.:: Keypicking :: Anything And Everything For Locksmiths, Hobbyist Lock Pickers, Locksport, Lock Picking, lockpicks, cutaways and Security. Simply The Best Lockpicking Forum Around!

Hello

I have an vault which needs to be opened.
I tried a lot of things the past 6months, like drilling but I only scratched the paint.
So if you know how this vault works or know how to open it, I would really appreciate it.
I have the key but I don’t know the combination for it.

How nice, an old Kromer lock! What do you feel, when you turn the lock right with a pushed in dial? Does it randomly rattle? Does it do regular steps?

PS: It could be that one: viewtopic.php?f=100&t=12920 or a 14 or a 14b or one of the other variants of the 14a.

PPS: What serial number is on the key?

It randomly rattles when it’s pushed in.
I will look for the serial umber on the key, but I don’t think it has an serial numeber.

It’s really awesome to read how this lock works. Now I at least know how it’s working.

EDIT: What do you mean with regular steps?

Good. Then it is most likely that same model as mine or one which is older. All wheels have randomly placed false gates. The true gate looks on first glance the same, but there are slopes on both sides leading to it. On the first photo in my link there is the true gate in the position of 2 o'clock. In case you are not familiar with the lock you find also a description on its operation there.

Try following:
1) Rotate pushed right until it is most noticeable in some form of gate. You will notice that it is a bit more difficult to turn further than on other locations. To find that, do a few rotations to get a feeling for that. Remember this position.
2) Pull out the dial.
3) At this point you can dial left all the way you want, but on a right turn don't pass the position from step 1. You should now be able to feel the gates on the third wheel. False gates are very defined on only one letter. If you can find about 6 to 8 false gates at random locations, then it is this lock model (or the previous) and we can proceed. The true gate is 7 or 8 letters wide with the actual gate in the center. If you can find it, you have the third letter of your combination. If you can't find it, then we try it again after the second number.

If you could do this I will describe what to do next.

I’ll try it and update you on the progress.

Update: I think I found W1 and W3.
W1 was easy W3 needed some more time.

I checked the key, the key has no numbers on it.

What did you do? If you turn right pushed all three wheels are moved.

Ow I thought if the dial is pushed in only W1 is moving.

EDIT: I did something and now it’s very hard to dial further to right.
It stopped on “m”.

Well if you're really REALLY REALLY lucky you stumbled into all the true gates and it's now open because you've thrown the bolt...what happens if you now manipulate the handle and/or key?

A 14/14a does not stop when open.

Awww shame, that would have made such a great story.

Yeah that would be awesome