Est. 2026 · Independent

Every safe can be opened.
We publish how long it takes.

A reference desk for burglary- and fire-resistant containers. Every grade here is read from the certifying body's own public register and links to the entry it came from — and where no register we can read lists a maker, the entry says so. The directory is being built entry by entry, in the open.

The Directory

Safe makers by country, with the highest grade each holds on the ECB·S and VdS registers. Makers we cannot find on a register are listed too — and labelled unverified, which is a fact about our search, not about their safes.

Ratings Decoded

What TL-30, EN Grade IV and GOST class 3 actually buy you, in minutes, tools and conditions. Two identical stickers can mean an hour of difference.

Brochure Archive

28 documents scanned, 1853 to 1925, all public domain and free to read — from the first printed arguments about picking a lock to the catalogues of the 1920s.

NOTHING HERE IS CALLED IMPREGNABLE. Not by us, and not by any laboratory that signs these certificates.

Start where buyers get hurt

Most people meet this trade at the worst moment: a shop floor, a salesman, a number on a tag. These three pages exist for that moment.

The questions to ask before you pay QUESTIONS Weaknesses found in some safes TEARDOWNS Which grade do you need GRADE What a class really certifies STANDARDS Who makes what, by country DIRECTORY What to keep inside the safe ACCESSORIES Catalogues of 1853–1925 ARCHIVE Find a technician TECHNICIANS Inherited a safe? Find out what it is IDENTIFY A safe that will not open HELP DESK

How an entry looks

Four rows from the directory Grades are read from the certifying bodies' own public registers — ECB·S and VdS — and each one links to the entry it comes from. Where no register we can read lists a company, the row says so and stays unverified. No certificate number appears here that the issuing body does not publish.

Maker	Country	Highest safe grade	On the register	Status
Format Tresorbau	Germany	Grade IV	ECB·S	on register
Graffunder	United States	—	UL directory not searched yet	unverified
Wertheim	Austria	Grade V T2 CD	VdS M124005 · ECB·S	on register
Fichet-Bauche	France	Grade V	ECB·S	on register

The grade is the maker's highest for a free-standing safe, not the grade of every model it sells. A disputed entry stays visible while the dispute is open, with the maker's letter published next to it. Nothing is deleted quietly.

What we never write The word impregnable, the phrase bank grade, and any number of minutes that no laboratory signed. The trade's own best sellers hedge — Medeco was already writing “virtually pick proof” in 1998 — and a reference desk has less excuse than they did.