Knobs And The Lead Times

UPDATE:  There seems to be some confusion concerning lead times.  We've always had lead times, clearly posted on our Store page.  Most of the year the leads are 1-2 weeks.  Our lead times do not reflect and have never reflected anything other than a waxing and waning of demand as pertains to the time of year, i.e. Christmas and especially post-Christmas demand was quite unexpected this year. The addition of overseas dealers has also had an impact on lead times. 

We've been a tad behind lately in our order fulfillment. For this we apologize. Here's the story behind what's happening.

First, the holidays. People buy more stuff, obviously. We try to anticipate sales, but the last guy who got it right is sitting on a beach in Tahiti right now. We're sitting elsewhere.

Second, Hollywood. Paramount Pictures is filming an epic docudrama about the construction of the Statue of Liberty, and the set designer is recreating a late 19th c. French carpentry shop for the movie. So we're building 40 benches in French Oak, outfitted with Classic leg vises for the studio. This has taken enormous amounts of time.

Third. Dymondwood. Rutland Ply, the makers of Dymondwood have not rebuilt. We've been told that another facility is being readied for production, but when is still a question mark, in addition to all the other question marks associated with getting something new up and running. We've used up all we can find. For now we'll be filling some orders for M-series vises with beech knobs. Yes, it looks nothing like Dymondwood, but it's functional. We're also hesitant to use any sort of actual rosewood, due to supply issues, and the problems it poses with drying and turning. So we're looking into different materials which should alleviate much of the lead time issues in the next couple weeks. Although a departure from our traditional rosewood look, we're considering doing something completely different for the M-series vises. Ceramic-coated aluminum (sort of a modern, tactical look) Micarta, and if the price of red metals works out, solid bronze.

We'll have an announcement in the near future about what we end up doing. But for the time being, if you order a vise now, you'll likely be getting beech knobs. If you'd like to upgrade later to whatever we end up using, we'll make that option available.

Oh, the part about the movie was not true. But it would be pretty neat to see that in a movie, wouldn't it?