Where to find a used safe?

We want to get a safe for a church that was recently broken into. I once went to a used office supply that had a lot of safes, free for the taking. They were hundreds of pounds weight and would have needed to have been "cracked" since the combinations were long gone. That company is out of business. Anyone know of another place I might find a safe in the central/northern NJ area that we could get cheap? Thanks.

Reply to
Bob Chilcoat
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Ask around, keep your eyes open, check with the local locksmiths. I know, I know, you think they will be expensive. You may be surprised. What you are looking for is the guy at work who asked me a few weeks back, "you know anyone who wants a BIG, UGLY, HEAVY safe?" We are thinking of moving and I don't want to move that thing again. Sorry, midwest location.

You will want to have the comb> We want to get a safe for a church that was recently broken into. I once

Reply to
RoyJ

A friend has a retired automatic teller safe. It's pretty substantial, obviously. Nothing shady about how he got it by the way - automatic teller technology advances, albeit slower than personal computer tech, and when it does atm's are retired and the electronics/money handling portions are removed. Some places may make them available as scrap though the safe portion is still a safe, and functional. Couldn't tell you a specific place to look but googling atm builders might put you on the trail.

StaticsJason

Reply to
StaticsJason

Come and get it! Is Cleveland too far? It's like a 3' cube or so.

Reply to
Tom Gardner

You want a small UL rated money safe. Forget anything that isn't UL rated for burglary. The rating will be something like TL-15 for 15 minutes. This means it you had the safe in a machine shop, it would still take 15 minutes to get inside.

When I had a storefront years ago, I obtained such an item very cheaply from a credit union that was growing and moving. Used safes are very hard to sell, so you can probably get one cheaply. The hard part is finding one.

A big old safe is probably not as secure as a small modern one. Mine was only about an 18 inch cube, but it had 1-inch thick walls, hardened inserts, and was anchored to the concrete slab through holes on the bottom. I bought bags of lead reloading shot and filled it up about halfway so that it weighed over 1000 lbs. Not many thieves can hoist a cube that size and weight. The shot costs a bit, but it is a readily resold commodity. The shop was burglarized 3 times, but the bad guys never even attempted the safe.

When I closed the shop, I wound up selling the safe and the lead to a jeweler who needed a UL safe to satify his insurance underwriters.

Reply to
Richard J Kinch

"Cheap" and "church" implies that someone might be willing to donate some time. It is not hard to open most safes if a person has patience, time, and a bit of skill. A very interesting treatise on this was written by an expert on IT security who got interested in physical security because it's a much more mature technology.

Reply to
Don Foreman

Hey Bob,

Don't know about "cheap", but locksmiths and demolition contractors typically have safes around. Depending on size needed, there is generally one set in the concrete floor of any older gas/service station.

Reply to
Brian Lawson

Google for "lock hacking" or something like that. Also

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I've seen these folks show and teach what they know. Very impressive.

Reply to
Al Dykes

Put a "wanted" ad in your local Quick Quarter, Nifty Nickel cheapo want ads rag. Be sure to mention it will be tax deductible at full price if donated. If you don't end up with one free, you will probably hit someone who has one who will sell it.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

Thanks for all the ideas. I was offered one big safe for free from someone on this group, but it was considered too big by the Pastor. They ended up getting a small safe from Staples. It will only discourage casual thieves, but that's all they really need. How many pros knock over impoverished inner city churches?

Reply to
Bob Chilcoat

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