I imagine making a wooden staff of that length and thickness would easily go wrong on a lathe. Resulting in constant breakages. Probably just easier and more effective doing 2 shorter pieces.

JJByers wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 11:47 pm I imagine making a wooden staff of that length and thickness would easily go wrong on a lathe. Resulting in constant breakages. Probably just easier and more effective doing 2 shorter pieces.

Agreed, and doing it that way also means cheaper shipping.

Agreed.

One piece would be optimal, but given the challenges, I'm more than ok with the two pieces. On my original one, you only notice the seam because a little bit of paint flaked off in one of the ends, and on my Saruman one, it's practically invisible. Not only that, I'm all for cheaper shipping.

Yeah I was thinking about picking one up simply because they were available now and pretty cheap. Not that I've ever wanted that particular staff but every purchase in the line helps in the big picture of things. I figure the ones I'd seen with the cracks and paint breaking where the two parts meets is due to being taken apart and put back together multiple times for whatever reasons. If I snag one I'll probably just seal them together and it'll be a 1 piece staff at that point.

At the moment I'm waiting to see if the Gandalf staff everyone liked actually comes back in stock around the 25th as BUDK lists it will. The one with the pipe and nail. That was one by the time I was done with swords and considering staffs it was gone on eBay scalpers were listing the in the $899.99 range. Cold day in h3IL before I went that route lol.

On another note... I got bored and got to tinkering around on Photoshop trying to make a "UC-esk" COA for the sad thing that is NobleCollection's Deathless.

Nice work on the Deathless COA. It looks great! Any chance you'd share the file?

Ditto, would love the file. Also, what paper stock did you use to print it?

Standard printer paper. Printed a parchment texture on both sides, the printed the COA template.
And I've emailed the templates a bit today with instructions. Just gimme your email. I'm working on one for Balin's Mace now.

I figured the shipping was one reason. But speaking for myself, I wouldn't mind paying a little bit extra for a one piece staff. That being said, it is pretty seamless looking when the two halves are screwed together.
We'll see. If this new White staff holds up well and doesn't separate where the crown meets the shaft, and if it's discounted I may double dip and buy it to replace the resin crown White staff I have.

Okay, sorry to everyone who messaged me. I forget this forum has that option lol. I've sent you all the templates and instructions for the NC Deathless COA. I'm in the process of doing one for WETA's Balin's Mace as well, but its not done yet.

FYI for anyone who wants (or who has already received) the Deathless COA templates from JJ:
I used "Parchment-look" paper instead of printing the parchment pattern onto paper (only because I have a lot of that paper in various "aged" looks.)
Came out great.
Many thanks to JJ for doing this and making it available to "forum-ites".

Oh without a doubt. If you have actual aged parchment paper it's probably 10 times better lol.
I was gonna frame mine so I didnt think it worth ordering specialty paper. I'm pretty done with Balin's COA. Fixing to start Dwalin's.

Anyone here in need of:

Sauron Helm
Sauron Mace
Rivendell Helm

Because I have room on all three orders for them.
https://www.facebook.com/castlekon/

JJByers wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:23 am I opted to just call and ask. Spoke to Jessica. The crown of the staff she says is wood now. Not resin. And yes it is still a 2 piece staff.

That is not correct. The crown is a new mold, but it is resin as before.

Nasnandos wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:50 am

JJByers wrote: Thu Jul 18, 2019 7:23 am I opted to just call and ask. Spoke to Jessica. The crown of the staff she says is wood now. Not resin. And yes it is still a 2 piece staff.

That is not correct. The crown is a new mold, but it is resin as before.

Well, thank heavens for Kit because it never ceases to amaze me how misinformed these UC folks are on a consistent basis.

So is the new mold an actual improvement on the previous resin one, or is it the exact same, just newer?

RevAnakin wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 2:49 am Anyone here in need of:

Sauron Helm
Sauron Mace
Rivendell Helm

Because I have room on all three orders for them.
https://www.facebook.com/castlekon/

Message sent.

Valkrist wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:22 am Well, thank heavens for Kit because it never ceases to amaze me how misinformed these UC folks are on a consistent basis.

So is the new mold an actual improvement on the previous resin one, or is it the exact same, just newer?

