This thread is dedicated to any questions that anyone has for Ryan at Fort Knox Vaults or anyone else that has the answers to the questions. I figured there's tons of different threads with lots of different info in each. This should make it easier for anyone looking for specific info about Fort Knox.

First questions:

I am building a vault room into my new home and just got pricing on your vault doors. Why is inswing vs outswing a ~$600 difference?

How does you dual mechanical/electrical lock combo work?

What's the fire rating on your vault doors?

What's the coolest custom paint job that you guys have ever done?

Do you offer or plan to offer the antique iron finish on vault doors like you currently do on the new line of safes?

The inswing models require a more complicated bend to the door jacket itself, and a lot more labor on the hinge system.  Unfortunately like with all of our products labor is the biggest part of the cost.


The redundant lock is a Lagard product where the keypad triggers an override in the mechanical lock below it. You either key in your 8 digit combo and then turn the dial to the right to lift the bolt, or ignore the keypad and enter your traditional mechanical combination.

I don't like anything with a dial on our vault doors simply because a dial does not automatically lock when the mechanism closes. A dial must be spun. That's kind of hard to do when you're on the inside of the room with the bolts extended.  There is a little dance you can do with the dial and extending the bolts on the door with the door open to lock it before closing yourself in the room but it takes about 20 seconds with practice.

 The doors do not technically have a fire rating,  because we want to be as honest as possible about our ratings the door is only a part of an enclosed system. fire rating on a vault door will vary wildly depending on the construction of the room.  A vault door mounted on a log cabin  will do no good at all in a fire while one mounted more traditionally to a cement room will outperform any vault we make. We put the same amount of fire protection in our vault room doors as we do in our upper end model safes.  The safes are all rated for 1680° over 90 minutes. Like I said, a vault room door on a fully enclosed concrete room will outperform that by far.

We have done a lot of cool custom paint jobs.  Our zombie safe  was pretty awesome, and the safe with the door wrapped in leather custom tooled by a saddlemaker was beautiful.  I'll try to run down some pictures. Truly my very favorite paint job has to be the new distressed look. I love it.  I am already planning on ways to add rivets to my door and distress it to make it look similar without having to remove it from my house.  There's no way I'm pulling that 2000 pound door out of my house. LOL

The distressed finish has been available on our vault doors since day one.  There are a number of them currently in production and even two outswing doors with the crane hinge. They are going to look sick.

Bump for SouthPawAR

Ryan,
I've been researching safes for about a year. I know too much about safes to make a proper decision.
You mentioned that you don't like dial safes for the reason the dial must be spun to lock the safe. Is that the same on your redundant lock (in case of EMP)? Is that redundant lock the 6441IU2U?
I really like the Legend, but after a ton of research it doesn't really carry the TL15 rating, but it's priced way above models that do made by Brown and AMSEC.
While I'd really like to own a TL15 or greater rated safe I came to the realization that my unique needs prevent me. I move every couple of years. While today I have plenty extra space in my garage and in my basement with a crawl space under it; that may not always be the case. There may be a time when the only place is in a spare bedroom upstairs.  The weight of the legend is too heavy for upstairs too.
So my next question is what Fort Knox model has excellent security yet versatile enough to be placed anywhere?  What weight is my target weight? Fort knox has a blog post somewhere restricting upstairs to be 1,000 lb max, is this still true?
What would you do if you if you bounced around a lot?

Dials are fine on safes, I just don't like them on vault room doors, since you have to spin the dial to lock the door.  Not a problem on a safe, just not easy to do from inside a closed vault door.  

The redundant locks also require the dial to be spun in order to lock.  So to sum up for my preference:  safe or Fort Knox vault = redundant lock.  Vault room that you wish to spend time in = electronic lock only



If a Legend is too heavy, a TL rated safe of similar size will be equally heavy if not more so.  We do also have our L-series line of TL30x6 safes that we build in partnership with INKAS.  The problem with the whole RSC vs TL argument is that RSC category includes EVERYTHING that hasn't gone through the specific testing and paid the fees to be TL rated.  That means a Fort Knox Legend ends up in the same category as a tin toolbox.  Even though I can put a Legend up against a TL15 safe and have it perform just as well or better on most of the tests.

The issue is the expense of getting a TL rating, and then re certifying when you change things.  We are a custom builder, so changing things is what we do.  It just doesn't fit our model to chase a certification that is only necessary for insurance companies.  We have the option with our L-series, but I would just as soon have a Titan or legend in most circumstances.  I'll tell you I haven't been impressed with the mechanisms or construction of many TL safes I have seen.

The Legend is a killer vault, but it has some bling features, like nickle plated gears behind glass etc. that don't add to security.  We can beef up an Executive or Titan with the stainless and AR500 liners and get the same security and save a bunch of $$



If you move around a lot and anticipate needing it in an upstairs bedroom, 1000 pounds is a good rule to fit most houses out there, 1500 pounds if you only buy modern construction, span multiple joists and put it on an outside wall.  (that is assuming you can get whatever size you buy up the stairs from a dimension standpoint)  In that case a Titan is a great vault, though I wouldn't feel insecure with a properly bolted down Protector in 7 gauge or Executive in 1/4" either. YMMV

Just like with fire, you are only buying yourself time.  We build them with tools, and if someone can work with an unlimited amount of time with loud tools without getting caught, they can get into anything... this is true for everything -including the nuke bunkers at NORAD.

What's the inner dimensions of the Executive 6031? I'm wondering if I can fit a Tavor sideways on a shelf.

I'm thinking of Fort Knox the Executive is the best compromise in size and weight.

about 27" inside width -so a Tavor should fit, but you may have to angle it a bit as you put it in.  I think the Tavor is 26+" or so if I'm not mistaken.

SouthpawAR

Here's some pics of my safe just in case you'd like to see the color combos. I went gloss black with charcoal performance stripe. I also have the black chrome hardware. If funds permit I would definitely say go redundant lock. I ended up doing the crushed velvet/velour on my interior. I didnr get anything on the door because I plan on getting some Gallow Tech paneling on there. My safe has a 4 gauge body with 1/2" door. Extremely pleased with this safe and I'm very glad I went with the bigger size. I ended up getting the 7241 Defender and upgraded the steel twice and it weighs right at 1900 pounds if I remember correctly.









PS if the new "worn" finish was out when I got my safe I'm almost positive I would have went with that.

Bump

Thanks for the pictures. Have any loaded with rifles?
My problem isn't funds, it's making a decision based upon balancing capacity, security, and weight/portability (upstairs/downstairs since I move too much).

I have about 8 rifles and only a few left on my list.

Give it more time and your list will grow. I am at ~14 and keep finding new rifles that catch my attention.

I'll see if I can get any tonight.