Chubb leather night safe deposit wallet lock.

[Tom Gordon]

My understanding of gunmetal is that it is a grey corrosion resisting metal. I am not aware of a precise formula. Again, what I know as gunmetal is fairly low grade stuff. It is cast to shape.

Interestingly in USA the term seems to refer to a type of bronze.

Why UK gunmetal is called gunmetal, I have no idea. I wouldn't want to be anywhere near a gun made out of gunmetal!

In the UK gunmetal is a type of bronze.
early cannon were made from bronze because it was easier to cast and less brittle than cast iron.
cannons exploding was a common problem though

[Chris Taylor]

In the UK gunmetal is a type of bronze.
early cannon were made from bronze because it was easier to cast and less brittle than cast iron.
cannons exploding was a common problem though

Hi all
Gunmetal is bronze, in addition to copper and tin it had up to 4% zinc giving it the grey colour. The blanks would not have had the zinc added but may well have a small amount of manganese or phosphor to give them hardness of wearing. Again like keyhorses there is no single metal called bronze there are hundreds with differing percentages of differing constituents to match the use. For working on locks on magazines up in the Buxton quarries they used to take my tools off me and give me a tool set entirely made of bronze. Spanners, hammers and all. I even made an odd specialist tool myself. Things don’t seem quite so explosive these days as we are working on a magazine next week and they are even allowing drilling if necessary (better not be!) possibly the design of the stores are much improved and the ‘stuff’ isn’t just lying around inside like it was in earlier times.
Chris

[Chubby]

I posted this years ago, but it is relevant here, and stands retelling.

When I was very young, in the late fifties, there was a safe breaker in the Castleford area whose trademark was that he always used far too much explosive. He once sent an escutcheon through a wall!

Any road up, he was running out of explosives, so decided to steal some from a colliery magazine. (You can see this coming). What better way to open the magazine than blowing the locks. He was never found, not was most of the magazine.

[Gary Stephenson]

forgot the pictures doh!

[Chubby]

I saw one exactly like that one which was about the softest leather I have ever come across. It belonged to a pork butcher and I suppose had been handled with greasy hands every day for decades.

[Gary Stephenson]

got the double keyhole version of the deposit wallet that I bought on ebay, the masterkey I have did work to open the unit, but had to test drive the pick I made as well, tricky little things to pick and a lovely compact little lock, just have to make keys to it now.

[Gary Stephenson]

I haven't received it yet Huw, but may have a masterkey for the second keyhole, if not I have made a two in one and will have a go with that when it arrives.