Safe Talk

As any history buff of the mid-1800s and the turn of the century knows, safes have played an important role in the development of business, commerce, and outlaw gangs in the United States. But the history of safes extends far beyond Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

The first type of safes were strong wooden boxes that were bound with iron hoops from thousands of years ago. Beginning around the 1700s, wrought-iron chests were introduced and by the end of the 1700s, cast iron safes were common practice. Until 1820, safes or “iron chests” as they were called then, were designed to protect against burglars but were not fit to protect against fires or other natural disasters. It wasn’t until the 1840s that the dual-concept safe emerged. These safes had strong outer casing of tin-plate and sheet iron with an inner lining of the same material. Inside of this was a “non-conducting” composition of hard wood and sawdust mixed with alum. In case of fire, the alum melted and by damping the sawdust prevented the conduction of heat to the interior of the safe. While these safes were not yet burglar and fire-proof, this is the start of the modern combination safe. At this period, safes were THE most expensive piece of office equipment costing approximately $150 to $225 – that’s around $4500 in today’s dollars!

In the 1820s, Jesse Delano started manufacturing safes in New York City. He created a new way of producing fire proof safes “which consisted in coating the wooden foundation with a composition of equal parts, clay and lime, plumbago and mica, or saturating the wood in a solution of potash lye and alum, to render it incombustible.” With these technological improvements, safes were becoming more akin to what they are today. This introduced a whirlwind of technology to try and lock down the best damping methods resulting in what is largely the same composition of today’s safes: “The metal of the safe consists of the stoutest and toughest wrought bar and plate iron, the space between the inner and outer surfaces being filled with a composition, of which plaster of Paris is the principal ingredient.”

More information on the history of safes can be found at the Office Museum which also has some wonderful pictures to help you visualize these first safes: http://www.officemuseum.com/filing_equipment_safes.htm

Are you interested in the history of safes? Did you know that some people actually collect antique safes, especially those that have played a part in history?

This is a fantastic video about how a safe can manage to be both incredibly inaccessible and very accessible at the same time – depending if you are trying to break into the safe or if you have a code at the ready. It really helped demystify the safe as a security method for me. Did you know that safes are made of steel, concrete, and Diatomaceous Earth? Do you understand how the locking mechanism of a safe works? You will after watching this video.

I hope you will enjoy the video as well. And, if you ever come across other good ideas that you think would help our readers understand safes and home security better, do forward them on to us! Thanks!

We haven’t seen a good video of a safe being blown up, or cracked with water, or any other super cool video lately! This doesn’t have a whole lot to do with home security but it is pretty COOL! Any one else seen any cool videos of stuff being blown up?

For those of you who don’t know, Tannerite is an exposive that is exceptionally stable – so stable that it requires bring shot at with a high-powered shotgun to detonate. And it makes for a pretty good boom!

Have you ever known someone who has had their identity stolen? It’s become a major issue as credit card statements and society security numbers are increasingly visible to the outside world. Even if you think it could never happen to you, take precautions to keep your identity documents safe from those who might assume your identity and do harm to yourself and your family. This news report takes to the author of a book of ways to help protect yourself against identity theft.

Do you have any other suggestions? Have you ever had your identity taken? How long did it take to clear your name and get your identity back?

We’re back with another great video from Dye the Safe Guy! (and yes, that’s his real name!). This time, he’s talking about floor safes. Even been curious? Check it out!

We’ve talked a lot about installing safes and for many people this is too difficult a job to accomplish alone. Well, we stumbled across this great video from the guys at Sentry Safe that is really a step-by-step guide to wall safe installation. Even if you are feeling nervous about undertaking the task alone, rest assured you can do it! (and if you can’t, always remember that we can help coordinate safe installation and in-home delivery for you).

Jay Hunt, our wonderful President here at SafeandVaultStore.com has a message for you! Seeing this little talk from him really puts a face on the business. As he notes in the video, it’s sometimes a little tricky when you are shopping online to understand exactly what you’re buying and who you are buying it from. Well…this is a great video for you!

Take care and enjoy the video!

