Safe Terminology 101

This is an important function integrated into the mechanism that drives a safe’s locking bolts. While in their locked position, anti-drive prevents the bolts from being forced back. Safes without anti-drive can be forcibly opened with a hammer and “Punch Pin” through various drilled access holes.
There are numerous anti-drive designs, with some designs proving far more successful than others.

Also see “Locking Bolts” and “Bolt Work”.

This is an expensive and difficult to master special purpose tool used by locksmiths and safe crackers. This viewing tool is a long thin pin with a built in light that operates much like a very small submarine periscope. When used properly, this tool aids in gaining access to a locked safe by providing the user a view of the safes inner bolt work, relocking features, and even the inner workings of the safes lock.
To gain entry to a locked safe, the operator first employs “Carbide Drill Bits” to drill a peep hole through the door or side walls of a safe. Once through, the operator then inserts the borescope to get a view of safes internal layout. Additional peep holes are usually necessary to gain entry. This tool is only useful to individuals with a strong working knowledge of safes and their inner workings.

Bolt work includes the large solid “Locking Bolts” that protrude from a safes door along with all the mechanical components necessary to support the functioning of those bolts, including the safe’s locking mechanism.

Most safes come with 1 way bolt work, meaning the locking bolts run along a single edge of the safe door.
3 way bolt work doors have locking bolts that run along three sides of the safe door providing increased protection from pry based attacks while 4 way bolt work doors have locking bolts running along, you guessed it,  all 4 sides of the door.

Bolt systems higher than 4 way do exist. These systems generally house numerous densely clustered locking bolts with the inclusion of additional angled corner bolts. While these doors are highly impressive to look at, in truth the elaborate bolt work systems are primarily aimed at generating a wow response from the buyer.
Densely clustered locking bolts only prove useful on a safe door or bolt carriage that is thin enough that it may bend or buckle during a pry based attack. In this instance, the extra bolts do provide some compensation for the insubstantial door.
The door of a high security burglary safe (a safe with a half inch thick solid steel door or better) will not bend, nor buckle under the most extreme pry attacks.
These true safes never go above 3 way bolt work systems (fixed bolts or a solid welded tongue cover the door's 4th side). The 3 way system is optimum as any additional bolts would simply increase the amount of moving components, thus, decreasing the doors mechanical reliability with only a negligible improvement towards pry protection.  

A burglary safe, or simply “safe” to use the more common term is a reinforced safe specifically designed to defend against prolonged brute force attacks such as sledge hammer beating, metal saw attacks, drill attacks and to a lesser extent, torch attacks.
Due to a dramatic separation in construction methods, a burglary safe provides substantially more protection than a “Fire Safe” with burglary protection. To learn why, click here.
Unless directly stated, burglary safes provide no form of fire protection.

This is an industrial grade drill bit used primarily for machining operations to cut holes in hard metals. The extreme hardness of the bit allows it to slowly cut into softer metals. The carbide bit is an essential tool for any safe cracker who uses numerous drill bits, along with specialized drilling equipment, to bore small holes into the safe’s interior to aid them in gaining entry.

Cladding describes a superior process used to add fire protection to a “Burglary Safe”. Compared to other processes, the cladding process provides the highest level of fire resistance with the added benefit of increased burglary protection.
The process includes completely encasing the body and door of the safe within a thick layer of poured “Amalgamate”. In the event of a fire, the dense amalgamate compound acts as a heat barrier while moisture within the compound is drawn to the exterior, further expelling heat buildup in the form of steam.  

Also see "Composite Fire Safe" and "Fire Safe"     

Though the term is now often used improperly and far too freely by unscrupulous safe marketing salespersons , the true industry recognized meaning of composite safe describes a fire safe that is constructed using a dense layer of composite “Amalgamate” material , similar in many ways to poured concrete.
True composite fire safes provide superior fire protection to cost cutting firewall based safes.  To learn why, click here.

