Patience is the Work

No, I’m not talking about the quiet craftsman, wearing a leather apron and half glasses slowly toiling in a picturesque workshop, I’m talking about the months of effort that it takes to line up talented craftspeople, spanning multiple states and willingness to communicate to get all the parts together to produce a tool.

After all the R &D on the design is done, it’s all emails, deposits, sourcing, drawings, samples, mailing and more emails, all just to get to the starting line. As much as I love designing tools and working the problem, the sourcing is just painful. After seeing lots of tools through the process, I’m never surprised at the time this part can consume. And once it’s all in place, I’m also not surprised to find a key source has given it all up and sold their equipment to become a dog walker.

But I’m happy to say that we are one shipment away from having everything in house to produce the first 50 T-2 travishers, and once we get rolling, the next 100 or so should be no problem.

Here is the brass part that just arrived. Getting the blades made to correct curve and a body to match was a bit of a challenge, then, getting the brass to fit just right was the final key. Luckily for me, my pal David Douyard lives in an area that has a long history of milling brass and he set me up with a great resource. The fit is great and the finish knocked my sock offs. Once the bodies arrive, the real fun starts.

I had planned to produce some of these making all the parts myself, but the house sucked up all my time and the waitlist grew to nearly 100, which made me realize that we needed to have all our ducks (read manufacturers) in a row to meet the demand. So that’s where I focussed my time.

When everything arrives, Karen Cascone is going to work with me to nail down the assembly, which will still take lots of handwork. Karen started working with me last January and our partnership has proved incredibly fruitful. Karen is a graduate of North Bennet Street and happened to grow up a few miles from me in Georgia and just a couple of years ahead. If you have communicated with me through my website, then you’ve probably heard from Karen.

She is an organization specialist and a great help when it comes to moving the work forward in my shop. She helps prep and teach classes but also has a hand in running and planning the business. She’s done what I always advise folks seeking jobs in the craft do, she’s made herself indispensable. With her help, I’ve gotten to develop lots of new avenues and can’t wait to see what we can do together this next year.