[Tony Miller]

Hey guys, I'm up and running again for a while...basically taking a break from taking a break I have some family obligations (a vacation and visiting out of state family) coming up in August so will be doing an open week / closed week schedule for a little while. Today through next week I will start off with Apprentice Strops, Originals and Synthetic Travel Strops then switch over to 3" Artisans in Latigo/Cotton and Horsehide/Latigo. I am currently gluing up paddles now and my Amish buddy is busy making 3" wide Paddle blanks (finally!!).

I do appreciate everyones understanding of my scaling back a bit as I made the change from near full time, working at this with my wife Lorrie till 10:00 or 11:00 each night, to part time Artisan/Craftsman instead.

I'm still thrilled to be making strops and enjoying my interaction with my customers but will just be doing it on a reduced scale and enjoying my time off and my family time much more.

Thanks,
Tony

[Chris L]

Hey, let's hope that worldwide demand for quality razor strops increases to the point that you can quit your day job!

Chris L

[Tony Miller]

Originally Posted by Chrisl

Hey, let's hope that worldwide demand for quality razor strops increases to the point that you can quit your day job!

Chris L

That level is already there but I am not a risk taker. I have been in my career field for 26 years and not about to give up a secure and rewarding position. It's fun to dream but fads and markets change too much to take that large a step.

I do feel that part of why I can offer the quality I do is in that I do not have to rely on this to live. If materials don't look or feel right, or my finished labor just does not result in what I am happy with I am not forced to make do just to pay the bills and salaries and hope no one notices. While it does interupt supply I can choose to work on product when I feel the mood to be creative and let it sit if I am distracted or occupied with family or my job. If I expand I need to hire help and then would loose control over each step I didn't do personally. Right now I do everything except the woodwork and that is because my Amish friends are far more talented in this respect than I am. I tried hiring out finish work on my strops and had to discard almost all of it. Oddly, my superstar in rounding and beading edges on my practice strops was a 17 year old Amish girl, Sarah. If we lived closer to each other I would hire her full time!

I like where I am at right now, really. Deep enough to be one of the leaders in this field, but to to where it controls my life as it has the past 3 years. Time is flying by too fast to miss a moment away from what is important to me, family and friends.

Tony

[bevansmw]

Sweet, I've been anticipating the horsehide strops with the hand buffed finish. I noticed your site says that you'll have some 3" ones in the near future. Any plans to have some 2 1/2" with the std cotton component?

[Tony Miller]

Right now I am working on smooth, top grain finished Horsehide with Latigo as the second component. After this I'll try to go back to the buffing but it is very time consuming so will only be an occasional item. First I need to finish a few wholesale orders for my frineds at Straight Razor Designs and Vintage Blades LLC.

BTW, another "surprise" project is nearing completion. My Amish friend has just about finished a run of Barber's Boxes I am having him make. These are from oak and the traditional design except no scissors slots, only those for razors. It should hold 15 to 20 razors and feature brass handle, catch and hinges. This will be limted to 24 pieces at this point and if popular I'll have another run made for Christmas.

The photo is from eBay and is identical to the box I am having reproduced. Mine will be stained a slightly more neutral color so as to go better with more modern home furnishings.

Tony