As many of my clients may be aware, I work almost alone. My castings are made at a small foundry about 15 minutes away from my workshop, the metal being poured by one man.
This man, Richard, has been doing this successfully for me for the last 25 years. He, at 68 years old, is not well. He will be undergoing spinal surgery on Nov 6th, and has been involved in the sale of his business for the last 6 months; this will happen on 6 Dec 2018. I have just delivered the last batch of my waxes to him, hopefully to be cast during the next week.
I have no idea what the future holds with regard to future casting. Obviously I hold castings in stock and I will be able to use these to fulfill orders, but I cannot accept orders for furure requirements until and unless I know the future of this foundry. I hope to be able to continue with the new owner, but it may be that he has a different direction that he wishes to persue. We shall see.
Also, 'Health&Safety' has just dealt a death blow to the continued use of beryllium copper alloy, meaning that my tuning hammer parts can no longer be made from this. The replacement alloy is silicon bronnze, which, although hard enough for normal tuning hammer use, cannot be oven hardened, so precluding the making of the tuning heads for levers. I shall of course still offer the castings that I have in stock.
I have over the last year made some investigations into the possibility of using other foundrys, but have reluctantly come to the conclusion that either there are no others that could fulfill my particular requirements, or that such a foundry would be to distant for a successful future working relationship. I make my own waxes, and I know that posting these any distance at all would be difficult.
The result is that at this time I cannot accept further orders. The last few months have been difficult, made more so by my own health problems (I am now 72 years old and have increasing diabetic problems) which have resulted in the slowing down of production. I can and will fullfill the orders that I have in hand, as soon as I can, and I thank you all for both your past orders and your patience in the coming months. It may be that things may continue, one never knows!!!
David Law, Long Compton, October 2018