Latest update -
Dear Backers,
We have great news regarding the progress of production and assembly! Before we dive in, it’s come to our attention that a number of backers didn’t see last month’s update, and the awesome pictures of the first Model T’s that have been coming off of production, so I’ve included those pictures again below. The chroming feels even better than it looks, and the stress-testing over the last month is indicating to us that the chroming is like nothing you’ve seen before: incredibly durable and resistant. We can’t wait to get these razors into your hands!
Production and assembly of the first batch is nearly complete! I will be meeting with our manufacturers all of next week to review each and every razor that has been produced up to this point for fit, finish, function, dimensional accuracy, and shave quality.
Pending the complete approval of this first batch of Rockwell Model T, we will proceed with the following batches of manufacturing, which we expect to advance with much greater ease than this critical first mass production/assembly. Our manufacturing partners, engineers, and I agree that this careful batch process is critical to ensure the quality of the razors, as it allows consistent chroming tone and quality along with precision assembly and subassembly of each component / family of components for this extremely complex razor.
The fantastic news is, pending the approval of the razors I inspect next week, we should be able to begin shipping within four or five weeks! We’ve learned immense amounts about shipping from our previous crowdfunding campaigns, and expect that shipping out these razors in batches will make for an even smoother process. This will also provide the advantage of not overwhelming our logistics partners with too many thousands of orders at once (which can create errors in even the most sophisticated of logistics operations). The first shipping batch will be approximately 500 White Chrome Model T’s shipped in the order of backer’s numbers.
After the shipping of this first batch of razors is complete, we expect to begin shipping the following batches soon after, and shipping would be entirely complete by October or November. Providing absolutely hard-stop dates in the past has enabled/encouraged rushing and increases the risk of shipping mistakes, so thank you in advance for your understanding around “October/November” as our best current shipping timeline estimates!
Finally, following batches will be larger than this current first batch. We want to do this right, and we want you all to receive a razor that will last multiple lifetimes - these timelines will allow us to make that happen. I truly appreciate your patience and thank you for your support for innovation - I can assure you it will be worth the wait.
Stainless Steel Model T
As some of you may know, we've been exploring the option to manufacture an alternative version of the Model T out of stainless steel using CNC (computer numerical control) for a small subset of backers that were interested in a stainless steel option. After extensive exploration of options by our engineers and manufacturers both domestic and abroad we’ve found CNC for the 14 applicable parts to be simply prohibitively expensive. We’ve engaged a MIM specialist firm to better understand if there are small tweaks we could make to the Model T design files that would make it “manufacturable” via metal injection moulding at some point in the future. However, at this point, any possible Stainless Steel Model T would be rolled out in a separate campaign so we could properly gauge interest. However, we would encourage any backers interested in the Stainless Steel Model T to retain their pledge on this campaign, as we’ll be offering backers of this campaign a colossal discount on any Stainless Steel Model T we’re ultimately able to manufacture. We understand there are some passionate shaving enthusiasts that are backers of this campaign, and we’re eager to do whatever it takes to eventually make your “dream razor” - a twist-to-open, fully adjustable, fully stainless steel safety razor!
So 'the chroming is like nothing you’ve seen before' - wow.
'shipping would be entirely complete by October or November' - for the chrome version, OK.
'any possible Stainless Steel Model T would be rolled out in a separate campaign' - umm, so that would be ANOTHER cost and I have two razors, one of which I don't want ...
'we would encourage any backers interested in the Stainless Steel Model T to retain their pledge on this campaign, as we’ll be offering backers of this campaign a colossal discount on any Stainless Steel Model T we’re ultimately able to manufacture' - pay twice, give us your money, trust us and be happy
Think that this might be my first and last Kickstarter campaign