Maybe its because the holidays have just come and gone in a flash…but all of a sudden I’m thinking about all my friends and relatives who have just had babies recently (it seems like a never-ending stream of brand-new faces on facebook!). I’m so excited for each and everyone of them, but it also got me thinking about home safety and babies.

1. Do you have a working smoke alarm on each level of your home?
2. Is your water heater set to 120 degrees or below?
3. Do you have a working carbon monoxide detector in your home?
4. Do you have window guards on all your upstairs windows?
5. Do you have child safety gates at the top and bottom of all staircases?
6. Are all medicines, cleaning products, cosmetics, pesticides and alcohol locked safety out of baby’s reach?
7. Have you removed all strangulation hazards (ribbons, necklaces, strings) out of baby’s reach?

Of course this list is not exhaustive but is meant to inspire you to properly baby-proof your home before you bring your newest addition home. In addition to baby-proofing your home to make sure the newest addition to your family is safe and sound, you’ll also want to consider how you’re keeping all those precious documents safe from harm.

Now that you have someone who is utterly dependent on you (and, who at least for the first 8 weeks of their life…can’t see beyond 8 inches in front of their face), you’ll need to make sure that all your belongings are in a safe place as well. A media storage safe or a fire safe are your best bets for this. We have a whole selection of great safes available for you on our website…and if you’re still feeling confused (or could that be the lack of sleep?!), feel free to give us a call and we’ll help make sure you have exactly what you need to keep all those birth documents, home deeds, and wills as safe as possible.

So you’ve decided that you need to buy a fire proof safe for your home but you don’t know where to start? Today safes are more complex (and sophisticated and protected) than ever but we’re here to help you understand the buying process when it comes to fire proof safes.

Let’s start at the beginning as we try to understand what exactly a fire proof safe is – these sorts of safes are designed to release moisture during a fire. That means that as the outside of the safe gets hotter and hotter, the inside can maintain a mild temperature so that papers and other valuables are less likely to catch fire. This moisture inside the safe is released and ensures that the temperature inside the safe won’t raise to a level at which these precious objects would ignite. Most safes are rated by how long your papers and valuables will be protected. For example, small safes may have a half hour rating but most carry a rating of between 1 and 3 hours total. Typically these sorts of safes will protect any documents that you as a home or small business owner require. If you work at a large scale company that protects official records you might require a four hour safe. In addition to these sort of ratings, safes may also be tested by any one of the following testing organizations:
• Private Laboratory Testing
• K.I.S. (Korean Industrial Standard) Fire Test
• U.L. (Underwriters Laboratory) Class of Fire Protection
The most thorough and widely recognized of these is the UL Classes. These ratings mean that the safe has been sanctioned by an independent organization and not just the manufacturer and have a different (but complementary) set of ratings. For example, a UL Class C safe is proven to protect papers to a temperature of 1700F for one hour. This is equivalent to a One Hour Rating.

If you want more information on the types of tests that are done during fire testing, take a look at these links
1. Fire Endurance Test
2. Explosion Hazard Test
3. Fire Impact Test

If you are aiming to protect more than just your papers, you might also want to consider a media safe. Now more and more people are storing their precious valuable documents electronically – often by CD or DVD. Electronic media is more sensitive to heat than is paper, these special media safes are better protected and more heavily insulated. As a media safe has to maintain a lower internal temperature than a safe designed for paper goods, it is safe to store your paper in a media safe but not safe to store your electronic media in a paper safe.

Understanding this complex set of safe rankings will help equip you with the tools to chose the best safe for your needs and the needs of your family.

A special word of warning though: if you buy a fire safe, don’t expect it to protect against burglars unless the safe says it is BOTH fire and burglar protected!

This is a really long video but well worth your time if you are interested in the mechanics behind a safe. It’s a great video by a master safe-cracker talking about non-destructive safe-cracking – from robotics to manipulation to lots more. It is a very informative video and really illustrates why you need a very powerful safe to make sure you have your valuables protected as best they can be. It is fascinating!

Eric Schmiedl – Safe Cracking Without a Trace from Deviant Ollam on Vimeo.