Hey everybody! I wanted to update you on this weeks progress. Its been well below freezing here in my shop this week, but I've been jamming every day to get work done on these wrist rests. I also purchased all the shipping boxes to keep them safe on their travel, and talked with the post office about the most economical means of shipping.
International shipping update:Many of you mentioned the high cost of shipping. Initially there was an issue with how the weight was calculated through the website. I fixed that last week, but some people were still reporting high costs, especially those of you who were interested in buying 2 or more wrist rests. Unfortunately, those costs are accurate. These wrist rests weigh in around 2.5 lbs each with the packaging, and the weight limit for USPS first class package international is 4 lbs. So if you ordered two, they must be shipped separately, or you have to choose a different shipping method which isn't any cheaper. I have included a chart below that shows the parameters. The average shipping charge for the international orders I have is between $30-$35, and this didn't seem to change much between Canada and Australia. It just gets expensive once it has to cross a border. Speaking of which,
Customs charges are not included in the shipping you pay at checkout. They are different for every country, and must be paid by you when your order arrives. I was really hoping to find a cheaper alternative, but I have exhausted all the possibilities at this point. Once again, if the actual shipping charges are lower than what you paid at checkout, I will refund the difference when they go out, but I wouldn't expect them to change very much. If you tried to place an international order before and were deterred by high shipping, please check once more to make sure you are getting the most up to date pricing.
Progress in the shop:The first step in milling down the raw lumber is to let it climatize to my shop. Its extremely cold and dry right now, but the wood was inside a climate controlled building when I bought it. Giving the wood some time to adjust to this climate reduces the chance of warping and changing shape when I cut it down to size. Then I brought it over to my buddies shop to borrow his planer (thicknesser for those of you across the pond). I don't have one in my shop and its imperative for bringing down the thickeness of the rough stock, which is about 1". Once that was complete, I allowed it to sit for another day, which allows any internal stresses in the wood to release. Sometimes wood will warp or bend after being planed, so this allows me to make sure I will have straight flat boards when I cut them down and help prevent dangerous binding while cutting. After that I made a whole bunch of sawdust cutting the boards down into wrist rest "blanks" that I will burn. As of this afternoon, I have about 60 blanks cut, which is enough to cover the first two batches. Once the GB ends, I will cut the remaining blanks and have them at the ready to speed up the process down the road and get completely organized for the burning and resin fills. Below you will find some links to videos of the milling process and the big pile of wrist rest blanks that are now occupying my hardware bench. I have also added more photos to the Geekhack album, which is also linked below.
Album:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/3B8MwQCeAtttD1VP6 Milling some raw maple boards to thickness: (VERY LOUD, TURN DOWN YOUR VOLUME!!)
https://youtu.be/okGrM-nxIokStacking blanks:
https://youtu.be/9CcWgpO1nKkColor Samples:I threw together a few color samples today. However, the sun is going down and the finish is still drying. Please bear with me until tomorrow so I can polish them up and grab some video in real sunlight. My shop lights are quite blue, and they make it difficult to see detail and figure. I can tell you that the new black dye that I picked up for this project is awesome. It produces a more even tone than the prototype, and gives me a little more control with how dark the pieces get, from translucent black all the way up to completely blackened. It also highlights the figure in the Maple, creating a cat-eye effect that you just don't get with regular stain. The pine doesn't really have any figure, so it just gets very black. It still looks good, but has far less visual interest IMO. I appreciate your patience while I get these together. I had to wait for the dye to arrive, and I wanted to use wood from the actual boards I picked up so you get an accurate idea of what these will look like when they are finished. Finishing them is my first task tomorrow, so you wont have to wait much longer.
Currently I have 77 orders in, which means we are nearing the cutoff for the third batch (90). I do not have a cap on orders for this group buy, but any orders past 90 will arrive later, in the 4th batch. This week I will begin burning the first batch of orders, which is the longest leg of the process. I will provide more updates as the weeks go on, as well as delivery dates for the later batches. Once again thank you all for your support and your orders! I'm going to be out in the shop 7 days a week to get these done as quickly as possible.