Just as the name implies. These are locks that open by dialing a combination on a hand turned wheel. Dial locks require no power supply and UL certified dial locks are the most reliable of any lock type.
3 and 4 wheel locks are the most common.

See “Fireboard”

Electronic locks are opened by entering a numeric combination on an electronic keypad.
These locks are the most popular lock type as they are faster opening than “Dial Locks” and often offer additional features such as multiple user combinations, silent signal integration, and time delayed entry.
“UL” certified locks are highly reliable.

Electronic locks do require a power source, usually a 9 volt battery.
On most locks, the battery is conveniently located on the outside of the safe, just behind the keypad. If the batteries go completely flat, the safe will stay locked and will retain the combination. The user simply replaces the batteries and the safe is good to go.

See “Firewall”

See “Composite Fire Cladding”

A fire rating is a claim that the safe can prevent the interior contents from reaching flash point temperatures (350° F) for a specified amount of time while the outside temperature is at a stated fire temperature.
Some of these claims are backed by a “UL” or other rating system, others aren’t.
Unfortunately, safe marketing companies have grossly manipulated their fire claims, and there is talk within the industry of popular fire rating labs falsifying testing results for profit. The best way to determine a safes true ability to resist fire is to understand the processes and materials used to build that safe.
Our Fire Protection page is a great launching point towards unraveling the mechanics behind fire safes while or Competitor Comparison page describes the methods and materials used by many of the top safe manufacturers.    

Also see “Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Cladding”, “Firewall”, and “Fire Safe Ratings”.

Despite the name, a true fire safe is not in fact a safe as it provides little to no burglary protection. This term actually describes a storage container designed to provide the containers contents with a degree of short term fire protection. No fire safe can withstand a fire indefinitely, most in fact can only delay the time it takes a small house fire to heat the safes contents to flash point for a half hour. There are fires safe that are capable of protecting the containers from much hotter temperatures for much longer periods (up to 3 hours at 1700° F), these are commonly called data safes.
Unless directly stated, a fire safe provides no form of effective burglar protection and even those that do claim burglary protection generally provide substantially less protection than a true burglary safe.
A true “Burglary Safe”, on the other hand, can be outfitted to provide substantial fire protection through a variety of processes… “Composite Fire Cladding” being the most effective process. Click here for more info about the cladding process.   

Also see “Fire Rating”, “Composite Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Cladding”, “Firewall”, and “Fire Safe Ratings”.

The following is a list of the most common fire safe ratings:

Standard fire safe rating: A large portion of fire safes claim this minimum fire rating, though few of these manufacturers provide any proof to back their claim.
The claim states the safe will prevent valuables from reaching flash point (temperatures of 350° F) for up to 30 minutes with an outside temperature of 1200° F.

FR: An insulated fire resistant safe that has not yet been UL rated.

UL Class 350 1/2-hour fire rating: Rated to prevent valuables from reaching flash point temperatures (350° F) for up to 30 minutes with an outside temperature of 1550° F.

UL Class 350 1-hour fire rating: Rated to prevent valuables from reaching flash point temperatures (350° F) for up to 1 hour with an outside temperature of 1700° F.

UL Class 350 2-hour fire rating: Rated to prevent valuables from reaching flash point temperatures (350° F) for up to 2 hours with an outside temperature of 1850° F.

Also see “Fire Rating” “Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Cladding”, and “Firewall”.

Firewall is a fire resistant panel similar in many ways to a common household drywall panel. The majority of fire safes on the market use this paneling to provide fire protection. Though far less expensive to build and ship, firewall based safes provide inferior fire protection and little to no burglary protection when compared to Composite Fire Clad safes. Click here to learn why.

Also see “Fire Rating” “Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Cladding”, and “Fire Safe Ratings”.

This is the temperature at which paper ignites. A fire safe aims to prevent the inside air temperature from reaching this temperature. All “Fire Safe Ratings” are based on keeping internal safe temperatures from reaching this point for a specified amount of time.

Also see “Fire Rating” “Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Safe”, “Composite Fire Cladding”, “Firewall”, and “Fire Safe Ratings”.

