Fishermen in rain gear lifting a rusty safe covered in algae out of the water beside a boat

Safe & vault specialists — Ontario, serving Canada & the U.S.

They fished a safe out of the water. We opened and restored it.

Water damage, rust, jammed boltwork, lost combinations. Before you scrap a safe, let a real safe technician look at it.

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Preview

One month at the bottom of a lake. Back in service in weeks.

Imagine this: A rusty safe, covered in mud and algae, that had been lying at the bottom of a lake for over a month. Local fishermen pulled it ashore with their nets. Everyone thought it was just a piece of scrap metal.

But we knew: Even a safe like this can be opened and brought back to life.

We opened it without causing any damage, restored the mechanism – and today it works like new again. The documents inside had stayed dry – we took care of that, too.

If your safe is rusted, jammed, has fallen into water, or simply won't open anymore – don't throw it away prematurely. We master even the most hopeless cases.

34 days

submerged before recovery

0

damage to the safe body

100%

of the documents recovered dry

A rusted safe recovered from water next to the same safe fully restored
Even a safe like this can be opened and brought back to life.

What gets done

Safe and vault work, start to finish

Mechanical and electronic locks, home safes, commercial safes, gun safes, deposit boxes, bank vaults and ATMs.

Safe opening

Lockouts, lost combinations, dead electronic locks, fired relockers. Opened with the least invasive method available.

Lock repair & replacement

Group 2 and Group 1 mechanical locks, electronic keypads, time locks, key changes and re-combinations.

Safe restoration

Rust removal, water and fire damage, boltwork rebuild, new fire insulation, repaint and re-lining.

Vault service

Vault doors, day gates, hinges, boltwork alignment and time-lock service for banks and credit unions.

Installation & moving

Anchoring, stair and basement placement, and safe transport with proper rigging equipment.

ATM service

Lock service, openings and preventive maintenance for retail and financial ATM fleets.

Inside the shop

A real workshop, not a call centre

Drill rigs, borescopes, wheel packs on the bench and a spare parts wall built over decades of safe work.

The main floor: safes waiting for diagnosis, opening and refinishing.
The main floor: safes waiting for diagnosis, opening and refinishing.
A precise scope hole is the difference between an opening and a write-off.
A precise scope hole is the difference between an opening and a write-off.
A mechanical wheel pack out of the door, cleaned and re-lubricated.
A mechanical wheel pack out of the door, cleaned and re-lubricated.
Vault door boltwork and hinge service for financial clients.
Vault door boltwork and hinge service for financial clients.
Rigging and transport, in every kind of Canadian weather.
Rigging and transport, in every kind of Canadian weather.
Wheel packs, relockers, spindles, keypads, hinges and handles kept in stock.

Components

The parts that decide whether a safe lives or dies

Wheel packs
Cleaned, re-shimmed or replaced when corrosion has seized the gates.
Relockers
Glass plates and spring relockers reset after drilling or an attack.
Boltwork
Bent bars straightened, linkages re-pinned, throw re-timed.
Electronic keypads
Swollen batteries, moisture damage and dead solenoids replaced.
Spindles & dials
Machined and refitted so the dial reads true across all four numbers.
Hinges & seals
Re-bushed hinges and new intumescent seals restore closure and fire rating.

How it works

Four steps from hopeless case to working safe

  1. 01

    Assess

    Photos, make and model, lock type. You get an honest answer on whether it is worth saving.

  2. 02

    Open

    Manipulation, scoping or a controlled drill point — the least destructive route first.

  3. 03

    Restore

    Mechanism stripped, dried, de-rusted, rebuilt with correct-spec parts.

  4. 04

    Test & finish

    Cycle testing, re-combination, repaint and a handover you can verify yourself.

Hopeless cases

Cases other shops turned down

Water

Lake recovery safe

Submerged 34 days. Opened without damage, mechanism rebuilt, contents dry.

Fire

Post-fire floor safe

Door warped by heat. Cut-free opening, boltwork replaced, new fire lining.

Rust

Barn safe, 1911

Seized dial from decades of damp. Antique dial saved and re-polished.

Jam

Retail deposit safe

Fired relocker on a Friday night. Back in service before Saturday opening.

Combination

Estate safe

Owner passed away, no combination on record. Opened and re-set for the family.

Electronic

Gun safe keypad

Dead solenoid after a battery leak. Keypad and lock body replaced same visit.

Don't scrap it before a technician has seen it.

Continue to the workshop that performs the openings, repairs and restorations shown on this page.

Go to mckaysecurity.com

Coverage

Ontario based. Canada and the United States served.

A family owned and operated corporation working with homeowners, retailers, jewellers, banks, credit unions and government sites. Service calls across Ontario, project work across Canada and the United States.

  • Family owned and operated
  • Residential, commercial, financial and ATM work
  • Emergency openings by arrangement
  • Insurance and estate documentation supported

MacKay Security Services Inc.

40 Melair Drive, Ayr, Ontario N0B 1E0, Canada

+1 519-632-7824 · Fax +1 519-632-9140

Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. ET. Emergency openings by arrangement.

Request a callback

Describe your safe. Get a straight answer.

Send the basics and a technician will call you back. Urgent lockout? Call the workshop directly.

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