Maybe you're a master jewel thief in the making.
Maybe you just have a really bad memory.
Either way, you may one day need to know how to crack a safe.
The first safes were created almost as soon as humans had something valuable to keep other
humans away from.
Dating back to the 13th century BC, a primitive safe was found in the tomb of Pharaoh Ramesses
II, and was made of wood with a locking system that resembled a modern pin tumbler lock.
However, it wouldn't be until the 16th century when what we would today recognize as a safe
began to be mass produced, with the creation of cash boxes forged out of sheet iron.
The design proved to be so good that they would serve as the model for mass-produced
cash boxes in the 19th century.
The 19th century proved to be a revolutionary one for safes, with the creation of burglar-resistant
safes that included built-in locks.
The idea naturally evolved to protect not just cash and precious metals or gems, but
important documents such as wills or deeds, and in 1886 the first safe for important documents
was created.
This safe would not only keep documents safe from theft, but would also help ensure their
survival in case of a fire.
Modern safes typically come equipped with a combination lock, though new safes have
switched from rotary dial locks to digital locks.
Some can even be accessed with the owner's fingerprint, further adding to their security.
A modern safe must be burglar resistant, fire resistant, and resistant to environmental
damage such as flooding or contamination via dust.
Fire resistance is measured by the amount of time a safe can keep delicate valuables
protected from the effects of extreme heat, starting at a half hour, then one hour, two
hours, and finally four hours.
After four hours of intense burning, only very specialized safes can protect delicate
documents from the effects of extreme heat.
A fire resistant safe must be able to maintain an internal temperature less than 350 degrees
(177 C) for the time rated.
Safes that protect electronic data however must be able to maintain an internal temperature
no greater than 131 degrees (55 C) while in a constantly heated environment in excess
of 1830 degrees (1,000 C).
Needless to say, that kind of protection does not come cheap.
Burglary resistance is also measured in increments of time the safe is resistant to penetration,
but also the types of tools used.
Time ratings are measured as periods of persistent attack, and start at 15 minutes, 30 minutes,
and 60 minutes.
After an hour of persistent penetration attempts, only specialized safes can keep your valuables
protected- though by that time hopefully police have already responded to the burglary
Safes are tested for their durability and assigned a class, with Underwriters Laboratories
being the most common rating agency in the world- though German, French, and Japanese
laboratories also rate safes and their ability to protect the valuables within.
A class 125 safe is able to sustain an internal atmosphere of 125 degrees (52 C) and 80% humidity
for the amount of time the safe is rated for.
This safe was introduced with the development of floppy disks, and as compact disks and
other modern storage media is even more resistant to heat, these safes remain extremely safe
for protecting electronic media.
A class 150 safe can sustain an internal atmosphere less than 150 degrees (66C) and 85% humidity.
A class 350 safe can sustain an internal temperature of less than 350 degrees (177C) and 85% humidity.
These types of safes are mostly for the storage of paper items, as electronic media will be
destroyed at these temperatures.
So how do you get into a safe if you've lost the combination?
First you have to understand how a safe's lock works.
Combination locks have a large rotatable dial on the outside that is used to input the correct
combination of numbers to unlock the safe.
This dial is attached to a spindle, which has a drive cam at the other end.
A drive pin extends from the drive cam and catches against the wheels inside of the safe
and makes them spin.
These wheels, also called tumblers, are what translate a properly input combination.
For each number in the combination, a safe has one tumbler, so a safe with a six number
combination has six tumblers.
Resting atop the tumblers is a small rod called a fence.
As long as this fence is resting atop the tumblers, the lock remains engaged and the
door cannot be opened.
Each tumbler therefore has a small notch, or gate, at a specific point along its circumference,
and this is where the fence must drop in order to release the lock.
This is why you input numbers on a safe by rotating the dial in one direction, and then
rotating it in the opposite direction for the next number.
By rotating in the opposite direction, you disengage one tumbler and engage the next.
Once all the tumblers are in the right place, the fence drops into the notches and disengages
the lock.
So to get into a safe, first you have to determine how many tumblers there are- or how many numbers
are in the combination.
First you rotate the dial several times in a clockwise direction, this will completely
reset the lock and disengage all of the tumblers.
Next, you want to get a stethoscope and listen carefully as you very slowly rotate the dial
counterclockwise.
What you're listening for is two clicks in rapid succession.
This is the sound of the drive cam notch sliding under the lever arm- and thus moving into
the right position for disengaging the lock.
One of the clicks will be fainter than the other click, as the notch is sloped towards
one side.
Once you've marked the number on the dial that produced the clicks, rotate the dial
clockwise again several times to reset the lock, and begin to rotate the dial counterclockwise
once more while listening for the double clicks.
Make sure you make a note of the number on the dial where the double clicks are heard,
and then move the dial counterclockwise 180 degrees so that you land on the exact opposite
numbers on the dial.
This is called “parking the wheels”.
Now slowly turn the dial clockwise.
As you pass the “parked” position, you should clear a click as the tumbler inside
is engaged.
As you continue rotating past the parked position, you should hear additional clicks- each click
is an additional tumbler, and an additional number in the safe's combination.
Some safes however are equipped with anti-cracking technology which prevent this from happening,
at which point you'll need to resort to more violent methods to crack the safe.
Once you hear no more clicks from turning past the parked position, you know how many
tumblers and thus how long the number combination is.
Now you'll need pen and paper.
