Lindstrom 47i, part 2

By Curt | March 2, 2010

So last week I posted about the Lindstrom 47i pliers I had gotten from them.  Shortly after I posted, they posted on twitter about our writeup, and sent me a message telling me to watch our mailbox.  To top it off, they even called to let us know.  (To the person that called, sorry we missed your call.  We would have called you back but our machine ate most of your message and we couldn’t make out your name or number)

Low and behold, yesterday we got a new set of pliers.  According to the tweet we got from them, these pliers were “super-radiused”.  What a difference!!.  My main criticism of the original set was the very tip was rough and I was concerned about marring of rings.   Well, that concern is all gone now.  These are super smooth and wonderful to work with.  I tried them out on some 22g anodized niobium and they were a complete pleasure to work with.  Not a single scratch on the rings, and the pliers performed wonderfully.

So not only does Lindstrom get 2 pliers up for over achievement in customer service, I highly recommend these pliers for small rings or tiny detail work.

Thanks Lindstrom, you guys rock!

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Lindstrom 47i pliers

By Curt | February 23, 2010

A few weeks ago I won some Lindstrom pliers on Twitter.  (@lindstrom_USA if you want to follow them)  Today they asked what I thought of them.  Since you have limited space on Twitter, I figured I would write them up here.

First, let me say I was excited when I won.  I have lots of pliers, and I like them all for different reasons and different uses.  I knew these would be a chain nose plier, and I knew they were a new product.  Anybody who uses pliers for jewelry probably knows the name Lindstrom, and their reputation.  Who wouldn’t want a pair for free?

When I first received them I was quite surprised just how long and tiny the nose was.  These will really get into some tight spaces, that’s for sure.  The handles have a nice foam padding, return springs that seem to be quite hardy, and overall nicely constructed, just as you would expect from them.  They advertise the handle as 4 1/2″, which is a bit small for my big paws, but I am used to it, and quite honestly, with such a fine tip, I think I would have had problems had the handles been any longer.  The jaws have a nice finish to them, and the edge is not sharp, so they should not mar your delicate rings. Because the tip is so fine, I think I would worry about using them on anything bigger than 20g in a soft metal.

I did notice that while the side edge of the jaws had a nice, non sharp edge, the front edge on the tip was not quite as smooth.  This has no effect on how I use them, but it might come up for others.

My only other issue was that I only had one.  I am very used to using 2 of the same plier, and it made me feel lopsided.  = )

Lindstrom 47i plier

For those that will ask, the bracelet is a European 4-1 on the Bias.  22g, 5/64″ ID in sterling silver.  Approx 8″ long and contains approx 1300 rings.  (and no, I did not use any magnification to build it)

Overall, this is a very nice plier that will find a home on my bench for the tiny/tight patterns I like to do.

Remember, It’s in the Maille!

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History, Chainmaille, and the circle of life

By Curt | February 4, 2010

This will a bit different entry than you are used to seeing from us here, but it’s important to me and kind of ties into what we do here.

I had originally planed to write this last year, on this exact date, but alas, there were greater plans for me. I ended up in the hospital having emergency surgery. Why is this day important? Today marks the 2 year anniversary of my grandfathers passing, and now the 1 year anniversary of my surgery.

My Grandfather was one of the kindest, generous, warm hearted, friendly people you could ever hope to know. When I “Grow up”, I hope I can be even half the man he was.

Flash back to 15 or so years ago. My grandmother and him gave me a brick of silver. I put it in a safe and left it there.

In 2007 we knew he was sick (cancer) and didn’t have much more time with us. I took that brick of silver, had it turned into wire, and made everybody in the family some chainmaille out of it. This included my grandfather. This was my Christmas gift to everybody.

A few short months later he passed.

One of his wishes was that anything that was given to him by one of his children or grandchildren, went back to them. So I got back the bracelet I had made for him. (18g HP4-1) This was especially meaningful for me since I didn’t get to make myself something out of the silver as I had pretty much ran out after making something for everybody else. (We have a large family) I cherish it to this day and only wear it on special occasions.

A few months later when the family gathered to finish up estate issues, one of my Aunts happened to find 2 chainmaille purses. After much discussion (and later research) it was found that these actually originally belonged to my grandfathers grandmother. This dates them back to early 1900, possibly even late 1800.

