100 Year Old Safe Restoration Part 1 of 2

Welcome to my channel. This week please enjoy part one of a two-part video on the Reliable Safe restoration. I believe this safe was made sometime after 1918 but probably in the 1920’s or 1930’s. There is a patent date of 1918 on the lever handle. It’s on the smaller side of the rolling safe types but still a very stout unit! It was made by The Reliable Safe and Lock Company from Covington Kentucky. I found this safe at an estate sale in Burlington, NC and it was originally sold by a distributor in New Bern, NC. The front is all original, but it was evident that the top, side and casters had been repainted at some point, making for a perfect “not all original” restoration. In the video I refer to the safe filler material as concrete, but I now believe it was a special mixture of clay and other materials developed for fireproofing.
I stripped all the paint off the case, treated for rust prevention, primed and painted. The inside was sanded to 220 grit and coated with several coats of shellac. The casters were removed, stripped, treated for rust, primed and painted. Please come back next week to see the finale where I restore the door, service the lock mechanism and complete the project.
For reference, some of the other popular brands of safes around this same time period were; Hall’s Safe, Cary Safe, Diebold safe, and Victor Safe co.
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** Check out the spider running across the safe bottom at 2:38. There were two that came out of the casters and I'm positive one was a brown recluse! You have to watch were you put your hands when dealing with these old antiques! **

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