I picked up a few metal boxes for organizing some chemicals in my shop and was able to snag a small fire safe for $15 that no one was able to open.
(Following directions must not have been their thing)
I did some research and found its a Hercules Home Vault made in Toledo, Ohio.
So it’s now residing fairly close to where it was made.
I contacted the new company that owns Meilink.
The new owners are FireKing and their web site says they’re keeping the Meilink / Hercules line as a “heritage” line. (Whatever That is).
They’ve not responded so my search for a center cap for the dial continues.











I began stripping it to metal and getting it prepped as I began searching for the correct factory badge. Only one was available and , kind of funny , it cost more than I paid for the safe.













Painted the bottom & the jams with a hammer finished color that matches one of their factory colors from the photos I’ve found.














Sadly after painting it and seeing that it actually turned out near perfect.
I decided I wanted to spray a coat of clear over it for protection.
About :10sec after I finished the top coat I noticed that there were areas that appeared where the base coat was lifting .
I waited two days to spray the clear. Made sure it was the same enamel, even the same brand.
No idea what caused it. I’m still a little grouchy about it.
I know these safes are not valuable at all.
They sell on Flea-Bay for $160-$225 and I only have $50 total into it.
But damn !

Anyway, I’m still in search of the center cap for the dial.
I’m gonna guess that’s about a snowballs chance in hell of finding one but I’ll keep searching as I decide what to do with the interior.
Probably have to either turn or cast one.
These came felt lined with a dark red felt.
This one had its felt removed.
I contacted the company because I’d never seen a safe from the factory felt lined and wanted to know what they were marketed as / for.

The Hammertone is an attractive finish, I like the oem quality of it.

Reference the center cap. Unless you're trying to restore the safe to oem, could you find something of that OD at your favorite hardware store?

Always enjoy seeing your projects, GB!

Nice job!

Those look great Grumpy. Thanks for sharing

Damn, I can't wait to do projects like this when I retire. A days work kicks my ass these days. Grumpy, you should be proud!! That safe turned out looking amazing!

Looks pretty awesome, Grumpy. Sorry to hear the clear lifted the paint. That’s irritating.

Nice...

Very nice.

That is frickin cool!

Grab a photo of one online if you can and have somebody print one for you. Odds of finding one are slim to none. That may also have been sold as a Sears Tower safe.



Most dials use an aluminum type sticker for those inserts. I'd be happy to get you a generic S&G version for you to apply graphics over. You would also need to cut it down to size.

That looks really good. Hope you can find a center cap for it.

Nice !
Put a coin there !