Titanium Hand-Sanitizer (PLUS "Titanium Damascus" Key Holder)

Just TWO things for you today (but they are awesome things).

I'll talk about the Titanium Hand-Sanitizer in just a second - but first...

Titanium Damascus Key-Holder

I've put a lot of care and attention into these - and it seems to come through. Here's an even closer look:

Pocket-Sized Titanium Hand Sanitizer

These are not for sale yet - but hopefully will be soon (somewhat depending on what feedback we receive from this blog post).

Quick note: As I mentioned in the last blog post, although we're making progress catching up on late products/projects ...we still need to continue to make sales to keep the rest of the business going. And this Pocket-Sized Titanium Hand-Sanitizer is one such product.

A tiny bit of backstory:

Usually, for most of our products, we play around with concepts for many months (and often years to be honest) ...but this Pocket Titanium Hand Sanitizer is a little different ...only took a couple of weeks of "playing around".

During that time we went through every possible option we could in terms of how to deliver the liquid/gel. We had simple-ish mechanisms ...complex mechanisms ...and we were even close to making our own version of a soap-dispenser pump (we dismantled one here in the workshop ...and, although fairly common, it's a really clever mechanism).

The problem is that I really wanted to keep this product super-simple and not have a dozen parts (because it would start to cost hundreds of dollars).

Long story short:

After a ton of thought and rejecting every imaginable idea (no matter how "cool" the mechanism was) ...we came upon an idea that is, as far as I can tell, the absolute simplest mechanism possible.

As with most of our designs.. we pretty much have to work our way through lots of different (and complex) solutions to finally arrive an something that is crazy simple. This concept is crazy simple - but it took a long time to get there.

Anyway, here's a video explanation and some photos:

I've not shown the function in the above video - but I can attest to it working really well with both very watery sanitizer as well as thick gels (and anything in between).

Would love to hear any feedback/thoughts/etc. in the comments below - thank you!

Updates and Other Titanium Stuff

Project/Product Updates

The TiVault and PillPots are still on target to start shipping in September. I'm not sure which we're doing first (or if we're making them at the same time) - I will Update you on that once we get closer.

The Magnatron, Fliptility and Project ZERO knives are progressing a little fast now because I have managed to hand over most of production to Yngvar (one of our machinists). I have been struggling to produce them while at the same time run the rest of the business.

ALL the pens (Click, Pencil, Bolty and writing set) are just a few weeks away from shipping. The Bolty pen main bodies are done and we're starting the rest of the parts this coming week. All the parts of the Click pen and Pencil are done apart from the clips and buttons (we've just started the clips in the last two days ...and the buttons will be after this). So, pens are not far off.

One more thing... (and feel free to skip this if you're already totally fed-up with my lateness and excuses and don't want to hear any more!)

A couple of things I feel need to mention again (and yeah, you've already heard me talk about this before).

You will continue to see me offer other products for sale (here on the blog and through email) ...some we've made before and some new. If you've been waiting for a late project (or even more than one project), then this probably looks like a crappy thing to do on my part. And I totally understand!

We're late on projects because I screwed-up (in a variety of ways). Although we are still behind ...we've caught up significantly since the beginning of the year. So we are making progress.

But here's the problem:

If we ONLY produce products that are late (and nothing else), then we will cease to be a business (because rent, wages, insurance, etc. etc. will not get paid).

If you had told me a couple of years ago that I would be in this position of delivering late on multiple projects, then I would have said it was "impossible". I would never have thought I would be disappointing so many customers.

While we have refunded many people who could no longer wait (and that is absolutely justified!) ...I really appreciate those of you who are excercising patience and allowing us to work through this. Thank you!!

How To: Titanium Key Holder Assembly

We've had a lot of people happy that there is now finally a high-end titanium key holder (to go with their other titanium gear). Many of these customers previously seemed to be making do with cheaper, aluminum versions because there was nothing better on the market.

Here's a video showing the assembly and how it works (it's a little different to other key holders on the market):

It's nice to see rock-solid progress in finally getting these to you.

Back in Stock: Titanium HookUp™ Clips

Updates And NEW Titanium Key Holder

Okay, some updates on late products...

While we are catching up - it's slow and steady progress. Not happening as fast as I had predicted.

The pens/pencils/writing sets that were meant to ship in July are now going to ship in August (we have 60% of the components made ...working on the rest just now).

