Today's score!

[bazzateer]

As I passed a neighbour's house today on the way to catch a train to work I noted that he had been doing so clearing out. There was a skip (dumpster) in the front yard full of rotten timber and general garden detritus. I almost didn't notice it but under a couple of wooden pallets was a metal cabinet of some sort. I couldn't stop to investigate as I was already close to missing the train.

So, I made a mental note to check it out on the way home as I knew I'd have a 'company car' so could throw it in the back if it was any good.

As planned I stopped at this house to have a look on the way home. It was still there so I took a closer look. It was not a cabinet after all

It was a rather care-worn safe. Closer examination revealed the door opened and latched closed OK. I knocked on the door and spoke to the owner Gav'. I apologised for bothering him and asked what his plans were for the safe. He said, "I'm just clearing it all out". I asked if he would consider selling it to me. He said, "If you want it, do me a favour and just take it away".

So an hour later my brother and I went back with his van and some timber and scaffold poles. Together with Gav' we manhandled it into the back of my brother's van and drove it around the corner and into my garage. Here we managed to get it out and onto the floor.

I'll make a sturdy base for it using some heavy duty castors I've got 'somewhere' so I can move it around until I find it's final resting place.

It'll need paint etc and the lock fixing - but for now it's a nice cupboard for my power tools.

 

[woodrail]

That is cool.

I really don't know anything about safes, but I'd love to find something like that!

 

[srmofo]

I'm not sure I would put anything into it until I got that lock sorted out...my luck someone would come along and lock it....with my stuff in it

 

[C96]

This is worthy of a

You ****!

 

[1/2 Cup]

Nice one.

 

[bazzateer]

This is worthy of a

You ****!

Why thank-you kind Sir!

 

[bazzateer]

Just realised it's hard to get an idea of scale from those pics. It's 36" tall, 25" wide and 22" deep.

 

[rsanter]

It open so you should be able to pull the inner door panel and reset the mechanism to a new combo or at least figure out what the combo is.
If to hinge else just put a piece of wood in there that would prevent it from getting locked

Bob

 

[sasquatch12]

Being built heavy it would also make a great machine base.

 

[ddawg16]

Oh yea, that is a "YOU ****" right there.

Even though you don't have any guns to keep in it....I think it would be pretty cool to disable the lock and use it to store wine or your Cadbury's chocolate....

You could really have some fun....take plastic bags and fill them with flower (say, 1 Kilo sizes) and store them in there.....watch peoples expressions when they look at it.

 

[Hantke]

You could really have some fun....take plastic bags and fill them with flower (say, 1 Kilo sizes) and store them in there.....watch peoples expressions when they look at it.

Mark the bags 1 Kilo with a sharpie to really mess with them, or write "not crack" or "not heroine" and watch their expressions! haha
I'd use it, not sure what i'd use it for, but i'd use it.

 

[Giddyup]

That's awesome, don't see anything like that in my neighbourhood...

Glenn

 

[jabberwoki]

Hell yeah that's cool.

 

[Jon Jacobs]

very nice

 

[bazzateer]

It open so you should be able to pull the inner door panel and reset the mechanism to a new combo or at least figure out what the combo is.
If to hinge else just put a piece of wood in there that would prevent it from getting locked

Bob

It latches closed on the handle, the actual lock mechanism has been removed as it was faulty - I know a locksmith who I will ask to sort it for me.

Being built heavy it would also make a great machine base.

There's a thought ...........

Oh yea, that is a "YOU ****" right there.

Even though you don't have any guns to keep in it....I think it would be pretty cool to disable the lock and use it to store wine or your Cadbury's chocolate....

You could really have some fun....take plastic bags and fill them with flower (say, 1 Kilo sizes) and store them in there.....watch peoples expressions when they look at it.

You're a bad influence John!

I'd use it, not sure what i'd use it for, but i'd use it.

Higher value power tools I think - and probably the keys to my cars.

That's awesome, don't see anything like that in my neighbourhood... Glenn

Normally I don't either.

 

[mr overdunne]

Nice score. Call Rick at american restoration so you can have the only 10k safe in the nation. Lol.

 

[coljar]

Your neighbors brother must live over here and down the street from me because, I was walking down to my mom's house a few years ago and setting next to some trash cans in the alley behind a house was a safe almost like yours except it has a dial. The guy at the house said he was getting rid of it, but didn't know the combination and it set to this day in my garage unopened.

 

[bazzateer]

Looks like it may be made by Chattwood-Milner (blvd now part of Chubb). They made a range of safes called Merlin, an anagram of Milner.

I'll have a proper look at it when I get home this evening and see if there are any serial numbers etc.

 

[Tink]

If you put castors on it and get the lock fixed and use it as a safe, be sure to ancor it in some way,
I had a similar one in the house and the thieves just wheeled it out the back door and to the driveway in front of the house.

 

[NUTTSGT]

This is worthy of a

You ****!

I'd agree.

 

[bazzateer]

If you put castors on it and get the lock fixed and use it as a safe, be sure to ancor it in some way,
I had a similar one in the house and the thieves just wheeled it out the back door and to the driveway in front of the house.

That's the plan.

 

[bazzateer]

I'd agree.

Cheers Nutts!

 

[bazzateer]

Had a play with the lock mechanism today - previous owner had removed it from the door as it "doesn't work",

The key did operate the lock but was occasionally 'sticky' as if the mechanism was intermittently jamming up.