Gauge refers to the thickness of protective steel plating used to encase the safe’s body and door. Common gauges range from pathetically thin 20 gauge (.0359 inch) to pretty darn thin 8 Gauge (.1644 inch).

 Buyer Beware: 12 gauge steel is a common wall and door thickness for “high end” safe models by most major manufacturers. This is around double the thickness of a typical filing cabinet. While this does provide enough support to prevent the safe from deforming under its own weight, a 12 gauge safe is ineffectual at preventing a criminal from gaining rapid access to the possessions within. There are numerous videos on youtube demonstrating safes of this gauge being opened in under 5 minutes with nothing more than crowbars.” Safes that list the thickness of their plating by gauge are best avoided as even 8 gauge plating provides feeble protection against a basic crow bar attack”
For information on secure steel thickness ratings, click here.

Also see “Safe Performance Rating System”, “Safe Door Thickness”, and “Safe Wall Thickness”.

This is an enhancement to standard “Re-locker” systems that provides superior intrusion detection to that of a traditional re-locker device.
Rather than anchoring to the safes lock, the systems trigger cables instead anchor to a pane of safety glass placed between the lock and the door. Any attempt to drill through or puncture the door to access the lock fractures the glass, instantly triggering the spring loaded relocking pins and sealing the safe shut. 

Also see “Re-locker”, “Thermal Re-locker”, and “Borescope”.

These are the thick steel bolts seen protruding from a safe’s door. When turning the locking handle on a safe’s closed door, the bolts slide into position behind the door jamb, anchoring the door firmly shut.

Also see “Bolt Work” 

A small plate comprised of a variety of extremely dense materials designed to shatter, bind, or otherwise disable drill bits and other cutting tools that attempt to penetrate the plate’s surface. The hardplate is situated between a safe’s inner lock and door shielding the lock from direct penetration attacks.

Also see “Carbide Drill Bits” and “Borescope”

Simple, yet effective, this tool is a long strong steel pin used by safe crackers to literally “punch” away the safe’s interior lock once a hole has been bored through the safe’s door to access the lock. Punch pins are also used to force “Locking Bolts” open.

See "Electronic Keypad Lock"

See “Safe Construction Rating system”, “Safe Performance Rating System”, and “Fire Safe Ratings”

A re-locker is a mechanical device designed to permanently lock-out a safes bolt work the moment illegal tampering is detected.
While re-lockers can take on a variety of forms, the most common re-lockers are small hardened pins placed at critical door bolt work locations.
The pins are under spring tension to close but are held in the open position by cables. The cables in turn are anchored to the safes internal lock. Should the lock become dislodged, the cables release allowing the attached relocking pins to snap firmly into predrilled locking holes along the bolt work.
Once triggered, the safe cannot be opened until all tripped re-locker pins have been located and extracted… a lengthy process best performed by a professional locksmith armed with plans provided by the safes builder.

Also see “Glass Plate Re-locker” and “Thermal Re-locker”.

This is the most highly recognized but unenforced rating system used within the safe industry to gauge a safes core level of burglary protection.
To truly meet one of these recognized ratings, a safe builder must adhere to the following minimum requirements for each rating classification, though not all builders do. 
A safe that meets any of the below ratings has the foundation of a quality burglary safe: 

B rating: The safe is equipped with premium grade solid steel ¼” body panels and a ½” solid steel panel in the door.   

C rating: The safe is equipped with premium grade solid steel ½” body panels and a 1” solid steel panel in the door.   

E rating: The safe is equipped with premium grade solid steel 1” body panels and a 1½” solid steel panel in the door.

Additional ratings: Though higher protection ratings exist, the metals and methods employed to achieve these protection ratings vary too greatly to provide any common adherence rules. These safes are rarely used for residential applications and are generally employed in commercial and military installations.      