The Magnatron and Fliptility (and Project ZERO) knives are going slow. These are some of the products that are most late and it is frustrating for sure. We are working away on them - but it's taking time.

TiVault and PillPots should (hopefully) still be on target for August and September respectively.

It is challenging for us but a terrible experience for YOU - learning a lot from these mistakes.

I will continue to update as we get out of this quagmire.

SlideClick (One Handed Blade Change)

NEW Titanium Key Holder (I Have A Question For YOU)

Here's the front (ignore the beat-up looking screws and the unfinished look ...this is a prototype I've been testing and thrashing the hell out of :-D):

Here's the back (how cool are those flush screws? :-P) :

We've decided that the minimum will be 4 x keys (two on each end) because it's unlikely anyone is going to want to carry a key holder for just two keys (that's my assumption at least).

We are going to offer a 6 x key version (three keys at each end) ...and an 8 x key version (four keys at each end).

If you want more than eight keys, then you're out of luck sorry because we're not going to offer that just now (unless there is more demand than I expect).

So my question to you is:

Are you likely to carry 4x, 6x or 8x keys on a key holder like this?

If you can comment below, I would really appreciate that because it would help us a lot in knowing what to offer you. Thank you!

P.S. One more thing... The screws are very special on these as we've used ceramic detent balls in a particular way so that it is literally IMPOSSIBLE for the screws to accidentally open (anyone else ever have the issues of screws coming loose on a key holder? - I certainly have!)

P.P.S. Oh... And you have complete control over the tension in the screws so that you can select if you want your keys to fold out easily ...or if you want them super-stiff to move ...or just anything in between. 🙂

Blog Post And Titanium Bargains

If you're looking for an update on products we're currently manufacturing or shipping, then I'll post that in a couple of days.

Some Product Bargains

Titanium Spinning Top (Packaging)

While we're grinding away getting caught up with projects ...it's nice to experiment and try out new things.

We're experimenting with new packaging for some products - and we're doing that with aluminium.

We're hopefully going to be launching some titanium spinning tops soon - and this is the packaging we've made for them:

These containers have cnc machined aluminium end-caps (with o-rings) to go with them. They still need to be finished - which is why they look so raw in the photo above.

We've always had trouble with packaging ...so hopefully these go better than previous packaging has gone.

It has a little bit of an "overkill" feel to it - but, over time, I'm hoping to lower the cost to produce these and we can do more of it.

The other benefit is that you have a nice, solid container to keep forever (as opposed to throwing away yet more packaging).

We'll see how it goes. 🙂

​Updates and ​Titanium Spinning Tops

​A few project updates and other things for you today...

​If you're waiting for the TiVault, then they are still shipping August. PillPots are on track for September.

The pens/pencils (Click, Bolty, etc.) are still on target for shipping July (will be towards the end most likely as it is almost the beginning of July now).

​The Magnatron knife has started shipping if you're waiting for that (although you would have received a separate update for that if you've bought one) - but they are still coming off the CNC and being finished, assembled, etc. so they are shipping slowly over time (they take a lot of work!).

The Fliptility knife will start shipping very soon - but have not got a specific date yet sorry.

SlideClick Utility Knife Update

Titanium Spinning Top

​TiMags™ - Titanium Magnets (In Stock ...but will likely sell out for a third time)

"Behind The Business"

​I'm going to sound a bit like a "broken record" here (because you've heard me talk about this a few times over the last six months)​. But, I feel the urge to cover it again with you...

​Most people reading this blog post right now are not waiting on any products to be delivered from us.

But, a decent percentage are not only waiting for us to deliver ...but we are delivering very late. Not only that but there is a smaller percentage again who are waiting for multiple late items.

​Not only am I acutely aware of this lateness - all of us here at ​Magnus Headquarters -- Yngvar, Sky and Quentin included -- have it at the forefront of our minds all the time. "Catch up." "Catch up." "Catch up." is our ​core focus every day. That's not an exaggeration - this is our priority.

​But (and there is always a but)...

​I, as the leader of this business, need to ensure we don't end up in a bad place while we continue to catch up (and by "bad" I mean not having enough income to pay our rent, etc.). And so one of my other priorities each month is ensuring we keep sales coming in so we can pay rent, wages, machine repayments, etc.

It is a balancing act.

