Fixing a safe lock with a bullet casing

s&g lock

Manipulating safe locks can be fun and profitable! It also takes practice. I recently bought a used safe combination dial lock and mounted it to a  piece of reclaimed wood. Mounting a dial lock involves threading the dial spline bolt through the combination wheels, and then hammering a soft, brass "spline key" into the spline's notch so that the dial will turn the wheels.

My lock came without a spline key, so I searched around the house for some brass to use. I found a spent bullet cartridge casing, and attacked it with a rotary tool cutoff wheel to get a sliver of brass.

casing

After sanding off the rough edges, I folded it over to the proper thickness to fit snugly in the threaded spline.

spline key

One solid blow with a deadblow hammer, and the soft brass wedged in place. The dial now turns beautifully.

fixed s&g

I'll be bringing this and some other cutaway locks to Boing Boing's Weekend of Wonder, where I'll be teaching lock picking workshops, so if you're attending, please come check it out.