Set up two line graphs and label each graph separately.
The X Axis of each graph should run from 0 to the highest number of the dial face.
The Y axis only needs to cover a span of about 5 numbers.
Label the first graph's x axis “starting position” and its y-axis “left contact
point”, then label the second graph's x-axis “starting position”, and its Y-axis “right
contact point”.
Now reset the dial and spin it to zero.
Then rotate it slowly counterclockwise and listen carefully.
You're once more listening for the double clicks, and once you hear them, you want to
note the exact position of each individual click, which will usually have a few numbers
between them.
On the left contact point graph, mark a point at x=0, since that's where you began turning
the dial from, and then on the Y-value plot the number on the dial where you heard the
first click.
Repeat for the right contact point graph, labeling the y value where you heard the second
click.
Now reset the lock once more by spinning it clockwise, and move it 3 numbers clockwise
of zero.
Record this new starting point as your next X-value.
Once more, listen for the double clicks, and record each click on the y axis like you did
the first time.
You're going to repeat this process by setting the dial 3 numbers further each time you reset
the dial.
Eventually you'll have mapped out the entire dial, and filled your graphs with contact
points.
Now you'll simply look for where the y-values on each graph converge together.
It's easiest if you can simply lay the graphs atop each other, or have used different color
ink or pencil for each different graph.
Each point where the y values converge is a correct number in the combination, and all
you have to do is write down the x-value where the y-values converge.
This will give you the exact number on the dial, but you still won't know the right order.
For that, you'll simply have to try every possible combination of those numbers until
one works.
If you're having trouble with the numbers you recorded, try numbers adjacent to the
ones you discovered.
If you're dealing with a lock that has more than 3 numbers, you're going to need a lot
of patience, as a 3 number lock has only 162 possible combinations, while a 4 digit lock
has 1,944 possible combinations.
Of course, if this doesn't work you may need to resort to more drastic measures.
However, this is going to require serious resources on your behalf- and a lot of time.
Safes are purpose built to be very difficult to penetrate via mechanical means, and are
naturally very resistant.
Your first bet would be to cut a safe open.
Ideally you would want to do this with an industrial torch, the hotter the better.
Air-fed torches max out around 3,600 degrees (2,000 C), while oxygen-fed torches burn much
hotter and can reach up to 4600 degrees (2550 C).
Steel and carbon composite safes however have a melting point of between 2500 to 2800 degrees
(1371-1540 C), so this is going to be a very, very slow process.
You'll also want good ventilation, as the fumes can quickly turn harmful to your health.
You're better off using a plasma cutter or thermic lance to cut through a safe, and both
these tools can prove quite effective in cutting into even a modern safe.
However both of these pieces of equipment require a lot of specialized training to use
effectively- and take it from the writer of this episode who used thermic lances to cut
through doors in the military, these tools are extremely dangerous and create a lot of
hazardous smoke in closed environments.
You also run the risk of 'overshooting' your cut and damaging the goods inside, which will
melt like butter upon coming in contact with a plasma cutter blasting at several thousand
degrees.
You can attempt to cut into a safe, but you're going to run through several saw blades in
the attempt.
Industrial saws often have synthetic diamond teeth, but even these will dull out quickly
from prolonged use against a tough composite safe.
The preferred method for professional safe crackers is to simply cut a hole into the
safe, through which a small scope can be inserted.
The safecracker can then observe the locking mechanism directly, and more accurately deduce
the correct number combination by observing the movement of the fence and the location
of the notches in each tumbler.
In days past one could even simply drill out the lock itself, thus neutralizing the safe,
but modern safes make this all but impossible.
Another method of getting into a safe is one you've likely seen before in movies.
Jam shots are special explosives used to blow the doors off a safe, and can also be very
effective if not very subtle.
First you fold a piece of cellophane into the space between the safe's door and the
frame.
Then, use a bar of soft soap and knead it into a cup and funnel shape around the cellophane
you've folded into the safe door's crack.
Once in place, slowly pull the cellophane through the soap cup, cutting a channel into
it.
Now place a blasting cap with wires connected to a battery igniter inside the cup, and then
pour the nitroglycerin into the cup and down the funnel.
Then it's simply a matter of touching the wires leading to the blasting cap to the terminals
of the battery.
This will cause the blasting cap to explode,which ignites the nitroglycerin that's flowed down
into the space between the safe door and the safe, and blow the door clean off the frame.
You do ofcourse have to make sure that the contents can survive the massive violence
of a small explosion, otherwise the entire effort is pretty much moot.
If you're dealing with a high-tech safe with an electronic lock, you're going to need to
figure out the numbers on the combination directly.
Simply cover an object that the owner of the safe is going to touch with ultraviolent ink,
and after they have opened their safe once, scan the keypad with a black light- which
will reveal their fingerprints on the correct numbers.
A simple fingerprint dusting kit can also be used to achieve the same result.
Now you'll simply have to guess the right combination.
Of course, you could also simply brute force the combination.
On a digital safe you can run a special program that runs through millions of sequences of
number combinations until it hits the right one.
This technique even works with rotary dial safes, as the invention of auto-dialers have
allowed safe crackers to brute force number combinations using a device that automatically
dials out millions of possible number combinations.
However, with an auto-dialer the process can be extremely slow, taking upwards of 24 hours
to complete with a standard safe.
Now go check out Most Insane Diamond Heist, or click this other video instead!
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