Was chatting with Alastair from Westholme Strops and he asked me to pass this info along, it's posted on his FB page as well, he also wanted to pass along tha anyone that has a strop in the works already is not affected by this.
Hi Will,
I hope all is well with you.
As you are a frequent user of the more prominent online forums, I wanted to let you know of some upcoming changes to the way I conduct my strop work. I’ve made a post on my Facebook page about it, but that has a limited audience, and the changes are likely to generate questions from would-be customers.
My girlfriend and I have just bought a house – an old (100+ years) property which is in need of serious renovation and modernisation. We will be doing most of this work ourselves.
As such, the time I have available for making strops, and the all important customer communication, lengthy custom order discussions etc, will greatly diminish to the point where it simply won't be workable.
I still wish to make strops, but for a time my work will have to move away from custom work individual to each customer. Instead I'll make a handful of strops as and when I have time, and advertise them for immediate purchase via my website, eBay, and the Facebook page. How long will this go on for? Difficult to say - but I envisage at least 12 to 18 months.
I will certainly revert to custom work once our house is a home. Work on an old property like this will probably never end, but I have every intention of continuing my strop work, and the custom aspect of it will certainly return in the not too distant future.
I will be removing the contact forms from my website, as frankly I’d rather that people don’t have an avenue to contact me, rather than them sending a message and then not getting a reply. I can’t reiterate enough that it is definitely my intention to return to taking custom orders at some stage, but whether that turns out to be late 2018, or early 2019, I can’t yet be sure. And also to reiterate that periodically there will be a handful of strops available for immediate purchase – probably 6 or 7 every three months or something like that.
So I thought I’d let you know, as you’ve been kind enough to mention my strops in a very positive light on the forums – and if you see anyone in the coming months asking how they contact me, perhaps you’d be kind enough to pass on the reason why they currently can’t!
I’ll still monitor my email daily of course, as the lines of communication with previous customers must always remain open. It is just the new customer discussions that must be halted for a time!
Thanks Will.
Regards,
Alastair.