We (and by that I really me "I") made many mistakes to get us into the position of being behind on so many projects. We have corrected many of these mistakes ...which will help stop us from getting into this position again in the future.

​One of the top things we've changed is to offer no more pre-orders. We aim to have products in stock and have them ready to ship ...and THEN offer them for sale.

We did this with the TiMags™ - Titanium Magnets over the last couple of weeks: Made some, then sold them. Made some more, then sold them. Currently they are sold out.

As I mentioned above about the Titanium Spinning Top ...we're only going to offer them when they are made and ready. If we continue to do this, then we will inevitably catch up​ on the products we are late on.

​We must continue to make and ship products other than the ones we are late on ...because otherwise our rent will not get paid ...machine repayments will not be made ...and the business will slowly cease to be a business (not to make it sound too dramatic :-D).

We have more new ideas and designs than we know what to do with ...and, luckily, we have ​many previous Customers who have not been turned off by our poor history of delivering on time ...as well as new Customers. I truly appreciate this ...and always feel like I'm being given a second chance after screwing-up so badly over the last two years in particular!

We are working our way slowly through catching up - and we will get there!.

I appreciate your continued support and I sincerely want to thank you for hanging in there with us. So THANK YOU! 🙂

Pillpots, Pens, Titanium Magnets and FREE Shipping!​

​This is an update specifically for if you're waiting for Titanium Pillpots™ or Click Pens or Pencils (including writing sets).

Good and bad news...

If you're waiting for PillPots™, then there is still a significant delay. I have a firm shipping date ...but it's not until September. I am sorry about this. There is nothing I can do to make this faster. You now have a absolutely firm date.

If you're waiting for pens, pencils, writing sets ...then it's a bit better. It will be July (although there is a chance we start shipping a little here and there in June).

Also, I'm going to do a Bolty pen update shortly - but, in the meantime, production is looking to be July also for these.

​We're Offering FREE Shipping For TODAY

Magnatron™ Flipper Knife Update

​I made a video with more details about the making of the blade - here it is as well:

​TiMags™ - ​JUST RELEASED!

Titanium Pens And Knives (and a 50% OFF Deal!)

​A TON of stuff to cover today - so let's jump right in...

Titanium Utility Knife Production

Titanium "V2" Capped Pen (almost 50% OFF - be quick!)

​We had some of the old-style tips (without the o-ring groove) and, because we've just got the new CNC Lathe up and running, we did some quick machining on them so they could be fitted with an o-ring.

These are fresh of the machine this afternoon:

​Magnatron™ Flipper Knives ​In Production

​​​Updates And Magnatron™ Knife Progress

​​I'm aiming to email every week with update for various projects I'm running late on.

​Although this whole COVID-19 thing has held us back 5 to 6 weeks here in New Zealand in terms of production ...we were already late as it was (so full blame, of course, lies with me).

​Pens Update

The Magnatron™ Knife (Progress)

​A couple of the blanks on the fixtures:

​How the left and right scales look after machining first side machining (or "op 1" as we call it ...short for "operation 1"):

​And here's how they look after op 2:

​And here's a couple of shots of the pocket-clips and backspacers (I only just finished re-designing the layout and machining of them this afternoon ...after screwing-up yesterday and having to throw a bunch away). These turned out as planned though.

Here's after op 1:

​And here's after op 2:

​Titanium ​Updates And A Random Personal Project

Round Titanium Parts

​The TiVault™, Bolty™ and PillPots™ are all round parts.

​After many years of having my machinist make these parts at his workshop we're able to bring these in-house (like the other ​CNC machining work we do).

We just took delivery of a new CNC lathe on Friday (which has something we've been ​working on for many months).

​In the next few days we should have it up and running and starting to make the first parts.

Here are a couple of photos of getting the machine in and putting it in place:

​The PillPots™, TiVault™ and Bolty™ will mostly be made on this machine.

However, there are some parts of each of these that will be done on the milling machine (i.e. the "key" for the TiVault™, the pocket-clip for the Bolty™, etc.).

Will update again soon on this once we get it up-and-running and making parts!

Knives

Other Projects

​​A Non-Titanium Project (...or "How To Get Stuff Done!")

​I'd like to share a personal project with you.

It has nothing to do with titanium or anything like that (so feel free to skip this!).

It's not something I'm working on right now (catching up with late projects is the priority right now) ...but this is something I had made last year.

