It’s Safe Now – Playing 4 Keeps

I have had a Montgomery Ward fire safe for many years. I used to keep my pistols and papers in it.

When I put the house up for sale in Colorado, I could not move the safe out of the basement by myself.

So, I emptied it and left the door unlocked. I wrote the combination down and put one copy in a dresser drawer and a copy with the safe, attached by a magnet.

I hired some brutes to do the heavy lifting on moving day.

Time passed and I decided to put the safe back into service. The combination with the safe went missing as did the one in the drawer. WTF, now I have to recall the numbers from vague memory.

I was unsure of the numbers. So, I left it. One morning, I woke up and numbers popped into my head that seemed familiar, 10-83-58. I wrote them down, but never tried them.

Years passed and the other night I got inspired again and decided to give it a try.

With the inspiration, came doubt, a lack confidence for numbers, but I still had ambition to solve the puzzle.

I was going to ask for help at the local lock shop. Then, I remembered they charged me 300 bucks to program a second key for my car. (I later discovered I could have programed the key following online instructions.)

So, hell with the lock smith and I found a step by step YouTube video for my exact safe that showed how to get the combination and change it.

After pulling the tumblers, two of the numbers were correct 10 and 83, the third tumbler separated as I was pulling it off the axial, so I cannot confirm 58. Never mind, because I was going to change the combo to something simple like 10-30-50.

In the process of this adventure, I discovered that even if I had the original combination, I would not have been successful, as I forgot the number of turns right/left necessary to open the door. That info was also in the YouTube video.

For a simple locking mechanism, gear wheels made of plastic, the safe has a rather complicated procedure with the final opening. (Four right, three left, two right, arriving at the last numeral, but then, right to zero and left to stop. Then, the door will unlock and open.)

Anyway, your coffee is now cold from reading this. I know, because mine is.

Metaphysical moral to the story: “There is a way and I will find it.”

A good affirmation too!