Safes come in a variety of sizes and shapes that are specified for home or commercial use. Most safes fall into two categories: the fire safe and the burglary safe. The construction of a safe is specific to its intended function. Depending on the owner's needs, a safe may be wall-mounted, set into (and seemingly under) the floor or simply bolted to the ground.
Fire safes are reinforced with fire retardant materials but have little in the way of actual protection against unwanted entry. The typical burglary safe is built to withstand a considerable attack. But due to their reinforced steel frames and iron cladding, the burglary safe tends to act like an oven; effectively cooking the contents when exposed to heat or flame.
The most popular method of safecracking is to simply steal the entire safe and move it to a location where the safecracker has the time and tools to take the safe apart and remove its contents. However, when design or circumstances do not permit this, the safecracker must contend with the locking mechanism. We'll look at the locking mechanism in detail in the next section.
The most common method safecrackers use to manipulate the safe itself is drilling. There are several ways to use a drill to open a safe. The most direct method is to drill into the face of the lock in order to reach the lever or drive cam. After accessing the lever or cam, the safecracker can use a punch rod to push them out of the way or bend them until they are no longer obstructing the path of the bolt.
As a countermeasure to this, many safe manufactures have installed heavy cobalt plates to prevent or slow down drilling into the front of the lever and cam housing. Whether the cobalt actually prevents the drilling or simply slows it down depends on the type of drill bit the safecracker is using. Most any conventional drill bit will spin against the cobalt plate without ever penetrating it. However, if the safecracker is armed with say a titanium or diamond bit, it could eventually penetrate the cobalt. But, this would probably cost the cracker several drills (as the bits will outlast the motors) and, more importantly, too much time. As you know, time is enemy-number-one to a safecracker -- so, some other method would be employed.
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How To Crack An Antique Mosler Safe Mode
Any skilled safecracker will, of course, know most everything about the safe he is drilling -- including any countermeasures put in place by the manufacturer. So, to counter this countermeasure, safecrackers can drill in at an angle above the cobalt plate and go straight for the wheel pack. The cracker's aim here is not to destroy the pack, but to see it. Using a small fiber-optic viewer called a borescope, the safecracker can watch the wheels spin as he turns the dial. Then it's just a matter of lining up the notches and watching the fence fall into place.
Now, you may be wondering, 'If there are ways around the cobalt plate -- what's a safe maker to do?' Additional protection is provided by systems called relockers. Though the designs vary from manufacture to manufacture, the relocker is tripped when the safecracker's drill bit breaks a sheet of glass or plastic while drilling into the lock. Once this material is breached, it triggers a set of auxiliary locking devices which will lock out the safe completely. Even the proper combination will not open the safe once the relocker has been activated. The safe owner must call a safe technician or locksmith to retrieve the safes contents.
Side drilling is a method used to reach the bolt itself. The safecracker bores a hole into the side of the safe using a long nine- or ten-inch drill bit. A borescope is used to see the position of the bolt. Next, the safecracker takes a long punch rod and pushes the bolt out of the way.
How To Crack Some Of The Most Common Safes With A Magnet And ...
Drilling holes in the rear of the safe is another method of attack. The safecracker drills two holes: one for the borescope and one for a special extra-long screwdriver. The safecracker uses the borescope to see the screws that attach the plate covering the wheel pack. Then he removes this plate and uses the screwdriver to move the wheels into position to allow the bolt to pass.
When drilling a safe, the thing safecrackers have to bear in mind is that even the smallest mistake could damage the safe beyond any hope of opening it at all.
A borescope allows the safecracker to see inside the safe.
How To Crack An Antique Mosler Safely
These are just some of the more commonly used drilling methods. But, drilling is not the only way. Next, we'll look at some ways to open a safe that are even noisier than drilling.