Hello all,
Last summer our first order of custom manufactured Rhiassa Tubes (W) came in from China.
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| (banana for scale) |
Of this order of 1000 tubes, virtually all of them ended up as pre-orders from groups and people who wanted to have a larger stock to keep on hand. I'm certain that a great deal of that stock still remains out there and will last for a couple of years at least.
Regardless, there are people who have already expressed that they wanted in on another order of the tubes and we have a couple other options to announce that everyone might be interested in.
First of all, larger internal diameter Rhiassa Tube W.
With the same wall thickness as a regular Rhiassa Tube (W) (5/8"), the new Rhiassa Tube (WL) has an internal diameter of 3/4" as opposed to the 1/2" internal diameter of the original. While the 1/2" diameter has been really useful for single shorts especially with more advanced cores, people have expressed the desire to use larger cores on smaller weapons or to be able to make great weapons (etc). These tubes would be 3 feet long.
Second, a Rhiassa tube with a specific blade-like profile for people who are interested in trying to make some more swordy-like-swords (sorry to use a technical term there) which we'll call the Rhiassa Tube (WB)
The above picture is from a pre-production prototype of the blade shape with the picture being mailed to me from the factory. While the overall profile might change very slightly in regards to some of the angles, essentially we're looking at a flattened hexagon with rounded edges and the dimensions listed at the axes. The internal diameter of this tube would be 1/2". These tubes would also be 3 feet long.
Costs:
I last had a conversation about costs with the factory in the fall and my information is based on that time period. Before moving forward we would of course get updated quotes but I'm sharing what I estimates I got at the time.
Last order I was able to get the Rhiassa Tubes (W) manufactured at a price of $3.00 if they were pre-ordered which of course included manufacturing and direct shipping. I expect that this price will remain more or less the same if our order size is the same (1000) but could increase up to a $1 per tube if the order is significantly smaller.
The larger-size Rhiassa Tubes (WL) will be slightly higher in price again depending on order size. I estimated that we might be able to get up to an order of 500 of them with a cost of $4.00 per tube shipped.
The blade-profile Rhiassa Tube (WB) will require a custom die to manufacture which will add to the cost of the first time we order them. I asked for a quote based on an order size of 500 and we're looking at about $6.00 per tube.
The blade-profile Rhiassa Tube (WB) will require a custom die to manufacture which will add to the cost of the first time we order them. I asked for a quote based on an order size of 500 and we're looking at about $6.00 per tube.
Interest survey:
All of this is still a theoretical order and theoretical products. A new order might just be more of the original Rhiassa Tube (W) or even only one of the new product options.
So I need to gather an idea of overall interest.
If you believe you would participate in a pre-order of any of these tubes, please fill out this survey. You're not making any commitment by answering the questions.
If it looks like we have enough interest to put an order together than I'll start communicating with the factory and get updated quotes and then move from there. If there's not enough interest now we'll kick the can down the road and see if there's enough need in a few months or perhaps next winter.
Looking forward to hearing from everyone and engaging in some interesting discussions about these new materials.
In service,
Jason