Basically, it's a journal/notebook that helps you get stuff done. Actually, it doesn't really help you ...it kind of forces you. And, honestly, it is the best thing I've used.

I've seen and tried different journals in the past - but I just could never get them to work for me. Some are to get you "organized" (I don't want to be organized ...I just want to get the stuff done that needs to be done!).

​The layout of it is fairly simple and has developed over time (it's not something I sat down and came up with ...it's evolved over a few years). Over the years I've tried various things. Some worked. Some didn't work. This journal is a combination of things I found that actually worked.

Here's an example of a couple of the pages (there are a few different ones that together make up the journal as a whole):

Now, I'm going to be totally honest here...

I don't use it all the time. Why? Because I am an idiot.

​When I start using it I end up getting a few days worth of work done in about half a day and think, "Man, I can't believe I don't use this every day!!".

​I then use the journal for a few days in a row (sometimes up to a couple of weeks in a row) ...and then I get overconfident and feel like I'm this getting-stuff-done-machine ...and that I don't need the journal any more.

And then, a few weeks later, I'll find myself struggling to get past procrastination and generally being hugely inefficient yet again. And I will again find I'm putting off the "grind work" that I know NEEDS to be done.

I then start using the journal and the whole cycle starts over again.

So, yeah, I'm a totally imperfect human for sure. If I can continue to keep training myself to use what I call the "Grind Journal", then amazing progress is made every day. It already works incredibly well ...I just need to do more of it. 🙂

​Here's the design I made for the outside cover (excuse the slightly beat-up nature of it ...I've been using it a lot :-D)

​I thought I'd share this with you in case it's something you struggle with as well.

Do you struggle with this stuff?

​If there is enough interest I can probably get more made (I crudely printed one myself ...and then had three made as sort of prototypes based on that one).

​They would maybe sell in packs of 3 or 5 or 10 or something like that as the minimum amount is something like 300 of 500 or such (because I only printed three initially ...they were $60 EACH!!). Need to do more numbers to bring that down.

If you're interested I can make a separate blog post and explain how it works (it's really brain-dead simple and nothing "fancy" ...but it's the only thing like this I've used that actually works!).

​Just to be clear...

My personal biggest issue is just getting the "grind work" done every day.

This "Grind Journal" does not organize my life. No lists. Not prioritizing of stuff. No "bullets". None of that stuff has ever worked for me.

It does ONLY TWO THINGS and that's it. What it does is it...

#1 - Forces you to do the work you know needs to be done ...or, in other words, the grind!

​#2 - Get ​immediate feedback on any inefficiencies at getting stuff done​ ...and eliminate them ​right away (I routinely learn of an inefficiency one day ...and implement a change the next day so it does not happen again)

​"V2" Titanium Wallet And NEW Hobby-Blade Knife

​A ​few things for you today...

NEW "V2" Titanium Wallet

​In the last blog post I talked about how, here in New Zealand, we are in "full lockdown" because of Covid-19.

Time has felt like it's has passed really slowly because it's only been just over 2 weeks of a (minimum) 4-week lockdown for us here.

So, just to confirm... we are not an "essential business" and so we are unable to operate production during this time (online stuff like writing this blog post right now is fine though :-D).

The more I learn and read about this Covid-19 thing... I think most of the world (well, their governments) have had too much of a knee-jerk reaction without thinking enough about the consequences (both short and long-term).

But ...that's not a rabbit-hole I'm going to go down right now. 🙂

​Hobby-Blade Knife

​Here's a new product we've designed... (it's only a CAD model at this stage - but I'm looking for feedback)

​​It's an ultra-compact, key-chain size knife which uses a standard #11 hobby blade:​​​

You'll notice it has a sort-of "cap" on it.

This ​cap is not technically necessary as the blade holds itself in.

But the great thing about it is that you can attached either of the two loops to your keychain for totally flexibility in how you use the knife (either attached the knife and pull the cap out ...or attached the cap and pull the main body out).

Also, by enclosing the blade entirely ...it hides the fact that there is any sort of blade in there. Makes it a lot more subtle.

​These are just computer renders ...so we obviously still have have to prototype and test.

​​However, at this stage, I find it can be very useful to ask you for feedback (I've aborted many concepts over the years because of lack of interest in CAD models ...it really is a great time-saver for ALL of us!).

Thoughts?