For years, I thought about getting a home safe. We don't have much in the way of valuables in our house, our most valuable items are electronics and those don't serve a purpose locked inside a metal box.
I did like the idea of putting our important documents in a safe place but with everything stored digitally, there are very few truly hard-to-replace important documents.
So eventually I abandoned the idea. We don't have a safe in our house.
That said, if we did, it would've surprised us to learn that those store bought safes, the ones from office supply stores, are pretty much worthless.
Check this out:
If you can't watch the video, Mr. Locksmith opens a SafeSentry safe in two seconds with no signs of entry.
The basic gist is that there's a nickel solenoid that prevents the handle from turning and pulling back the bolts on the door. I'm not a safe expert so my explanation is my interpretation of what he's explaining in the video… but I do know how solenoids work. Solenoids create a magnetic field when you apply a current and with the rare earth magnet, we're applying a magnetic field directly and disengaging the lock.
Want one of the magnets? You can buy them anywhere online. They're Neodymium Rare Earth Magnets (though not actually “rare,” they're as common as nickel, the ferromagnetic metal being taken advantage of in the safe itself). They're also cheap, just Google it. 🙂
As they say, a chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
In this case, that link is beatable in 2 seconds with a magnet and a sock.