History of Safes started with old safes, and most of the site still is about them. The pages in Buying a Safe Today apply the same method to safes you can buy now. Here is how they are made, what they are not, and how the site pays for itself.
We research, we do not test
We do not have a test lab, and we do not burn, drill or pry open safes to write about them. You will not find “we tested” or “our hands-on review” on this site. Fire and burglary resistance can only be measured properly in a furnace or by trained attack teams, which is exactly what independent test houses do. Our job is to explain what their results mean and to point you to the evidence.
What we rely on
- Standards and certifiers. UL in the United States; EN 1143-1, EN 14450, EN 1047-1 and EN 15659 in Europe, and the bodies that certify against them, such as LPCB, ECB-S, VdS and SBSC. A certification you can look up beats any claim on a box.
- Published specifications. Makers’ own data sheets for weight, size, ratings and locks, with the date we read them. Where a figure is the maker’s own claim rather than an independent listing, we say so.
- Insurers, regulators and courts. Policy wordings, insurers’ and surveyors’ guidance, recall notices and published decisions, which show how ratings work in real claims.
- Company records and history. Who owns a brand and where it is made, from company filings and reputable trade press, the same way we research the old makers.
Every factual claim is footnoted, as on the rest of the site. If two sources disagree, the page says so. Prices are dated, because they change.
What we will not do
- Rank products we have not tested, or publish “10 best safes” lists.
- Call a brand good or bad without evidence. We explain how to judge any safe: independent certification, published specs, warranty and where it is made.
- Explain how to open, bypass or defeat a safe or lock. If you are locked out of your own safe, see locked out of an old safe and call a qualified safe engineer.
Affiliate links and how the site is paid for
Some pages may link to shops that pay us a small commission if you buy something after clicking. You pay the same price. Those links are marked as sponsored in the page code, and every page that carries them says so near the top.
Commission never decides what we write. A shop cannot pay to be mentioned, and a product does not get a better description because it earns more. Pages about history and the old makers carry no shop links at all. The site is also paid for by the optional written reports offered through Identify my safe.
Corrections
Standards are revised, companies change hands and prices move. If something on these pages is out of date or wrong, please tell us through the contact form on the About page and we will fix it.