Home Grown: Rogue Safe Co. keeps your valuables safe

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Knute Klingerman, owner of Rogue Safe Co., demonstrates the "tweaker attack test" on a home gun safe. The test shows how a thief can break into many standard safes in less than two minutes using only a crowbar and pry bar. All of Rogue Safe Co. safes will withstand a tweaker attack, Klingerman says.Jamie Lusch

Editor's note: This is one in a weekly series of profiles on locally owned and operated businesses in Southern Oregon.

What do you do and how long have you been doing it? (Knute speaking) We're in the safe industry, mainly gun and home safes. We do some commercial safes. In the last month, we've begun having our own safes made to our own specifications. We haven't been happy with what's been coming in from outside countries. We only sell things we have tested and will withstand a tweaker attack, which is a crowbar and a pry bar. We've been doing this since 1996.

How long have you lived in the Rogue Valley? I moved here from Montague, Calif., in 1974, and my wife is from Prospect.

What inspired you to go into this line of work? Back in 1996, I wanted a gun safe for my gun. I started looking around, and there wasn't much of a selection or something that would do that good of a job. I looked around and decided to have a selection and sell safes. I started with four safes and a 1973 Ford pickup for a delivery truck.

What decision or action would you change if you could do it again? I would have liked to have gotten into it earlier. I would have liked to have started in 1986. I would concentrate more on what I do now. I don't sell anything that I know is not going to do the job; I don't believe security is on sale. I don't have anything that is just going to give you a warm and fuzzy feeling and not going to do the job. You can buy a standard-sized gun safe for $99. Our starting safe starts at $1,600, and I have ones that go all the way to $35,000. My typical spendy safe would be about $13,000.

What's the toughest business decision you've made? When I started this business I was selling the box store-type safes. Companies came along and lied to me about how good their safes were. I had a gentleman come in and look me in the eye and say, "Knute, I put my trust in you and my stuff is gone." At that point, I made my video. I had my drivers take a safe off the shelf and we opened it in a minute and a half. I made the decision to never sell a safe I couldn't back. If somebody upgrades from what I sold from 1996 to three years ago, I apply 100 percent of what they paid for the safe on the upgrade.

Who are your competitors? Box stores. Rogue Safe Co. is proud to say if you can buy it from a box store, you can't buy it from us, because we don't carry that kind of product.

What are your goals? My territory right now covers up into Washington and I just delivered a safe into Santa Cruz, Calif. I don't do wholesale safes at this point, because I sell them as fast as I get them now. I would like to keep the Rogue Safe name as quality — when you've got a Ferrari, you've got a really good product.

What training or education did you need? As for the locks, I learned as I went along, learning from good safe technicians. I've broken into and taken a lot of safes apart to see what makes them tick. In the process, I've learned a lot.

What's your advice for budding entrepreneurs? Never back down. If you have a belief in something, go for it. I struggled with the fact I wasn't going to sell a lot of safes when we changed to better safes. My sales plummeted when I got out of carrying the box-store types of safes. It's taken a few years, but my sales have come back.

To suggest ideas for this column, about businesses that are at least five years old, contact reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail business@mailtribune.com

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