To shorten this up a little, I now have 2 chainmaille purses that not only have family history, but date back quite a ways.

When I got them I found a few broken links and had originally planned to repair them, including polishing them up, but have had a change of heart and have decided to leave them as is so I can have them as they were last used.

Remember, It’s in the Maille!

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Step by Step Wire Jewelry

By Curt | January 20, 2010

As seen in the February/March issue of Step by Step wire jewelry, you can find square wire rings for the Byzantine variants here, or have a look in our specialty section for all of our shaped wire patterns.  All rings can also be done in silver or gold fill by special request.

All of our rings can also be purchased at the Bead Corner in Monument Colorado, or from Aussie Maille in Australia.

And remember, It’s in the Maille.

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New Anodized aluminum

By Curt | January 18, 2010

We are always working hard to improve our products for you, and are happy to announce our next step.

While we do anodize our own niobium and titanium, anodizing for aluminum is very different and we are unable to do it. We have been working with a couple different companies to get a better finish and color and we are happy to say we have found two that can do just that. Here is a look of two different colors in both old and new.

Turquoise AA

Red AA

The new rings have a nice glossy finish to them.  They almost look “chromed”.  As more of our stock is replaced with the new AA we will make note of it on each listing, with the colors.

We have plans to add a couple new colors to each size we currently have, as well as adding at least one new size that you won’t find anywhere else.

Remember, It’s in the Maille!

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Happy New Year

By Curt | December 31, 2009

Can you believe the year is over already.  It sure has gone fast.

We’d like to thank all our wonderful customers, friends and family for a great year.

To help ring in the New Year, we have a special treat.  Be our first customer and get 25% off your order.  Here is how it works.

Use coupon code ctnew at checkout

Coupon will not be valid until midnight EST, so try as you might, it won’t work until then.

Coupon only has 1 use, so unless you are the first, again it won’t work.

It’s pretty much just that easy.

We hope everybody has a safe new year, and remember, It’s in the Maille!

As an update for anybody reading this late, the coupon has been used

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Shipping delays

By Curt | November 30, 2009

With the long holiday weekend, and the influx of orders that come this time of year, we have already begun to have slight shipping delays.  We do understand you want/need your orders as fast as you can get them (hey, we’re the same way) and are doing our best to make that happen for you.

If you need to know when your order may ship, please feel free to contact us and we should be able to give you and ETA.

And remember, It’s in the Maille!

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Amazing new purse

By Curt | November 17, 2009

I got an email today from a customer who wanted to show us what she made with our jump rings.  I was blown away when I saw the pictures.  Not only is this a very original idea, but it is very cool in my opinion.  I have had the pleasure of seeing one of her all chainmaille purses in person and have to say she does some great work.  If you want a chainmaille purse, from ordinary, to something one of a kind, drop her a note and see what she can come up with for you.  You can find her etsy shop here.

And remember, It’s in the Maille!

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Copyrights

By Curt | October 28, 2009

I can’t explain this any better than this artist did on his site, so I won’t try.  Just have a look here. The outcome of this case could have a profound effect on not just him, but any artist.  If you can provide support for him, I encourage you to do so.

For the next week, we will donate 15% of our sales to him.

Yes, I feel strongly about this.

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More new rings, live help chat.

By Curt | September 4, 2009

We have been very quiet here since our grand re-opening, but that’s only because we have been so busy.  The feedback we received about the new layout was overwhelmingly positive.  We are very glad to see everybody likes some of the new features and rings, and we appreciate you taking the time to let us know.

If you haven’t seen, over the last week we have added a bunch of new rings.  We now have square rings sized for JPL5 in square wire, both in 18g and 20g.  We have a couple more metals we will be adding over the next few days, including our brand new square bronze and 20g square stainless steel.

That’s right, we now have 20g square stainless steel.  Yet another C&T Designs exclusive.  We already have them sized and posted for Byzantine, but will be adding them for JPL5, HP4-1 and have even had a request for a japanese 12-2 size.

Also just added today is our new live help chat.  Need help picking a pattern, or finding that perfect ring size?  That’s what we are here for.

And remember, It’s in the Maille!

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