Thread: samuel withers

Samual Withers was classed in the second tier of English safe makers, and like many they produced a range of sizes and qualities. To give a useful appraisal please post some pictures and look for serial numbers etc. A bonus would be a picture of the lock and internal workings.

Originally Posted by Brian Morland

Samual Withers was classed in the second tier of English safe makers, and like many they produced a range of sizes and qualities. To give a useful appraisal please post some pictures and look for serial numbers etc. A bonus would be a picture of the lock and internal workings.

this is me safe. if you could help me out with a year of build and value. also i wish to restore it to its orginal condition, just wondering if that would increase its worth and with restoration what types of paints where used and if the origanal colours used where gloss or a matt finish.

Hi. I have the same safe as this. Is it possible to weld angle iron to the sides to make it more secure. Could this damage the safe and would there be insulation inside that could take light during the welding process. Please help......

My advice on being more secure would be to go and buy a more secure safe. They make some really nasty devices in the safes made today like glass plates (that breaks if you try to break in and set off some other locks) and other things to make it harder to get into them. It all comes down to what are you protecting and start there. What is it worth? Are you protecting against fire? Older fire safes were only good for maybe 20 years before there fire protection dried up. The new fire protection doesn't dry up. So there are some things to think about and go look at different safes to see what is out there.

I wouldn't bother with trying to add anything to that safe if I was you.

You will not improve the security much by welding but you are right to notice that it is just rivetted together and thus insecure. It is filled with sawdust and alum. The alum when heated gives off moisture to protect against fire but that evaporated 100 years ago-they get £50-£100 in auctions normally, if they are not too big for people to shift, but are common and have no insurance rating or rarity value.
Sorry
Tom

Thanks Tom. The reason I was trying to improve the security was that it is actually situated on a tile floor and is easily pulled along the tiles eventhough it is heavy. So would you discourage welding ? I thought about drilling 2 holes in the safe floor and bolting it to the floor but thought it might be difficult drilling in such a confined space.

Halflock was right. If you want your safe to be at all secure, then you need to buy a different one. if you want a pretty and convenient place to place a small bit of stuff then keep your old safe. Upgrading it is not a sensible option.

Ok Guys, thanks for your time and input. I guess it's time to buy a new one .
Thanks again.