The Armour Archive

the following was posted on myArmoury today:
http://www.myarmoury.com/talk/viewtopic.php?t=24207

O boy. I have an 800$ dollar order with him.

Damn. Not good to hear at all.

Here's hoping Allan can land a job to pay his bills and keep the shop open part-time.

Charles Alexander wrote:Damn. Not good to hear at all.

Here's hoping Allan can land a job to pay his bills and keep the shop open part-time.

from the message on Myarmoury, looks like it is closed totally (after he completes outstanding orders) and not going to be run as a part-time or hobby armory ... too bad, he made really nice stuff

I love his work. Have ordered elbows, knees, vambraces and greaves from him in the past. Beautiful craftsmanship all done in blackened with brass accents. I had planned on placing an order for 16th Century elbows this weekend.

I only wish I could have given more business to him over the last year.

Where was his business located

East Rochester, NY

Adrian of Rimsholt wrote:O boy. I have an 800$ dollar order with him.

Allan isn't the kind of guy to shaft people. He mentioned a pile of finished work he literally couldn't afford to box and ship. Ask him if yours is done and pay him extra to box it up and ship it. His work was so under priced he went broke doing it. A good resolution for both of you would be to pony up a bit more and get your stuff now.

If not, well he is a man of good character. Keep your fingers crossed he doesn't end up homeless before he cranks out his queue. The fact that he has been up front instead of just vanishing like some people have speaks volumes.

I only ever had good experiences with Allan; he did great work and was pleasant to do business with. This is sad to see.

Augh! Very sad to see this. Allan went broke supporting us and our hobbies. I wish him the best in his future pursuits.

Its sad but its the same thing thats happening to all armorers and small businesses. All the best to Allan and family.


Take care

Andy @ PBA

Sad news. I still miss seeing them at the Sterling Renaissance Festival.

Charles Alexander wrote:Damn. Not good to hear at all.

Here's hoping Allan can land a job to pay his bills and keep the shop open part-time.

Keeping the shop open part time won't help him if he's not making a decent profit on his items.

Kel Rekuta wrote:
Allan isn't the kind of guy to shaft people. He mentioned a pile of finished work he literally couldn't afford to box and ship. Ask him if yours is done and pay him extra to box it up and ship it. His work was so under priced he went broke doing it. A good resolution for both of you would be to pony up a bit more and get your stuff now.

If not, well he is a man of good character. Keep your fingers crossed he doesn't end up homeless before he cranks out his queue. The fact that he has been up front instead of just vanishing like some people have speaks volumes.

+1

I am sorry to hear this. Allen seemed like a nice guy and folks really liked his work.

This has been a very difficult business to be in lately. The price of raw materials has gone up over 500% in the last 4 years. A pair of our splinted legs has $50 of rivets alone in them. Despite this rise in our costs, most of us armorers have fought to keep our prices low enough that SCAdians can still afford it in hard times.

Unfortunately if you do not charge enough to make expenses, you find that you owe many poeple armor and do not have the money to get the basic materials to make the items. That is why so many armorers seem to "take the money and run". It is not right but these are the circumstances that drive this action.

I wish Allen good lcuk and I hope that he finds a way to return to doing what he loves to do.

Ice

That is really sad news. I have known him for years and he is a heck of a nice guy. I have a tote of his armor in my workshop.

Talked to Allen a few hours ago. This is really such a sad thing that's happening to a great guy. I offered to pay for the shipping but he says he will not take it. That I paid and held up my end of the bargin and now he will do the same. People like that are truly hard to find. He also says that the shop will be closed for good. With the economy in the crapper there just isn't the money in it any more. I do hope the winds will change for him and his family.

This is sad news, I had been looking to get some products from him in the near future.

If someone has a way to contact him, you may mention that special e-mails are still going out. I received an e-mail with special pricing and discounts on it with the Merc Tailer address. I don't know if someone else sent them out with his business on them or what but I'm sure it'll only create more headache for him to deal with folks wanting 40% discounts on new commissions if he's not taking any more.

Suck.

He's a good dude. I never bought his stuff on account of I like to make my own, but when he had something that he didn't want/couldn't make/whatever he sent someone my way with the project. I'd bet he did that for other guys too.

Terrible news.

Shoot. I knew I should not have put off getting those splinted greaves.

Standard thing that happens when people expect low prices-but don't take increasing overhead into account. When I finally started to rebuild, I discovered that most of my old abrasives suppliers had gone out of business. Steel was up by a third.

And people are barely making enough to pay the basic bills-let alone luxury items like armor. Looking like munitions armorers like ashcraft baker are going to be some of the few to survive this *depression* at this rate.

I would not be getting back into doing armor at all except for a few back orders I still owe-and a steady day job.

I guess that explains why I haven't heard anything from him about my order.

Damn it to hell. I'm enjoying the poleyns I got from there.

I wish him and his family the best.

GunnarUlfson wrote::cry: I love his work. Have ordered elbows, knees, vambraces and greaves from him in the past. Beautiful craftsmanship all done in blackened with brass accents. I had planned on placing an order for 16th Century elbows this weekend.

I only wish I could have given more business to him over the last year.

Same here, two sets of vambraces and greaves of his have I owned, as well as a set of gorget and spaulders; always loved his work, wished I could've ordered more. This is a huge blow...Allan's the only one I knew of who made custom armor at this pricepoint. I know I steered more than a few clients his way. Oh man...this really sucks; I hope he's able to keep afloat.

The sheer lack of orders this year is amazing.. When i can close the shop in the middle of September and go on a weeklong fishing trip, get back and finish all my orders in one day, the economy is definitely in the crapper.

I'm quite upset about this... Reliable businessman, great guy, very good product for the price. Best of luck on future ventures.

If anyone cares to pass this on to other folks they know who are in " coulda, shoulda, woulda " catagory about out wares now that we've closed, who might have a look at the catalog on our site while skipping the home page and see the zeroed out prices . This is not a sale, business's don't sell products for $0.00 ( yet ). I had figured that even without reading the closure notice on the home page this would be fairly obvious but I have had several attempts made to buy things in the last few days ( the host is still taking down the site ) including this morning. The prices were zeroed out so that folks credit cards would not be charged not to have a sale.

this really pisses me off. im really sorry for alan hwo has been my wonderful to work with. as well as all the other armorers weve seen go the way of the dinosaurs. it is an incredibly tough business, and with so many people only wanting to pay rock bottom prices we will probable see even more of this shit happening.