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Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Thu Nov 30, 2017 12:10 pm
by MartinHewitt
Two locks and two separate bolts. It can't be that easy as in the cheap safes where the bolts are directly screwed to the lock.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 12:01 pm
by femurat
It looks simpler than you may think. I'll try to take some pictures, of course.

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Today I sanded the heads of a couple machine screws. The previous owner forced them to open the lock cover and left some marks and deformed the slots. I sanded them with 1000 grit sandpaper and then polished the screw head. You can see the progress in the picture above. Untouched screw, sanded, polished a little, polished. Now I'm wondering if I need to get them chromed again. Do you think they'll rust if I don't chrome them?

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 6:38 pm
by 00247
Yes, they will rust unless you keep them well oiled. You could try clear coating them but new nickel or chrome plating is best. I plate nickel for originality (slightly warmer look than chrome) but chrome is a tougher finish. Small fasteners don't cost much to plate especially if they are prepped. Take a thin flat needle file and dress up the slots, then they will be darn near perfect. I have saved many fasteners with the labor of love. Sometimes I have been forced to replace with new if threads are standard. I generally use stainless steel fasteners as once they are polished they match quite well. You might consider that.

After a closer look, I don't think you will find new ones to match. Get them plated.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Sat Dec 02, 2017 9:24 pm
by MartinHewitt
To make it more complicated for you: Do not get them plated. They don't look like they had been plated. So just oil them. IMHO they will stay fine if the complete surface is completely and thinly oiled. But original state is to me more important than high polish.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Mon Dec 04, 2017 10:25 am
by femurat
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I used a flat needle file to remove the burrs from the slot and then spent some more time with fine sandpaper to remove the file marks. Once I was satisfied I gave them a good buff. Now they look definitely better. By looking at the non threaded stem I think they were plated but I'm not sure.
Let's see how good are the other parts of the lock once I clean them. If they're good, I may keep the screws like this. I'll apply some car body wax and use them like this. I can easily remove them and get them plated later, chrome or nichel. If something else needs to be plated, I'll plate everything.

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 10:01 am
by femurat
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So here is the safe, unaware of its destiny, patiently waiting for me in the garage for more than one year. I was a bit nervous but went ahead and started to disassemble it.
Unfortunately I still don't know what was this safe original color. I was not able to find pictures of similar safes.
It seems that someone spray painted it green. Then someone else gave an artistic finish with silver and brownish colors over the green.

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I took everything but the safe itself and brought it to my workbench. The old combo was 1952, probably the birth year of the previous owner. I've already changed it.

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I'll clean the boltwork parts with a rag. Then I'd like to apply a thick layer of car body wax. I like it more than oil and I hope that it will prevent them from rusting. Any suggestion?

Then I have to find the courage to disassemble the key lock and the combo lock. They scare me. I'm worried that I'll never be able to reassemble them, since I have never seen anything like these before. But I'll be brave and do it, some day.

I'm still waiting for the body shop call about the safe body being painted.

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 3:45 pm
by MartinHewitt
You couould sand away the green color at a hidden place to see what is below. Is there a reason why the green painting can't be the original painting?

With car wax you probably have to be careful that the parts still can move. An as you do not drive around this safe in the winter I still believe slightly oiled would be enough. I have an old lock from before 1900. It lay around somewhere. On the outside it was slightly rusty, on the inside like new. It was ther just lightly oiled, probably before 1900.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 4:32 pm
by femurat
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The poor paint job make me think it was painted green recently. As you can see there's green paint sprayed on the locks. I think that at the factory they painted the safe before mounting the locks.
Now I regret not having sanded it before bringing it to the body shop to see the original color. I'll ask them if they noticed the color when they sanded it.

No I'm not planning to drive it around in winter. So some oil will do the trick. Thanks for encouraging me to keep it simple.

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Tue Dec 05, 2017 5:10 pm
by MartinHewitt
Btw., thanks for the photos. I will study them, when I'm back non.

Use a good oil, which does not harden.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Mon Dec 11, 2017 4:55 am
by femurat
I started disassembling the lock to clean it and to see how it works. A small flat head screwdriver is all I needed.

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Nothing to worry about till now. Then I started to be a bit worried but went ahead anyway. This is the lock core. It was quite easy to remove it from the lock assembly.

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Now I expected flying springs but luckily they didn't. The levers are under light spring pressure so I managed to keep them in place by simply wrapping my hand around the steel cover while I removed it. Then I immediately put them in a small plastic box with compartments because I didn't want to loose any.

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I've put a rubber band around the 8 levers to keep them up and show you the cuts. Keep in mind they're upside down. Usually they can't be pushed out because there's the steel cup around the plug, and the springs keep them pushed towards the lock center.

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Here is a video I made to show how the key interacts with the levers and how the plug and the lock plate work together.



Here is the lock after I cleaned it with a toothbrush and some car body polish. Then I wiped it with a clean rag and a clean toothbrush. This lock isn't damaged or rusted so I don't think it needs more work.

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I'm wondering if I need to apply some lithium grease to protect the steel surface of the lock. Since it rubs against the big cup that contains it, I think it'll need some grease over there. Do I need to oil or grease the levers too? They're in contact with brass that I'm not willing to oil or grease. As far as I know brass doesn't need oil or grease.
Suggestions are welcome about this, because I'd like to reassemble the lock before going on with the restoration of other parts.

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Wed Dec 13, 2017 3:11 pm
by MartinHewitt
Thanks for the great video! That really shows how it works.

Regarding the overlifting comment from the other forum: I don't believe overlifting will be a problem, because also the key overlifts when inserting or removing it. My guess is that a normal pin tumbler lock pick set should be enough to pick it.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:01 am
by femurat
Yes, the key it overlifts the levers, but it can't rotate the core when the levers are overlifted because there's the second raised cylinder. When the levers are at their normal position they can't rotate because of the inner raised cylinder. If you overlift them they could rotate, but there's the outer raised and slotted cylinder that prevents this. Hope this helps clarify my comment.

Cheers :)

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Thu Dec 14, 2017 3:05 am
by MartinHewitt
Yup. Thanks.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Fri Dec 15, 2017 2:52 pm
by Jaakko Fagerlund
femurat wrote:I used a flat needle file to remove the burrs from the slot and then spent some more time with fine sandpaper to remove the file marks. Once I was satisfied I gave them a good buff. Now they look definitely better. By looking at the non threaded stem I think they were plated but I'm not sure.
Let's see how good are the other parts of the lock once I clean them. If they're good, I may keep the screws like this. I'll apply some car body wax and use them like this. I can easily remove them and get them plated later, chrome or nichel. If something else needs to be plated, I'll plate everything.

Cheers :)

Now you need a brass screw driver to tighten those polished screws or else you will mar them too easily.

Highly polished tool steel (screws qualify) is very suspectible to corrosion from even handling them with bare hands, so laquer or grease them.

Re: My new old BAUCHE safe

PostPosted: Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:25 pm
by cocolitos
Very nice piece !!

I have a tool to open them.

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Cocolitos