The UC sales rep only has access to whatever details are in their system, which are probably confusing or incomplete regarding reissues.

I only know a third mold was made because they wanted to model it in 3D this time. I still have an original, so I supplied photos and CAD drawings for them to work from. I have not seen a final sample in person, just photos of the pre production sample, so I'm not sure if anything will be visually different than the original poly crown or the 2012 version.

Nasnandos wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 8:05 am

Valkrist wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:22 am Well, thank heavens for Kit because it never ceases to amaze me how misinformed these UC folks are on a consistent basis.

So is the new mold an actual improvement on the previous resin one, or is it the exact same, just newer?

visually different than the original poly crown or the 2012 version.

Is the 2012 version a reissue of the first resin one? When I hear the word original, I think of the very first one with the metal crown, not poly.

I really want to get this, but would love some assurances that it won't suffer from the same issues as the previous resin ones did, which I honestly don't know for sure what they were. Warps? Cracks? Paint flaking?

By original, I mean the original one with the poly crown from back in 2003. I have a couple from then. I don't recall any production issues on those, and mine were perfect - until someone dropped one of them!

I do recall reading something here or the old Weta site about someone having an issue with the 2012 version. A gap or cracks where the shaft met the crown? Something like that.

JJByers wrote: Fri Jul 19, 2019 5:56 am On another note... I got bored and got to tinkering around on Photoshop trying to make a "UC-esk" COA for the sad thing that is NobleCollection's Deathless.

Cool, but I'm pretty sure that's Frank Victoria's design, not Paul Tobin. Alex Faulkner's crew made the props, not Peter Lyon. Nearly all the Dwarven-made weapon props were cast Urethane, so Peter was not involved. No David Salo inscription either.

JJByers wrote: Sat Jul 20, 2019 4:43 am I'm in the process of doing one for WETA's Balin's Mace as well, but its not done yet.

I think that's Frank's design too.

Nasnandos wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 8:05 am

Valkrist wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 5:22 am Well, thank heavens for Kit because it never ceases to amaze me how misinformed these UC folks are on a consistent basis.

So is the new mold an actual improvement on the previous resin one, or is it the exact same, just newer?

The UC sales rep only has access to whatever details are in their system, which are probably confusing or incomplete regarding reissues.

I only know a third mold was made because they wanted to model it in 3D this time. I still have an original, so I supplied photos and CAD drawings for them to work from. I have not seen a final sample in person, just photos of the pre production sample, so I'm not sure if anything will be visually different than the original poly crown or the 2012 version.

Yeah, and they do not even know shipping dimensions until after the products come in. Oh, and they do not record shipping dimensions, so every time I ask for them, they call down to the warehouse and they measure. I would love for them to hire me to do process improvement. If the company wants to save money, they could just do basic Lean Six Sigma process improvement and help out there rather than lowering standards.

Does anyone have the shipping weight of Sauron's helm? One person posted 75 pounds but I simply don't believe it weighs as much as a teenage girl.

RevAnakin wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:39 pm Does anyone have the shipping weight of Sauron's helm? One person posted 75 pounds but I simply don't believe it weighs as much as a teenage girl.

HAHA....it has been my experience that the majority of people (no matter how well educated and/or how much academic alphabet trails their name) could not reasonably estimate time (duration), weight, distance (or any linear measurement) if their life depended on it.
I don't even bother to ask unless I'm depressed and in need of extreme hilarity.

RevAnakin wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:39 pm Does anyone have the shipping weight of Sauron's helm? One person posted 75 pounds but I simply don't believe it weighs as much as a teenage girl.

They may as well have said 75 kg, that's so ridiculous. Maybe if it was actually made of metal...

I'm guessing it's more in the neighborhood of 15 pounds, with another 15 added in for the stand, styrofoam molds, art sleeve, and shipping box, but don't quote me on that.

P.S. - That's the original helm. The new stand appears much heavier, so maybe add 5 more pounds?

Not the first time calling CS made me look dumb... Probably won't be the last... Valyrian Steel all over again lol. And yeah, the Deathless COA was put together on the United Cutlery Orcrist one. Honestly I didn't think getting rid of or leaving that info would be on anyone's radar... Enter Kit Rae hahahahaha. I attempted to redo it but my eyes hurt from staring at the screen now. Does anyone have any of the WETA art for Dwalin's Axes, I have the chronicles books but they're packed up for our move. I thought I recalled seeing some of the art like Balin's Mace and Deathless in one? Could be wrong... Idk.