So, I stripped it down to investigate....................................

From this:

Via this: (what's that in the bottom right corner?)

To this: (it has a broken spring)

Looks like the broken bit of spring was causing the jamming. The lock seems to work OK without the spring on that lever but I'm going to try to fix it. Can't get a decent close-up but the spring appears to be an interference fit between two 'collets' in a small hole in the lever - beyond my skills and tools so I've asked a clock repairer I know if he can help. Watch this space ............................................................

 

[rockinacummins]

You ****.

That is all.

 

[bazzateer]

You ****.

That is all.

Stopping off at the clock repairer on the way home from work this evening.

 

[bazzateer]

The lock repairer (actually he's an antique watch repairer - the watches are antique, not him!) texted me earlier to say it's all fixed. I hot-footed it down to his place and sure enough, he managed to repair the broken spring so the lock is working perfectly again. Eventually I'll re-fit it to the safe but not until it has been 'restored' to a more presentable condition.

 

[bazzateer]

Removed the locks from the two drawers and opened them up. Similar type of lock as the main door only smaller. No broken springs this time.

Took them to a friend/relative who is a locksmith. He's going to make some keys for them and he also cut a spare key for the main door lock. He commented that the locks were very high quality.

I told him that I thought it was a Chattwood Milner safe. He said they're one of the best safes out there. Apparently the guy he uses to open locked safes automatically charges and extra £150 to open a Chattwood Milner safe.

Whilst stripping the safe down it was clear that this was a quality item, everything came apart without drama and was clearly a precision fit when manufactured. The shelf inside was bent from having too much weight on it but as it was removable I was able to starighten it out.

One of the drawers was also slightly bent but once stripped of the lock and associated trim etc I was again able to straighten it.

The whole thing will eventually be rubbed down, primered and painted to look almost new. Planning on good old gloss black at the moment.

 

[fotoflojoe]

...Even though you don't have any guns to keep in it....I think it would be pretty cool to disable the lock and use it to store wine or your Cadbury's chocolate....

That'll hold a LOT of chocolate Buttons.

And... You ****!

 

[Lippyp]

Nice, I have an older Milners safe in the corner of my living room, it also is a key lock type and the little swinging flap that goes over the key hole says its "guaranteed Black Powder Proof" so I guess that dates it as fairly old. I had some extra keys cut for it and the locksmith says they are quite in demand by well off people who use them as a "sacrificial lamb" They stick some low value junk jewelery in one whilst the real stuff is in a modern concealed safe somewhere else, The idea is the thieves don't look any further than the obvious big old safe in the corner and just take whats in there.

Mine is full of Cadburys cream eggs at the moment, stashed for when they become unavailable until next easter.

 

[rambo19]

I can't walk past a skip(dumpster for my american friends) without looking in it!

 

[bazzateer]

Nice, I have an older Milners safe in the corner of my living room, it also is a key lock type and the little swinging flap that goes over the key hole says its "guaranteed Black Powder Proof" so I guess that dates it as fairly old. I had some extra keys cut for it and the locksmith says they are quite in demand by well off people who use them as a "sacrificial lamb" They stick some low value junk jewelery in one whilst the real stuff is in a modern concealed safe somewhere else, The idea is the thieves don't look any further than the obvious big old safe in the corner and just take whats in there.

Mine is full of Cadburys cream eggs at the moment, stashed for when they become unavailable until next easter.

I think Chatwood took over Milner in the 50s only for Chatwood Milner to be taken over by Chubb a few years later.

 

[bazzateer]

Had my safe dated to 1956/57 from the Chattwood-Milner factory in Shrewsbury, Shropshire - just before Chubb took over the company.

 

[Lippyp]

I think mine is probably pre WWI, maybe even Victorian. Shrewsbury is 20 minutes down the road from me now and I think I've been past a Chubb factory thats still there.

 

[mdbeck1]

Instead of flour or sugar you could go buy several bags of lead birdshot. It comes in bags that look a lot like the ones you see in the movies that hold gold dust. Turn them over, write the weight (in ounces), and wait for the thieves to come get it.

On a more mercenary note... How much is something like that worth? I wouldn't have much use for it so I would probably sell it and buy tools.

 

[kfainf]

Great find bazzateer....oh and, you ****!

 

[bazzateer]

I think mine is probably pre WWI, maybe even Victorian. Shrewsbury is 20 minutes down the road from me now and I think I've been past a Chubb factory thats still there.

Chattwood-Milner had a site in Speke, Liverpool which Chubb sold to the Standard-Triumph Motor Company in the late 50s, Speke went on to become better known for building TR7s and for strikes!

On a more mercenary note... How much is something like that worth? I wouldn't have much use for it so I would probably sell it and buy tools.

Must be worth a fair bit in scrap alone but they sell on eBay for a acouplke of hundred from time to time. I'll be keeping it.

Great find bazzateer....oh and, you ****!

Cheers!

 

[Lippyp]

Safes of this age generally aren't worth more than a couple of hundred quid as by todays standards they aren't very secure. As to steel content/scrap prices much of the weight is just filling between the steel walls and thats often just sand. Mine is a nice conversation piece and my hifi stand. I'll snap a pic as mine is quite fancy with pinstriping and a nice brass plaque.

 

[bazzateer]

I'd like to see yours Phil. Might set my small fridge on top of mine once it's finished and placed in it's final resting place.