"Our Vow of a Lifetime of Love Is the Key that Unlocks Our Hearts"
3 decades ago, I built this working wooden combination lock as a Valentine's Day gift for my new wife and have reaped the rewards of my effort ever since! I think it took 100+ hours to design and build it, missing Valentine's Day by a few days. It still works too!
I made 2 more for other couples, both still married. I'd like to think they kept all 3 couples together!
2) To make this lock, I dismantled an old combination lock to figure out how it worked, then I designed a set of spinning wooden wheels inside the lock that interact to determine the combination numbers that unlock it and release the wooden loop at the top. I created an Excel file to compute the needed wheel shapes for any desired combination based on a "meaningful" date, using it to make sure the unlock code was special to both my wife and me!
Gene Amtower