Heat treating

IF they want to get in, they will. Five big dogs that aren't too friendly would tend to keep them out.
To heattreat steel you will have to take it to a temperature of at lest 1650 F or more depending on the material. YOu heat it until a magnet will not stick to it, cherry red. Get a piece of air hard A2 or A7 and you can just let it cool with no liquid quench.
John

What keeps Joe crackhead from spreading the frame with a car jack and waltzing right in?

The dogs, sadly aren't an option in the city.
And it's not the pros I'm worried about, it's the crack addicts and meth heads out for a quick and easy score. What I'm really hoping for is to simply make it hard enough that they get discouraged and go elsewhere.
That's the one thing I knew, get it to the Curie point.
My real question was what I had to do to get it hot enough, and if what I had at hand would do it or if I shouldn't even bother.
Will do .. better than a "mystery" metal.
Thanks again.
Alan

He scrapped it the other week for crack money.
John

It's a flush mount door, with no frame to spread. But when I built the shed, I considered this as an attack vector and reinforced the jamb by bracing it with horizontal 2x4s against the stud beside it, and the stud beside that. Then plywood (inside and out) was glued and screwed to the studs and the braces. It would take a helluva jack to spread that frame, even if there was something to push against.
The door is two sheets of 7/8 plywood bolted together, with the "washers" (four of them) being 3/16 steel plate,4" x 36" wide (the width of the door).
The door opens out, so no amount of banging is going to force it.
The hinge pins are welded in place.
Four pins in the edge of the door on the hinge side enter holes in the jamb, so even if the hinges are cut away, the door still won't open.
It's not actually a deadbolt holding it closed, it's a so-called "jimmy-proof" lock which is entirely protected from an external hacksaw by virtue of the fact the door opens out.
So I feel OK about the door, it's that fragile little cylinder I'm concerned about.
As a basic protection against drilling, I've taken the shank of a broken #4 tap and inserted it between the "weak" area of the cylinder and the most likely target of a drill.
I just wanted to do the last thing, harden the case itself.
Alan

What make and model are the current locks? You do know that you can buy hardened locksets? Also keep in mind that picking a pin tumble lock isn't all that difficult if you want in.

Oh and the current entry method for crooks in this area isn't the door. They take a cordless saw and cut a hole in the wall.

Mul T Lock
I've studied this a bit before buying and this particular cylinder is very hard to pick.
And the pins _are_ hardened (and mushroomed and magnetic and pin in a barrel style with pins top, bottom and along both sides)
Very hard to pick.
I just wanted to go the extra mile. (Finally something useful to make with my hobby)
Wow, nothing like that here yet.
One more thing to lay awake at night thinking about ...
Alan

Take out a matching pair of screws from the top and bottom hinges.
On the frame side, drive in a long hardened pin, or a lag screw and cut it down so when the door closes..the pin penetrates the screw hole in the door side of the hinge.
Once the door is closed..you can drift out the hinge pins all you want..it still aint going anywhere.
Gunner
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Leave a light on when you go, and buy a small but conspicuous sticker that says..........I have a gun, and I will shoot you.

Are you talking about the part that holds the pins and twists with the key or the rest of the lock? If you're talking about replicating the moving part of a Yale-type lock in hardened steel, lots of luck to you!
My dad did part-time locksmithing and some of his catalogs had hardened steel shields for the lock mechanisms, they were usually sold for use with steel doors. You still have to have the keyhole exposed, though. A tubular key-type of lock is a little harder to drill and there's other proprietary "pick-proof" locks out there if you want to go through enough catalogs.
Another thought is that if you make it look too hardened, you'll attract the attention of the next level up from the meth- and crack- heads because it'll look like there's something worth robbing inside. A stolen Suburban crashing through the wall is the usual solution around here.
Stan

Steve,
Funny you should post this.. following (slightly) the post on "Jacking the jamb"
My brother who is a shift commander in a fire department says they are all scrapping the "jaws of life" for power saws... says if there is no "liquid combustible" around (or they foam it well enough) he'll be in and out of a car wreck with a saw before you can drag the porta pack for the Jaws off yer truck...
--.- Dave

you might want to fabricate your parts from mild steel and case harden with Kasenit.
Physical security is important (locks, lighting, window bars.)
Also important is to get an alarm system with central station monitoring & radio backup. Have the alarm company call your cell phone and then the cops.
Tony

Yep, A demo saw with a good blade will cut the roof posts in about 10 seconds. Our department has a newer set of jaws and I carry my own demo saw in my truck, Already have permission to use it when able. Only real problem with the saw is the noise.

Remove the plug from the lock and drill a hole straight down in front of the first pin and pound a hardened roll pin into that and grind it flush. Their drill will just keep wandering to either side of the pins. You might also want to remove the two screws that hold the front and back assemblies together and drop ball bearings in the holes, then put the screws back. That way they can't drill those screws out either.
EBB Apply ROT13 to my email address for the correct one.
A great guide for setting up EAC/LAME