Alrighty then! If and when you're done including Kit's corrections, could you send us the updated files, please? I'll take the one for Balin's Mace as well, but not Dwalin's Axes as I never bought those.

Valkrist wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 6:46 pm

RevAnakin wrote: Tue Jul 23, 2019 4:39 pm Does anyone have the shipping weight of Sauron's helm? One person posted 75 pounds but I simply don't believe it weighs as much as a teenage girl.

They may as well have said 75 kg, that's so ridiculous. Maybe if it was actually made of metal...

I'm guessing it's more in the neighborhood of 15 pounds, with another 15 added in for the stand, styrofoam molds, art sleeve, and shipping box, but don't quote me on that.

P.S. - That's the original helm. The new stand appears much heavier, so maybe add 5 more pounds?

Thank you, I based my shipping quotes off of 24 pounds.

Valkrist wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 8:26 am Alrighty then! If and when you're done including Kit's corrections, could you send us the updated files, please? I'll take the one for Balin's Mace as well, but not Dwalin's Axes as I never bought those.

Same here. I'd love to get the updated Deathless and new Balin's Mace COAs. Thank you!

Ditto on the revised Deathless COA. Thanks!

Deimos wrote: Wed Jul 24, 2019 1:40 pm Ditto on the revised Deathless COA. Thanks!

Sent.

So I'll stop spamming you guys and gals also with the COA's after this lol. Apologies. If anyone picked up the Moria Battle Armor helm I posted on here about awhile back let me know, I did, what I consider, my best one yet. Happy to send it anyone's way.

@Nasnandos

Hey Kit do you still have Deathless? I am thinking about tweaking my Noble Collection one to look........ A whole lot better than what we got lol. Or could you just recommend colors. In AUJ is the hilt more gold colored or would you say just dry brush some brass or gold paint on the hilt at first? Thank you!

Fyi y'all

Aye most of us are aware of this new low from United. Much like Deathless when Noble Collection released theirs, they gearing up for Guthwine and realize Indy's may cost them sales. Except Indy doesn't have licensing permission, however Indy's project came way by UC's inactivity in the first place. I'll leave it at that as this is one of few forums lacking negativity, for which I'm grateful. I for one will continue to buy licensed and unlicensed items. Especially knowing some things UC will never touch. Where is United's High Elven Warrior Armor? Erebor Helm? Erebor Shield? Gimli Throwing Axes? Merry and Pippin Barrow Blades? Herugrim Scabbard? Lake Town Axe? Theoden Helm? Horn of Gondor? Boromir Shield? Etc etc.

I was never really interested in Indy's Guthwine in the first place. But I will defend his effort for trying to fill the hole that United left years and years ago.

While UC certainly has the right to uphold what is no doubt a costly license to manufacture LOTR replicas, I too find the timing of that post a little suspicious.

Cheap fakes and knockoffs have been around as long as UC began making these replicas nearly two decades ago. Not that they would condone that in any way, but not once in all that time did I hear them exhorting their customers online to report fakes, especially now that we know an unlicensed replica maker has been working on this project for several years. They took their sweet time getting around to this sword, and when someone finally decides to fill in a gap they continuously turned their noses up at, suddenly they want all the traitors lined up for execution? They really have no one else to blame but themselves for the situation their inaction created. Had they listened to us all these years about wanting this sword and made the damn thing, we wouldn't have had to ask Indy to put us out of our misery once and for all. If they are losing sales to him, it's their fault. How were we to know, having already signed up and paid for Indy's sword, that UC was planning this? Their timing sucked, but we're the ones to blame?

I was actually planning on buying both because after it's all said and done, I still want to support UC and any further releases, and the only way to do that is to buy their replicas, but they dropped the ball on Gutwine and this post of theirs leaves me feeling very sour.

Ditto, cubed. Or as Bugs Bunny says "What a bunch of ultra-maroons!"
I will buy both, see which one does justice to the original and MAYBE let the other one go.

