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.