Pennsylvania Firearm Owners Association
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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Apr 2014
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    Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
    (Allegheny County)
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    Default Document Storage

    All emergencies are not broad in scope. Your EP plan should cover your own private emergencies, like your fucking house burning down.

    To that end - I've been wanting a fireproof/waterproof "document chest" in addition to my gun safe and 3 drawer fireproof filing cabinet for a while now. The thought was to get something portable - something I could "grab and go" if I need to abandon my house for whatever reason. Everything is in one place and ready to leave on short notice. I ended up with something heavier than I would have liked, but I'm not unhappy with it.

    Honeywell 1114 1-Hour Lite Weight Fire and Water Chest
    https://www.honeywellstore.com/store...chest-1114.htm

    I got it for $105 from Staples:
    https://www.staples.com/honeywell-0-...SABEgJWKPD_BwE

    It is UL rated for 1 hour of Fire Protection, but up 1700*F and waterproof for 24 hours @ a 39" depth. Advertised for protection of documents, CDs/DVDs and digital drives. (thumb drives).

    Review
    I ordered it yesterday and despite not being due to arrive until the 15th (6 days from now), it arrived today. Next day! What's not to like about that! I was shocked when I got a notice that the box had arrived, as I didn't even know the UPS man was here. He must me driving his stealth truck today, as I was working in my home office that has a big front-facing window that faces the street and I didn't hear the truck, the gate or even dogs barking. There must be something about the soft, white, fluffy snow that somehow manages to disguise the sounds of the UPS truck, the squeaky gate and even the "crunch, crunch, crunch" of the UPS man stepping on the rock-salt I put out to melt the snow and ice on my sidewalk and porch.

    So I went out to get my box - thinking it was probably delivered to some other house. I cautiously, yet optimistically opened the front door expecting to be disappointed. Despite my pessimism, there was my box! Wow! What a great day! So I step out on to the wet front porch, with my socked feat and my pajama-covered legs, trying to move quickly so as to not get too cold, nor too wet. My plans were quickly foiled however when I tried to lift up the box. Holy heavy horses, Batman! I could barely move it! So I had to let go of the storm door and step out further onto the porch to gain more appropriate purchase of my parcel. With back straight, I bent my legs, placed my hands under this monstrously massive package and lifted it - with great effort for such a small package. Now, with my socks thoroughly wet and with some annoyance, I managed to open the storm door and bring my treasure back into the house.

    I didn't get very far when I decided to just drop this heavy thing on the floor. It went down with a loud "THUNK!!" as the whole floor shook violently and the package threatened to burst through and fall into the basement. Fortunately, that inconvenience was avoided. I was unable to get into the box without either using a knife to cut through the packaging tape or ripping the package apart. Being too lazy to go into the kitchen and get a knife, I tore the package apart. By the time I was done, it looked like a chicken that had been descended upon by a group of starving liberals who had neglected to set aside some food for the coming apocalypse. It was just destroyed - torn into shreads, left in a pile on the living room floor. But next to it? Behold! A magnificent document storage chest!!

    And what a chest it is! It could make its own porn movies. This thing is HUGE!! And FREAKING HEAVY! I didn't notice the product specification that says it is about 42 pounds. This chest is also "well built", if you know what I mean. It has reinforcements in all the right places, secure looking latches and a sturdy handle that could be used to swing it around the room to decimate your enemies, one by one, smashing their skulls as they try to invade your happy household. It could also be used to fling the chest through the window of your flaming dwelling, into the darkness below - where it would surely CRUSH even the most sturdy of opponents - as well as your mailbox, so please be sure to aim carefully.

    Opening the chest is easy, despite the massive weight, due to the two hydraulic lifts which assist you. They also provide a "soft close" feature when closing the lid. There is one central lock with two keys. The lock is nothing special. This chest is not a safe, it's for document storage. You could break into it without much trouble. I think the lock is probably mostly useful for keeping the box from flinging itself open when being used to decimate enemies or when chucking it out the window of your house, as described above. It also has two "compression latches", which hold the lid tightly to the body of the box, presumably to provide water protection and possibly fire protection. The instructions say to keep it open for 30 minutes to allow this seal to expand to operate correctly. This seems like a strange one-time requirement, but whatever. I'll do it. Sometimes, it is important to just comply and not ask many questions. This is one of those times.

    Overall, this thing is sturdy. You could stand on it. You could drive over it. You could drop it from tall buildings and it would probably stay closed. But I don't recommend testing my theory on that. What stands out more than anything is how heavy this thing is. I mean, good grief. I was hoping for something a lot lighter, and perhaps a bit smaller, but if this is what you need to do to get the fire protection, then so be it. The instructions also say you should open it once a week to let moisture equalize and avoid musty-smelling documents. I have to say, that seems silly. I certainly don't plan on doing that. I'll put some desiccant in there and take my chances with musty smelling documents.

    At the end of the day, if you want a beefy, sturdy fireproof/waterproof lock box that you can use as a bludgeoning weapon (after some serious working sessions in the gym) and don't plan on running with it, I'd say this is your huckleberry.

    Update:
    Extra protection for that shit, over and above what a gun safe will provide if you put it in your gun safe - and more room in your gun safe for other stuff if you put your other essentials in it. Ours contains:

    • Cash
    • Gold
    • Passports and passport cards
    • Social Security Cards
    • Birth Certificates
    • Marriage Certificates
    • Immigration Documents
    • University Transcripts
    • All credit cards not in our wallets
    • Expired IDs
    • Extra car keys and/or FOBs
    • Thumb drive with critical backups
    Last edited by free; March 17th, 2021 at 04:26 PM.

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