Back To Work

Sorry for the lack of progress and new content on the website. I was on a series of small trips for most of August. I am back to work now and I’ll be adding random sets to the website pretty frequently again. I am currently working on some darkened titanium scales with canvas micarta inlays and spacers for the Bugout and 940. Those should be available this weekend, so stay tuned if that’s your kind of thing.

As for international shipping issues, I am still working on that. Very sorry to any potential international customers. It’s not as easy as one would think to add those options. I believe I may need to upgrade some subscriptions to get the features I want. I will keep everyone posted on that.

International Shipping and Search Engines

Sorry to any international customers that missed out on the grand opening. I’ll be looking into solutions for that this week. Hopefully I will have international shipping options set up for next weekend. Sorry again, I’m working on it.

Also, apparently there’s some stuff I have to set up for google to actually find my website and some things that take some time for the data to populate. So, for now you have to type the website into the browser manually or follow a link. I’ll be working on that this week as well. Although, if you’re reading this, you likely don’t need to do a search to get here.

That’s about it for today. Thanks again to everyone who bought scales last night. I only have a few left, but I’ll be working on more. Thanks again. Happy 4th!

Opening Night

Scales have been up for an hour and appear to be selling well. Thanks so much to everyone who has placed an order so far.

Looks like I’m probably going to run out of scales before I can get more made, particularly for the Bugout. I didn’t have nearly as many of those made since this was originally going to be a 940 only drop. I will work on getting some more Bugouts made this week and get them up on the website for next weekend. I’ll probably end up adding new stock to the site every Sunday night. I definitely won’t be able to keep everything in stock all the time since I do want to do some other variants, like inlays and texture patterns, that kind of thing in small batches. I also want to add some other finishes, like a darkened and tumbled option, similar to one of my personal Bugouts you may have seen. On top of that, I want to get some mini bugout scales made (probably in smaller numbers) and get some of the carbon fiber and exotic carbon fiber options up on the site for the models I don’t have programmed in Ti yet (which I will also be working on with all that spare time I have). Unfortunately there’s just not enough hours in the day to get it all done at once. Hopefully you all keep checking back to see what’s coming next. I really appreciate all the interest. Thank you all again

Ryan

Launching the site

Launching the site today (6/27/2022). Sorry it’s pretty basic. I really have no idea what I’m doing, but hopefully it works well enough to sell some scales. I may look into upgrading it down the line, possibly even getting some professional help if it seems like people like the online store approach. Until then, sorry I have no idea what I’m doing. Let me know if there are major issues.

Stock will be added on Friday (7/1/2022), sort of the grand opening I guess. It will be all titanium 940 and Bugout scales. When I see how those sell, I will decide what I should make next. If all the 940 and Bugout titanium scales sell out, I will likely work on making some more right away. If not, I will probably work on a small batch of mini Bugout scales, and possibly a few inlaid titanium 940 and Bugout scales. I’ll also probably get some carbon fiber griptilian and mini griptilian scales going on the other mill while do the Ti scales, to add a bit of variety to the website.

That’s about it for now. Hopefully this all goes well. Let me know what you guys think.

What’s going on? (Continued)

After a lot of thinking I’ve decided to delay the launch of the website a couple weeks. There are several reasons for this. First and foremost, I am low on the spacer hardware to convert classic 940 models (models that came with thin spacers) to work with my Ti scales. This extra time will let me get more spacers made and be really stocked up when the site launches. This will also give me some time to (hopefully) at least get some business cards made up to go in the packaging of the scales and to get new instructions printed to go with them. I also have a short vacation coming up on the 13th, so it looks like I’ll just have to wait till I get back to launch the site. Sorry for the delay.

I’ve also decided to add a lot of stuff to the website that is not actually in stock, just to give people an idea of the other kinds of things I will be making. I want people who aren’t familiar with my work to see all the models I do scales for, some of my designs and materials I like to work with. Hopefully this gets them to check back if they’re interested in that kind of thing. Sorry I won’t be launching with any of it actually in stock, but I’ll be working on it. Progress on the composite scales will likely be slow at first, but as I phase out the made to order side of the business, I’ll likely be able to stock more and more of them.

That’s about all the news I have for now. I’ll try to keep things updated as I move forward.

What’s going on?

I thought I’d take some time to try to explain to everyone what I’m working on and what my plan (or lack there of) is.

First and most obviously, I’m working on getting the website up and running. If you’re reading this, I must have had some success in that department already. Chances are it’s still pretty rough, lacking a lot of information and only has 940 scales available to buy. The first goal is to add features to the website and a lot more information so people can get a feel for what I do. It’s probably a little confusing since I’ve been making scale to order for a number of years and now I’m switching over to an online store and selling scales out of stock. I do still plan to do made to order work for the composite materials (carbon fiber/G10/Micarta/etc) but I believe over time I will slowly be transitioning away from that completely. I will not be doing any custom orders for metal scales. For a number of technical and practical reasons that would get much too complicated for me to handle.

That leads me to my next topic, what will be for sale here? At launch, it will likely just be titanium 940 scales with the option to do custom anodized colors. After those are up and for sale I plan to get back into the shop and start working on a similar batch of titanium Bugout scales. I will likely continue alternating small batches of 940 and Bugout scales each week until they start staying in stock for a little while. At that point I will either try a small batch of mini Bugout scales or work on some fancier 940 and Bugout variants. Probably something with inlays in different materials, copper, micarta, colored plexi all seemed to be big hits on my Instagram so those will likely be some of the first variations you see available in the store. I have also considered that I might run some scales in carbon fibers, exotic carbon fiber and maybe even G10 so there are some less expensive options on the website. So, definitely be sure to stop by periodically to see what new stuff I might have available. I’m sure I’ll put some pictures and messages up on my Instagram regarding new products and availability as well. Just keep in mind that I’m one person working alone so there’s never going to be huge amounts of inventory on hand.

On top of actually making the scales and building the website, there’s also a bunch of other stuff that needs my attention. I have no branding or logo figured out. I have no packaging for my product. I don’t even have very good instructions to go with my scales. At some point, when I’m not machining scales for the store, working on made to order scales for customers, and managing the website, I’ll need to figure out how to step things up in the branding/packaging/instructional categories. I think I’ll probably try to upload some videos to YouTube for instructions on how to put the scales together. I think the goal will be to get a single card/paper printed up with my business info, some picture instructions and a QR code that would lead you to the YouTube instructions. Consider this my formal apology to the first couple rounds of buyers who received their scales in unmarked packaging with very basic printed instructions. Sorry, I hope the quality of my scales make up for the lack of branding and packaging.

So, that’s where I’m at and what you can expect. I will likely add posts in the his section periodically so people get a better idea of what I’m working on and what might be coming soon to the website.