new member, help required

rachelcrawshaw

Hello, We recently purchased a small safe and were given the combination for it, but we cannot get it to work. The safe is a National Safe & Lock Co, Cleveland USA. The combination has Eagle written on it and on the handle are the numbers 68906. The safe measures 21″Dx 22″W x 32″H including the wheels. The combination given is 3 numbers with L,R,L included, which we assume means left and right. It also came with 2 keys one of which opens the little door inside the safe, the otherone doesnt appear to work at all. Any information or advise you can provide would be much appreciated, would love to know some of the history of this safe company as well as trying to get the lock to work!

peerless

Good thing that the door is open. Besides being able to simply dial the combo open, it would be a (very) good idea to have the lock serviced due to the fact that old lubricant actually gets sticky therby causing difficulty in opening because many vintage safes used gravity to help move internal parts. Servicing a safe lock entails cleaning, inspection, re-lubrication and any adjustment needed to guarantee trouble free operation. You can actually lift this type of door cleanly off it’s hinges and bring it to a locksmith for this kind of service. Cost will be in the 40-70 dollar range (double if they come out to you) WAAAAYYYYYY cheaper than if the lock malfunctions with the door closed. Beware however, there are hoards of scammer/fraudulent locksmiths around the country. Here: http://www.findalocksmith.com/search.aspx is a FREE search tool of registered locksmiths (search by zip code) from The Associated Locksmiths of America (ALOA). The other benefit is that after professional servicing you’ll recieve a bonus hands-on tutorial on the lock’s proper dialing sequence.

If you neglect the piece of mind that servicing brings you can try dialing it with the following procedure:

Dial 3 times LEFT stopping on your FIRST number, (every time your number shows up on the dialing index, it counts as one turn even if the dial only was turned a partial revoloution).

Dial 2 times RIGHT stopping on your SECOND number.

Dial 1 time LEFT until your THIRD number is on the index
Try turning the handle. If this does not work then try turning the dial SLOWLY to the RIGHT - the dial may come to a dead stop somewhere between 85-100, IF it does, try the handle again.

IF NOT, try dialing the combo again except going 4 times LEFT, 3 times RIGHT, 2 times LEFT, then TRY THE HANDLE.
Still NO?… Turn the dial SLOWLY to the RIGHT - the dial may come to a dead stop somewhere between 85-100, IF it does, try the handle again.

Dial SLOWLY & CAREFULLY, if you go past a number you are using, you can’t “backup”, you must dial the whole thing over again. Locks are high tolerance, dialing ½ number high or low will be the most you can be off and the lock still work. The directions left/right are the same as if you’re driving a car.

Still NO? Go to http://www.findalocksmith.com/search.aspx

Hope this helps some.
All the best,
–Vince

Doug MacQueen

Just to add a little more info here.

National was incorporated in 1883 and continued to be listed in the Cleveland directory until about 1938. They made fire safes (like yours), bankers chests, cannonball safes and bank vaults. Your safe lock should be the 4L-3R-2L-1R to stop, then turn bolt handle variety. It was a later model from the 1920’s or so.

One way of avoiding the scammers, which today is a huge problem, is to talk to the well established shops in your area, in person. Most, if not all of the scammers do not have shops although they will probably have an address listed. I have checked many of these addresses in Cleveland and no shops exist. But that is not to say that locksmiths without a shop are scammers. Some of the best locksmiths in Cleveland do not have their own shops. And they may not even belong to ALOA or SAVTA, but sticking with an ALOA or SAVTA listed locksmith certainly should narrow down the field to non-scammers. Doug

rachelcrawshaw

Wow. Feels great to read your blog.Actually I was searching for the same information since many days but todayI am so lucky to land on your page. Thanks again for your hard work.

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