Review of Roman Gallic...after "Hot Tin dip.

Scorpus · Post by **Scorpus** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 3:35 pm

Well it got here today and I confess I was giggling as I opened the box. So here is my review of the company called "Oregon Re-tinners" (http://www.retinners.com/)

Quality- The quality of the "hot tin dip" was excellent!! It was as good as my first helm if not better. The helm is smooth with very few runs. If you think of an ice cream cone that has been dipped in chocolate thatâ€™s what had to be done with my helm except in "hot tin". See pics for details.

Cost- I was quoted that it would be no more than $120 based on the market cost of tin at the time of dipping. They charged me $120 which was the high end of the cost estimate. Not pleased at being charged the max, but it is within specified parameters and the quality is very good, so I got what I paid for. Quite frequently you donâ€™t get what you pay for, but here I did.

Communication- Initially the communication was excellent but as the deadline came and went communication got spotty. I was told this was due to 3 reasons.
1. The ownerâ€™s daughter, (Husband and wife owners) was very sick, I mean real sick. I am talking removing (surgery) 6 inches of her spine due to tumors in the bone, sick. Sheâ€™s recovering and doing as fine as a 5 year old can be after that happening.
2. They had a problem with one vat of tin that had been spoiled due to contamination and they lost 10 days for that, but I received no updated delivery date.
3. They had to call in the previous owner who has I think 43 years experience to do this helm because they currently don't have the expertise to do this type of project. The previous owner actually contracts with this company for specialty work, so no problem with that. The only catch was that the previous owners sister died and he had to leave the state to go to her funeral which slowed the delivery date down even more and I was told about this but only after I had called to get an update on the helm's progress.

Time- I was told the helm would take 2-4 weeks and cost no more than $120. I ended up waiting 5 weeks and paid $120.

All in all I am pleased to have done business with this company and would recommend them considering the issues they had to deal with and still almost managed to get me my helm on time and within cost. Enjoy the pics folks...I will set here and drool on my helm, because now it won't rust....muwhahahahahaha!!!

Sextus Maximus · Post by **Sextus Maximus** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:04 pm

That is absolutely stunning. They did a great job, though a tad bit pricey.

Aedinius

lorenzo2 · Post by **lorenzo2** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:18 pm

Very pretty. How well did it penetrate the movable areas like hinges?

James B. · Post by **James B.** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:24 pm

I wonder if they would do a maille shirt

Scorpus · Post by **Scorpus** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:16 pm

lorenzo2 wrote:Very pretty. How well did it penetrate the movable areas like hinges?

Completely. That was a major area of concern but Herb (Tindipper guy) did a wonderful job. My last helm had hinges also and I have never had a single problem with them.

Randwulfson · Post by **Randwulfson** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 5:24 pm

Damn, I might need to ship muy helm up and get it dipped. That came out very nicely.

Garreth · Post by **Garreth** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 9:10 am

Scorpus,
Could you take some pics of the inside of the helm, specifically the hinges, cheek plates and integral grill? And maybe some front and side pics with the cheek plates raised? I have a similar helm I just started on and some detail shots would be most helpfull.

Thanks

Thomas Powers · Post by **Thomas Powers** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 11:00 am

Do things sound a bit "tinny" when you're wearing it now?

Thomas

Scorpus · Post by **Scorpus** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:13 pm

Garreth wrote:Scorpus,
Could you take some pics of the inside of the helm, specifically the hinges, cheek plates and integral grill? And maybe some front and side pics with the cheek plates raised? I have a similar helm I just started on and some detail shots would be most helpfull.

Thanks

Here ya go Garreth....

Andrew Young · Post by **Andrew Young** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:13 pm

James B. wrote:I wonder if they would do a maille shirt

or brigadine plates...... :wink:

Scorpus · Post by **Scorpus** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 4:16 pm

Andrew Young (Durasteel) wrote:
James B. wrote:I wonder if they would do a maille shirt

or brigadine plates......

Plates yes, chain....no....which actually would be pretty cool to see something like that. Maybe if the links were all separate???? Then you could assemble it afterwards.