Introduction:

I have opened over 1000 locked safes and vaults over the past 35 years; I've lost count of how many a long time ago. Some of them were Antique Safes, Home Safes, Fire Safes, Data Safes, Gun Safes, Hinged Round Door Safes, Lift out Round Floor Safes, regular Wall Safes and Floor Safes, Depository Safes, ATM Safes, Bank Safes, Banker Money Chest Safes, High Security Safes, Government - Military GSA Container Safes, and Bank Vault Doors. Most of those Safes, I opened by Manipulation (figuring out the combination without forceful entry techniques); the others I had to resort to Penetration Methods.
Over the course of my career, I have also done simple openings over the Phone for many different customers that had the Safe combination, but forgot how to dial it; I do that simple assistance at no charge. What I have NEVER done before was to Manipulate open a Malfunctioning Broken safe over the Phone; nor did I think such a thing was possible until 8/1/2025.

The Emergency:

I received a call at approximately 7:30am on August 1, 2025, by a customer whom I will call "Mrs. C"; her first name is too distinct to publish it. She was calling me from another part of the United States. Her father had purchased a 100 year old Antique Bank safe from the Bank that owned it... many decades ago. Many years ago the safe lock started getting harder to unlock until it had broken so completely that it wasn't trustworthy to lock anymore; so her father kept it unlocked with word to never spin the dial and lock it again.
Her father has since gone to be with the Lord, may he rest in peace. The dilemma at hand is that Mrs C's family Passports are in that safe, they are getting ready to leave for a trip to London soon, and one of the family members accidently spinned the dial locking the safe. Added to this emergency, ...the nearest Lock and Safe companies, capable of Drilling Open this Safe, are 200 miles away and 300 miles away!

The Solution:

When Mrs. C finished explaining her dilemma, it was very apparent to me that she was in a panic; she did Not want to cancel their trip to London. The gravity of this situation set with me very fast, and I became resolute that I was going to do everything in my power to get this safe open, guiding her over the phone. I told her over the phone and reassured her, that this safe would be opened this morning; all she had to do was follow my directions exactly.

Within 20 minutes of us starting, I paused for a minute, as I started to get nervous myself. At that point I had realized that I let the emotion of this situation get to me, and I had over-promised to her; (I didn't tell her this though). I had hoped that her family wasn't dialing the combination correctly and I would guide her over the phone as I had done many other times in the past. When that didn't work in several attempts, I tried simple transfers, adding numbers to the last combination number, or adding and subtracting numbers to each wheel separately as well as together, including adding and subtracting alternatively. At the 20 minute mark, was when I realized that the combination they had was useless, and that it would have to be opened by manipulation. Safe Manipulation over the phone to a person operating the safe with no lock or safe knowledge or experience is IMPOSSIBLE, but I didn't want to tell her that. I WANTED TO PROCEED!

I told her that she needed to be my eyes, my ears, and my sense of touch and feeling; as she followed each direction I gave to her, she was to describe those senses to me as I asked. At this point, I didn't have time to go digging in any Dave McComie Books to find a safe like this, what the bolt-work looked like, what it looked like inside of the lock, and what the drill-points would be. We didn't have time and a drill point was not going to help anyway. I needed to manipulate it open right here and right now!

When I do safe manipulations, I envision in front of me a holographic 3-D Xray image of the lock in front of my face. As I move the dial, I envision the wheels moving inside of the safe lock, as I determine where each combination gate is.
For this safe and for this lock, I had no idea what the bolt-work looked like, what type it was, how it worked, nor did I know what the inside of this combination lock looked like either. The next steps was to guide Mrs. C in certain steps and procedures so that I could determine the bolt-work and lock internals to precision.

By the 40 minute mark, we took another 1 minute break. I had realized that I had another setback. I had determined what the 3rd combination number was, which was a little different from their original combination. I was also very sure I had the 1st combination number which was a good ways away from the original number. What the setback now was that it appeared as though the 2nd combination number was "free-wheeling" and its combination gate was constantly changing. I didn't want to tell Mrs. C that. I'm a cup half-full type of person. I told her that to not worry... and that... Even though it may appear we have been doing aimless, meaningless procedures for the past 40 minutes, the fact is that I now know 50 specific things about the inside of this safe's bolt-work and combination lock, and that we are very close to it opening. I recalled to myself many times in the past 35 years I was successful in manipulating open safes that had catastrophic malfunctions...similar to what Mrs. C and I are dealing with; three of which where High Security Safes.

We pressed on; and within 30 more minutes, I could hear Mrs. C, her Mom, and the grand-kids erupt into Joy and celebration. The safe was opened! Praise the Lord! I immediately told Mrs. C to empty everything out of the safe and to never use it again, nor put anything inside of it until it is repaired. I also told her that I could repair it, the next time I'm over in that part of the country. I then directed her to duck-tape the dial twice so that it wouldn't move, and to write on it to not turn the dial. She thanked me profusely, and asked me what the charge was for opening the safe. I told her it was No Charge; I just didn't want her to cancel her family's trip to London. Mrs. C and her mother insisted that I at least accept something, which I accepted. I also told Mrs. C that I had met several other Safe and Vault Technicians from London at a Lock and Safe Convention in Las Vegas a long time ago; they were great people. I also said that London has a long history of Safe and Vaults. I also told Mrs. C that her ability to follow extremely complex directions under time pressure and over a sustained time is unbelievable. Her abilities are 1 in a Billion. I also told her that if she was in an Airborne 747 plane and it lost the pilots, she would be able to successfully, manually land the plane with detailed directions from a pilot at the Control Tower. I told her I was not joking, and that I was dead serious. She was a remarkable partner in the opening of this Antique Bank Safe. I then told her and her family to have a safe and fun trip to London 🙂