The Performance rating system is regulated by a widely recognized testing facility, “Underwriters’ Laboratories”. Safes that adhere to any of the below ratings carry a UL label clearly identifying their rating:

RSC (Residential Security Container, aka: TL-5): The least impressive rating issued by Underwriters' Laboratories and the easiest rating to earn. This rating acknowledges that one tester equipped with a hammer and large slot screwdriver is unable to gain entry into the safe for at least 5 minutes. The darker interpretation of this rating implies there’s a high chance that a single individual armed with a simple hammer and large screwdriver is able to gain access to the safe in a little over 5 minutes.
Unfortunately, the majority of top selling high end safes provide only enough protection to earn this meager rating. A high percentage of all safes are unfit to earn the RSC rating at all.
We suggest you avoid RSC rated safes and their lesser counterparts.

TL-15: Unlike the RSC rating, the TL-15 rating is a substantial and respectable protection rating. This rating states that the safe is capable of surviving a full frontal assault by a band of seasoned safecrackers equipped with the latest tools and gadgetry and blueprints to the safe for a minimum of 15 minutes.
While this may seem like a short amount of time, very few criminal safe crackers are equipped with the tools, skills, and detailed blueprints of the safes they intend to crack so the real world times required to crack a TL-15 tested safe will generally run far longer than those quoted in the lab.

TL-30 Safe with this rating undergo the same rigorous attacks that TL-15 tested safes must endure, only for twice as long. To survive the extended testing times, these safes are usually bristling with the latest defensive armor and features. Residential safes rarely step above the TL-30 rating.

This refers to the overall thickness of a safe’s door and includes a variety of non-protection relevant material thickness including air space, insulating material, and bolt work.
Because this term commonly includes so many irrelevant components, it’s a meaningless term. You’ll do best to ignore whatever value is associated with door thickness when considering a safe.
Instead, do pay close attention to the thickness of the safes solid steel door and body panels. The other key thickness to be concerned with is the thickness of the safes fire protection material along with the type of material used.

Also see “Safe Construction Rating System”, “Gauge”, and” Steel Thickness”.

This refers to the overall thickness of a safe’s walls and includes a variety of non-protection relevant material thickness including air space, insulating material, and interior wall liner material.
Because this term commonly includes so many irrelevant components, it’s a meaningless term. You’ll do best to ignore whatever value is associated with wall thickness when considering a safe.
Instead, do pay close attention to the thickness of the safes solid steel doors and body panels. The other key thickness to be concerned with is the thickness of the safes fire protection material along with the type of material used.

Also see “Safe Construction Rating System”, “Gauge”, and” Steel Thickness”.

This generally refers to the thickness of the solid steel panels that comprise the outer walls and door of a safe.
Steel thickness is the most important factor when determining a safes ability to protect from burglary attacks.
A quality safe should have at a minimum ¼” steel walls and ½” steel door.  

Also see “Safe Construction Rating System”, and “Gauge”.

This is a simple device often integrated into a relocking system that allows the system to react to torch or thermic lance attacks.
The device takes the form of a re-locker cable anchor point comprised of a soft metal. Heat generated by the intrusive torch melts the anchor, releasing the cable and its attached re-locker pin.  

Also see “Thermic Lance”, Relocker, and “Glass Plate Re-locker”.

A dangerous and powerful tool used by experienced safecrackers who are in a big hurry to gain entry into a safe with little regard to damaging the safes inner contents.
This tool rapidly burns iron and magnesium rods creating an extremely hot (7000°F to 8000°F) and messy lance capable of ripping through steel and concrete.
This tool is very pricey and hard to acquire, requires great skill and careful handling to operate, and can often incinerate the safes inner contents in the act of gaining entry.

Also see “Thermal Relocker”

This is a highly recognized testing laboratory that tests safes in addition to a wide variety of other products.
Any safe bearing a UL label means that safe has passed UL labs stringent requirements to earn the assigned rating.

Also see “Safe Performance Rating System” and “Fire Safe Ratings”.

This is a lock that has been certified by Underwriters’ Laboratories as a proven high security lock.
Group 1 and Group 2 certified locks are the locks of choice.