I have always wanted an old safe.
If you have looked though this site, you know I search craigslist.org all the time. So I find this ad for two safes. Called the number and made arrangements to be there in an hour. When we meet, he kept asking if I was by myself, if I had someone else coming... I couldn't understand why he kept asking. Into the building and when we got to the safe I found out why he was asking if I was by myself. Most of the Mossler safes I had seen were the small ones you can man handle around.
This one was HUGE! Over 2 foot wide, 2 foot deep, and about 3 foot high. This one was in a corner, about a foot off the ground, with a wooden base. I couldn't see behind it and I had no clue what the wooden base contained.
The big rule was not to tear up anything moving it. The build had ready sold. I told him my concerns and that I would have to do some more planning.
This was the first time Google did not help me come up with the solution. The big C just came to me. I don't have the photos of me testing it, it lifted the front end of a project car. The photo shows the I beams welded up.
The return trip, I brought my son, four pieces of C channel, the big C, and an engine hoist. When we lifted it, we found four 8x8s holding it up. We put on the wheels and put it down on two of the four C channels I brought. For turning we lifted it and set it back down on the C channels.
About the time we got it to the door the owner had to leave for a little bit. After he left I turned to my youngest and told him if the cops pulled in just start running. hahaha. It was funny but no one stop.
I gutted the thing, sand blasted, and painted it. Added a new inside. Moving it into the house was done using the tractor and the 6" channel.
The safe is a 1920's Mossler safe. It was bought new by construction company. It was moved once when the Alton Bridge was built. The company was located where the bridge is now. At that time the seller was a child and he told of a time he remember when it had last moved. Back then when it was moved, the safe got away form the guys moving it and crushed one of the worker's hands. He then went on to tell me about the the sounds of the crushing bones of that work, in great detail. He told me this after we had gotten it half way out the door. To late to stop now... So be warned, moving a large safe is not something I would suggest to anyone to do on your own. My background in the working in a shop were we removed and replaced large parts of an Air Force C-5 taught me a lot. Removing and replacing parts on the largest airplane in the US Air Force I've used cranes, fork lifts, and over head hoists to move parts the size of dump truck. I also completely jack this aircraft off the ground to do gear checks.
This one was HUGE! Over 2 foot wide, 2 foot deep, and about 3 foot high. This one was in a corner, about a foot off the ground, with a wooden base. I couldn't see behind it and I had no clue what the wooden base contained.
The big rule was not to tear up anything moving it. The build had ready sold. I told him my concerns and that I would have to do some more planning.
This was the first time Google did not help me come up with the solution. The big C just came to me. I don't have the photos of me testing it, it lifted the front end of a project car. The photo shows the I beams welded up.
The return trip, I brought my son, four pieces of C channel, the big C, and an engine hoist. When we lifted it, we found four 8x8s holding it up. We put on the wheels and put it down on two of the four C channels I brought. For turning we lifted it and set it back down on the C channels.
About the time we got it to the door the owner had to leave for a little bit. After he left I turned to my youngest and told him if the cops pulled in just start running. hahaha. It was funny but no one stop.
I gutted the thing, sand blasted, and painted it. Added a new inside. Moving it into the house was done using the tractor and the 6" channel.
The safe is a 1920's Mossler safe. It was bought new by construction company. It was moved once when the Alton Bridge was built. The company was located where the bridge is now. At that time the seller was a child and he told of a time he remember when it had last moved. Back then when it was moved, the safe got away form the guys moving it and crushed one of the worker's hands. He then went on to tell me about the the sounds of the crushing bones of that work, in great detail. He told me this after we had gotten it half way out the door. To late to stop now... So be warned, moving a large safe is not something I would suggest to anyone to do on your own. My background in the working in a shop were we removed and replaced large parts of an Air Force C-5 taught me a lot. Removing and replacing parts on the largest airplane in the US Air Force I've used cranes, fork lifts, and over head hoists to move parts the size of dump truck. I also completely jack this aircraft off the ground to do gear checks.