Information about Milner Safe

[andreas]

Thank you very much so far...! I now found the ebay offer but unfortunately it wont be shipped to germany.

best regards

Andreas

[Chubby]

BTW that weight equates to 370 Kg.

[Huw Eastwood]

After offloading my safe plates a few years back I think I ended up with one of those left here somewhere. There's a load of variations though so I'd have to check to be sure. Plus, you're missing the door pull, backing rose, and all the brass screws so best to wait for another job lot to come up for sale like safeman posted, and get everything in one go.

[Huw Eastwood]

[Huw Eastwood]

There's also this variant Andreas, and possibly others as well, so you might need to measure between the centres of the fixing holes to determine which it is.

[andreas]

Hello experts,

i managed to buy the ebay items safeman recommended...(i will get them the new year when very far relatives from scotland will bring them along....)

I am playing with the idea of restaurating (more or less) my safe - myself.
Maybe you can give me some advice where to pay attention, whether I should give up now or how big my chance for an aceptable result is..
The following questions occur to me:

Can I unmount the door?
What about any replacement screws as there are some missing or some without head?
(I have the tools to put new threads but will it be possible with the material?)
What about opening the lock mechanism?
Is there any fill material in the walls and should I replace it and with what?

It would be no problem if this is going to be a longer project but i am only interested if i have got a realistic chance or i should be happy as it is.

Thank you very much for your help and best regards

Andreas

[Chubby]

Can you unmount the door? well, anything is possible, but don't!

Regarding the screws, yes you can tap out the holes to a modern thread size. That is my favoured option with all such safes, but I am vilified on the forum for it. I would do that and replace them with allen head screws of the correct type. Some of those old ones have sharp edges and can be truly horrible.

Filling? It is a mixture of alum crystals and hardwood sawdust. This gives some protection against fire but over the years it will have settled down leaving voids in the upper part of the safe. So the fire resistance is bound to be somewhat compromised.

[safeman]

Hello experts,


Can I unmount the door?
What about any replacement screws as there are some missing or some without head?
(I have the tools to put new threads but will it be possible with the material?)
What about opening the lock mechanism?
Is there any fill material in the walls and should I replace it and with what?

It would be no problem if this is going to be a longer project but i am only interested if i have got a realistic chance or i should be happy as it is.

Thank you very much for your help and best regards

Andreas

You should have no problems restoring this safe especially now that you have some door furniture. Some of the fixing holes may not coincide bur the door plate is mild steel and can easily be redrilled and tapped.

To remove the fire-resisting chamber on the back of the lockcase should present few problems, especially if you lay the safe on it's back first as some of the chamber screws underneath can be a bit of a problem. Some of the putty covering the screw heads is already missing and if any are partly broked they could always be used underneath where they won't be seen. Clear the slot in the screwheads to ensure a clean grip with the screwdriver.

As for fire-resistance, if there is no sign of loose dust in the interior the composition will stiil be sound. It is not intended as much for insulation as for creating moisture when heated which permeates into the interior lowering the flash point of any documents.

[Gary Stephenson]

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