Some of my spectacular and irreplaceable staff suggested that I take a few minutes and talk about this amoury's philosophical approach to what we do, and why. . . and more specifically about the implications of that philosophy on our relationship with our friends/clients.

on our size, and deadlines. . .

First and foremost. . . we are a small armoury.  Not because we would necessarily haveto be, but because slow growth is necessary at this time, to allow us to maintain the quality of product that I -won't- compromise.  We've got a total staff of one master armourer (me, Derek), two apprentices, and two part-time novices.  That's it.  Because of that, and the amount of love that you all have shown for our work (more and more orders all the time!) Things dont always get done as quickly as you (or I) would like.

That's why I explicitly say about 10 times on this site that we don't promise a given delivery date on things that you order from us.  We'll do our very best to try and hit a given date . . . because we really want you to be happy. . . but we are extraordinarily vulnerable to having commonplace things disrupt our production capability, because of our size.  (I was reminded of this a few weeks ago when we had a nice stomach-flu strain floating around. . . when we got a couple of people sick at the same time, things essentially stopped in terms of production for the better part of two weeks, this is a reality, and is outside of my control.)  Frankly, most armourer's are subject to exactly the same things, but unlike them, I'm just not willing to lie to you and say that I can guarantee a given date, when I know that sometimes **** happens that will cause me to miss that date.  The implication here is:  If your primary criterion in searching for an armourer is "I've -got- to have it before X event". . . then we're probably not the right armourer for you.

on quality, and customer satisfaction. . .

Quality product is what we're about here.  First and foremost. . . quality before timeline. . . quality before profit margin (yeah, really. . . just ask my wife every time she hollers at me about this ;-) ). . . and, honestly, even quality before client requests.  Example:  We could very easily, cheaply, and rapidly do plastic knees/elbows etc. . . and at a great profit margin besides.  We don't though. . . why?  because the quality of the product that we'd be able to produce like that isn't up to our own standards, so we just don't do it.  That's also, coincidentally, why we turn down commissions from time to time. . . because what folx are asking us to do, just isn't up to the quality standard that I expect of products coming out of this shop. 

On the note of customer satisfaction, I care.  as a matter of fact, I care a -lot-.  so much in fact that we do things to satisfy clients all that time that my staff says are utterly unreasonable.  Matter of fact, I can't think of much that I wouldn't do to try and satisfy a client, right up to the point where I get the feeling that the client is trying to take advantage of us, or up to the point where someone becomes a rude asshole.  We try our damndest. . . and that's about all we can do.  We -want- you to be happy with your gear from us, and we will make it so, if you'll give us even 1/2 a chance.

On custom production vs in-stock product

I'll be honest and say that the very notion of an "in stock" armoury disturbs me on a certain level.  I don't know about anyone else. . . but I know that I've never ever gotten a piece of "one size fits all" clothing that fit me worth a damn. . . and beyond that, even the "small, medium, large" thing doesn't work real well for me for anything more form fitting than a T-shirt.

This makes me wonder how on earth someone can expect armour (pretty much no give in metal) to fit the right way if they order a "large" off the shelf?  I wanted to confirm my suspicion with hard data, so I looked back over the 80 some odd individuals measurements that I have on file, to see how many of them would measure out the same for a common piece of armour. . . say full arms.  I found that of those 80, 6 of them had one set of identical measurements, and there were four other pairs that had identical measurements. . . and that was it!

This is why very nearly all our gear is custom made, to your individual measurements (we do one-size for basket hilts, and shield bosses, and lengths of rattan. . . and that's about it )

This has some implications. . . first, we make it -after- you order it . . . so it generally takes longer to get into your hands.  This also means that when you get it, it should fit you the right way (unlike off the shelf product).  It also means that if you get it. . . and it -doesn't- fit you in the manner you prefer. . . give me a call!  We'll modify it!  for free!  it's what we've always done, and will happily continue to do.

In medieval times, it was expected that if you commissioned a suit of armour, you would wait at least a year, if not more, for it to be completed.  You would also be expected to come to the master's shop at least once a month for fit checks during the progress of making the suit.  Today. . . we try and do it from one set of measurements taken over the phone, oftentimes never seeing the person face to face. . . so it's no wonder that despite everyone's best efforts and intentions, there is sometimes a fit adjustment that needs to happen.  We are no exception to this.  The only thing exceptional is that we expect it, and will -happily- take care of it, if you give us an opportunity to do so.