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FutureChemist
Stranger
Registered: 09/13/19
Posts: 9
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
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Safes
#26419815 - 01/06/20 06:44 PM (4 years, 4 months ago) |
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What is a good safe that cannot easily be cracked?
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Sugabearcrisp
Not Your Average Bear



Registered: 10/14/19
Posts: 13,102
Loc: OTD & ODD
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All safes can be cracked. Good safes are hard or impossible to remove or find.
If it can be carried away it can be broken into at leisure with heavy equipment, or something as simple as repeated freezing and heating or use of supercooled gases.
Therefore things like gun safes that are huge or ones that can be well hidden inside walls or floors with lag bolts which cannot be accessed from behind are most secure
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Alan Rockefeller
Mycologist

Registered: 03/10/07
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Last seen: 2 days, 21 hours
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Quote:
FutureChemist said: What is a good safe that cannot easily be cracked?
People rarely crack safes, they almost always steal them and work on them later. A safe that can be bolted to the floor helps a lot.
Another option is a safe that isn't easy to locate - like a tiny safe behind an electrical outlet, or a safe installed behind a bathroom mirror.
There are several books on this subject, one that I own that I like a lot is this one: https://www.ebay.com/itm/The-Big-Book-Of-Secret-Hiding-Places-by-Jack-Luger-Loompanics-Underground-B12-/173571020983
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FutureChemist
Stranger
Registered: 09/13/19
Posts: 9
Last seen: 4 years, 4 months
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Does anyone know of a good safe that is cheap, from eBay, and a bitch to open?
I see things on YouTube all day long about how easy it is to crack sentry safes, or to use magnets to get the safes' lock open.
What are safes for if they are so easy to open.
Im interested in the portable ones with the loop.
Any advice?
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Anonymous #1
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Alright, here we go OP.
First off, a real safe is going to cost you several thousand dollars. The residential security cabinets (RSC) units or typical 'gun safes', Liberty, Winchester, etc, at the big box stores are the faux safes. More people want safes and box stores need an affordable product, thus, economies of scale kick in. What is sold in your local costco, tractor supply, box store, etc, is actually a security risk because your valuables would be better off scattered through the house than in a central location that is trivial to gain entry into. Entry is a five minute effort with a beefy screwdriver and a prybar, an axe will gain entry as well, even more so if its not bolted to the ground and can be tipped over. The top and back of these units are the weakest and that thick door is nothing but a cheapo stamped sheet metal shell that got filled with some weak drywall.
If you have power tools in your garage, shed, what have, you essentially just gave would be thieves the tools to get in. An axe is also handy for entry into these units, tipping them over makes it even easier as the top and back are the weakest sides and few people ever bolt them down, it also makes prying the door much easier if its tipped over.
These security cabinets offer little to nothing in the way of fire protection. The "Certification" is done in house and by the manufacture's own standard. Its worthless. If you don't have the money for a real safe, opt for a hidden furniture safe, but be aware that amateur and pro thieves know all about them. There are forums and chat groups dedicated to professional thievery. People specifically target these cabinets because its an easy score, usually contractors, baby sitters, tutors, anyone who might see it in a home.
You are not going to get a SAFE without spending some money on one. You may find someone trying to get rid of one but usually you need to load it yourself and if you don't have the tools to lift it, you aren't getting it. A portable safe is not a safe, it can be stolen and broken into at a later date. As we say in computer land, physical access is total control.
Now, if you read through all of that, have the money to get a real safe, Underwriter Laboratories is your friend. They are an independent group and certify hundreds of thousands of products to their standards. Youtube underwriter laboratories safe tests to find out just what a real safe has to be able to withstand to gain a rating. Here is an example of a UL 30x6 rated safe withstanding a very expensive, $10,000+ coring rig. And here are UL fire standards in an easy to read format. https://www.digitalbuyer.com/fireproof-safe-and-cabinets-information-guide
Now you probably don't need a 30x6 safe, unless you are worried someone has the means to drive a forklift through your home/business, pick it up, and drive away with it. Yes, its happened before. Bolting it to the ground and building concrete walls on each side of it will help deter this. A TL-30 safe is a good starting point as they can take plenty of abuse and will deter all but a professional that is deliberately targeting your safe because they know whats in it.
Having a decoy security cabinet is a fine thing to do as well. Keep the RSC in the bedroom closet, thieves will break into that one and think they cleaned you out and your real safe behind a false wall is perfectly... well, safe.
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I personally want a UL-125 fire resistant safe for my artwork. It sounds stupid, but aside from family, my artwork, characters, stories, world building, etc, are most valuable to me. You can pretty much fireproof by first putting everything in a UL listed fire box, then put the firebox inside the safe. The contents of the box are unlikely to so much as warm if there was a house fire.
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