Time for a rearrange

First and foremost, we have expanded our offices and workshop. This means we now have dedicated, separate space for forming, sanding and finishing. We also have a new expanded shipping and material storage room as well! While we don’t have a full video tour as there is some final painting and cleaning going on, check out this new/old bench for the finishing station:

Updated Hours

We are hoping to catch more visitors in the evening now that it will be light out even later over the summer. Our new hours starting this past week are as follows:
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday: 12–7
Sunday: 11–4
The shop will be open several other hours and days, please give us a call/email/twitter/facebook/smoke signal if you would like to stop by. We can always do appointments as well.

Website Update

We’ve update several sections of the website, including an overhaul on the Plank and Pinch description pages. Hopefully this will answer a few more questions about the products themselves, as well as installation and usage.

Expanding Production

As the frequent emails to us asking about stock levels have shown, we simply are having a hard time keeping up with demand. A great problem to have for us, but we really would like to let more people enjoy what ClankWorks has to offer. As a result, the expansions mentioned above have occurred, but we will be bringing on some extra help as well too. More details will come there in time. It won’t be an immediate change, but over the summer we will hopefully have more of our current offerings, and perhaps a new product or two, if things go exceptionally well.

It is our first brand-new purchase, in terms of equipment, for the shop. The bandsaw, drill press, and countless tools had all been older used items. What a difference this guy has made! By no means are we automating fender production, but this greatly cuts back on the time, repetitive motion and countless splinters from sanding the Planks by hand. Progress!

As a result, I’ve been busy today cranking out our next big batch of fenders. A bigger batch than we could have ever done before. Take a look:

All said and done, this and the second basket held nearly fifty fenders that had been drilled and sanded in one morning. A tremendous increase over the previous average of 10-20. There are a few other tools, jigs, and process changes that have been implemented, are under planning, or are being though about as well. As these changes happen, we will be sure to blog some nifty pictures. We are evening planning a cool process movie or two… so stay tuned.

The Retail Space

We’ve begun with the final buildout of the shop space. Fenders and the Miyata 912 now take center stage in the corner of the store.

Shop Hours

We are also happy to announce the beginning of Spring Hours starting the first week of April. Tentatively, we are planning on a few days during the week we are here 10-7, most likely Tuesday – Friday. Hopefully some weekend hours will be ironed out soon as well too.

Upcoming

Finally, some new products are on the assembly line in the promenade deck. Finalizing the designs is just about done, and production will begins shortly. We hope to have announcements and pictures up before the end of March.

Additionally, we are planning an event for the first weekend in April as well. More details to follow, but we are aware that Sunday is Easter, so Saturday looks best. Stay tuned, the blog is going to pick up just like the warm weather.

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Hopefully all the pictures of the shop will soon be broken up with actual product pictures! Also, stay tuned, we are looking around for a few other products to help fill the shop with. If you have any suggestions or things you would love to see, do let us know!

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Stainless steel screws and raised washers are being used in an even spacing to fasten the thin, quarter inch panels to the framed structure. Some heavier half inch OSB inside will provide the real stiffness and rigidity. Hopefully that will arrive in the next few days as well, as the measurements have now all been made.

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The next big project will be the kitchen and living room, along with workspace and storefront, which all fall upstairs. Fortunately everything is freestanding in those cases, and will require no additional integration into the existing structure. Additionally, our kitchen is a testament to the power of asking simple questions, and the support of family friends. Without paying a dime, we now have a very large minifridge, full freezer chest, and thanks to our good friend Justin Lacey, a fantastic stove. You should keep an eye out for some of Justin’s upcoming furniture as well, bending the possibilities of felt. Hopefully we will get the chance to showcase some of his work in the near future, as it is top-notch.