Fastening a safe.

The truth of the matter is that a safe is an excellent way to stop the window breaking thief, but a real locksmith can virtually destroy anything. 

Window breaking thieves are what we worry about the most.  These are the "near-do-wells"  people who come in and leave in 15-30 minutes and use your pillow case to carry out their booty and your hard earned valuables.  Though everything of value cannot be kept in a safe, it sure will store guns, jewelry, and important papers.

There are plenty of inexpensive safes on the market, the name HOMAK comes to mind.  This safe has the circular tumbler lock and a 16 gun safe weighs around 150lbs. and costs $125-175.  I use one of these in my garage to store ammunition and any gun(s) that I am currently working on.  (Yeah, I'm one of those guys that has a 2-1/2 car garage that has no room for any cars).  I have secured this safe with four concrete drive anchors 3X3/8  inches, into my garage floor.

When it comes to a more secure safe, I recommend a much heavier safe.  An extremely heavy 700 lb safe with 12 ga minimum walls, a combinations lock with an additional key lock for the dial is preferred.  In the door I prefer at least 10 tinseled steel interlocking frame bolts of at least 1-1/4" in diameter.  I own a couple like this too.  The best value that I have currently seen is an OXBOW safe, sold out of Paris, Kentucky.  If you are shopping, DO NOT OVERLOOK THIS SAFE"S VALUE.

In a age like ours where large trucks, lifts, and furniture dollies are all too common, even your hernia generating safe can be rolled out unless your safe is secured in place.  For this, I recommend the following:

• I like using a high grade, all thread rod, of at least 1/2 an inch in diameter. 
• Make sure that you use at least 4 pieces of the all thread; one for each corner of the floor.  Most safes are pre-drilled for this bolt and if not, it is easily done.
• Make sure that you go under your house and check the height of your floor joists, mine were 12-inches in thickness.
• Leave your four, all tread stainless or high grade all thread rods, long enough to hang down below your floor joists about 2 inches.
• After securing the top of the bolt inside of your safe with a lock washer and nut, I go under the house and finish the deed. 
• After locating the four rods underneath the house, you will need to have, readily available, an all steel plate that is wider than the span of the floor joists and at least 1/4-1/2 inch in thickness.  NOTE: Snugging short bolts up against just the flooring is good, but defeatable.
• Mark the plate with a grease pencil as it is probably covered with oily residue.  If not, a Sharpie will work too. 
• Drill the four marked holes and secure the plate by using a washer and nut.
• Using a propane torch, heat the bolt and nut.  Try to stay away from the plate with the 1600 degree flame.  Oh, the plate you will not damage, but the plate will transfer the heat to your floor joists at about 12-1400 degrees and the last thing you want to do is to show up at your own home fire without marshmallows.
• NOTE:  If you wonder how to fireproof an existing vault, it's easy.  Do it the way the pros do, with 3/8 inch sheet rock wrapped in a flame retardant piece of bolster cloth.
• Brazing is easy and any novice can do it.  The the bolt, nut and washer need to be brought up to the same temperature, all at the same time.  Most brazing material will be at around a 1000 degrees.  Make sure that the rods you use are about 1/8 inch thick.  When the bolt, washer, and nut combination reach about 200 degrees over the brazing rods registered temperature (for me it took about 90 seconds of direct heat), simply put the brazing rod on your pre-heated, nut, washer, rod combination.  The brazing rod should feed into the joint like butter.  NOTE:  The use of flux paste compound can be used on the joint before heating for excellent results.
• Now you've done it.  Nobody is getting into or carrying anything out when it comes to your safe.  I had someone try and forceably remove one of my safes mounted this way and there attempt remains laughable to this day.

I hope that this has been a help.  What is your is yours and belongs to no one else no matter how hard times get. 

I do believe that safes will be more and more necessary, as unemployment and the poverty level swells past anything we've seen in 30 years.