Cheyenne;
Good evening to you sir, I hope that other than your safe being recalcitrant, that all else is going as well as can be all things considered and those you care about are healthy.
This is going back about 6 years here now, so I'll apologize if I get some of the details wrong.
Our work safe which had been in an industrial shop office for a quarter century began to act up in a similar manner.
After figuring out a couple ways to cheat the thing, such as mentioned by other posters - turning it counter clockwise or whatever it was - one day it simply refused to open on me.
Since we were a manufacturing facility, I got another chap, we dollied it onto a pallet and forklifted it onto the company pickup and took it down to the locksmith - to save a call out charge.
They said that it was dirty, showed me where the plates in the locking mechanism which were brass if memory serves, had a build up of verdigris where the lube had worn and they'd oxidized.
The locksmith did a thorough cleaning - if it wasn't carb cleaner then something similar - I THINK - and then they lubed it with a lock lube.
It worked fine after that until it was sold when the company downsized and had an auction of spare machinery and equipment.
Again sir, if a real locksmith says I'm wrong, then please take their advice and disregard this message entirely.
Hopefully that made sense and might be useful. Good luck with it regardless and all the best.
Dwayne
