new member needs advise

poorboy

just a quick introduction,i was given an old s withers safe that was in poor shape,painted about 6 times,no keys,dull brass.thought to myself it would be interesting to renovate the safe to pass time on rather than watch soaps on tv.
i managed to get into the safe by drilling the lock,bought a new lock from ebay,had the safe sandblasted then powder coated olive green,polished the brass work and i’m addicted to the whole idea of safes.
ive been reading about how they are made mine is sawdust filled etc etc.
ive even started to buy the brass plaques but im totally addicted to the whole idea.
can anyone recommend any other sites on the net that give information on old safes,how they were made,dates on manufacture ,plaque designes etc etc.

many thanks in advance for any help given and i’ll carry on reading the posts on this site.

NKT

This is probably the best place then!

There are lots of other locksmith forums, but this is the only one I know of that is dedicated to old locks. Paul, the Admin, is a recognised expert on this topic, and a lot of the other visitors (with a post count more than 10) are people in the trade.

There are little bits of info all over the place. Have a look at lockpicking101.com, use google to track down specialist pages on people’s websites, and keep an eye on ebay for safe plates coming up - there are a lot of collectors out there!