Where are "Merry and Pippin Barrow Blades?" ...omg JJ, someone else hankering after the Barrow Blades too!
I've been so tempted to just commission these by a sword maker, but I have no idea what they should look like, except that they would be about the length of Sting and have the similar leaf shaped blade. The steel is "damasked" (damascus pattern) but in red, and a swordmaker already told me that damascus steel only comes in one color (tho' he fully understood the desire to have it in red as he makes mostly fantasy swords)

I'm going to hazard a guess that when JJ mentioned Merry and Pippin's "Barrow blades", he was actually referring to the rusty can openers we got in the movie, and not the book version Numenorean daggers of yore. I say this because we were talking about things in the movies that UC will never give us, and artistic interpretation of something in the books (for which they have no license) is not likely to ever happen.

Having said that, if you just meant "hankering" for those blades in a very general sense and not in connection with UC at all, then yes, add me to that list please!

Valkrist wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 4:17 pm I'm going to hazard a guess that when JJ mentioned Merry and Pippin's "Barrow blades", he was actually referring to the rusty can openers we got in the movie, and not the book version Numenorean daggers of yore. I say this because we were talking about things in the movies that UC will never give us, and artistic interpretation of something in the books (for which they have no license) is not likely to ever happen.

Having said that, if you just meant "hankering" for those blades in a very general sense and not in connection with UC at all, then yes, add me to that list please!

Um, yeah... I knew that.
You know, those rusty things are so much not on my radar that I've completely forgotten about them.
So anytime someone mentions Merry's and Pippin's swords I think they are referring to the book Barrow blades.

Everything I used as an example with UC are things I've seen other talented people make. Merry and Pippins blades from the film to answer that question. Ray did a 3D print of them and had them on shapeways for awhile. Bobby has a video of them on his YouTube channel.

JJByers wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 12:32 am Everything I used as an example with UC are things I've seen other talented people make. Merry and Pippins blades from the film to answer that question. Ray did a 3D print of them and had them on shapeways for awhile. Bobby has a video of them on his YouTube channel.

Yes, I've seen those (they look awesome) and that's immediately what I thought of when you mentioned them. UC made Sam's, and Frodo's is kind of unnecessary since we already have Sting. It basically comes down to wanting to have a complete Fellowship set, and not being able to because Merry and Pippin got short-changed: no Noldorin daggers, and no Rohirrim and Gondorian blades either (the ones they received later.)

Valkrist wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 4:44 am no Noldorin daggers, and no Rohirrim and Gondorian blades either (the ones they received later.)

I'd really like all of these to be made. They could do a whole line of daggers and short swords. Add in Grima's and Boromir's dagger as well.

N2darkness wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 5:58 am

Valkrist wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 4:44 am no Noldorin daggers, and no Rohirrim and Gondorian blades either (the ones they received later.)

I'd really like all of these to be made. They could do a whole line of daggers and short swords. Add in Grima's and Boromir's dagger as well.

Couldn't agree more! Add in Hadhafang's companion dagger also. These wouldn't be too expensive, and real space-savers too. Pity UC will never consider it as I don't think there would be much demand beyond us nutjob completists.

Valkrist wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:33 am Pity UC will never consider it as I don't think there would be much demand beyond us nutjob completists.

Honestly, I think you would be surprised on the demand. You have long term and new collectors as well as dagger collectors as well. They should do another one of their polls online to see the type of interest they get.

N2darkness wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 8:39 am

Valkrist wrote: Fri Aug 16, 2019 7:33 am Pity UC will never consider it as I don't think there would be much demand beyond us nutjob completists.

Honestly, I think you would be surprised on the demand. You have long term and new collectors as well as dagger collectors as well. They should do another one of their polls online to see the type of interest they get.

Agreed. These small blades would be great additions to any existing collection and a cost-reasonable way for new collectors to get started on LOTR weapons. I'd happily and instantly purchase all of the pieces that heve already been mentioned.

N2 and Buckeye, this is one instance where I would give anything to be proven wrong.

Deimos wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:15 pm The steel is "damasked" (damascus pattern) but in red, and a swordmaker already told me that damascus steel only comes in one color (tho' he fully understood the desire to have it in red as he makes mostly fantasy swords)

A few Chinese Forges have been making red "Damascus" katana blades for years now. Also, Valyrian Steel has come out with a red "Damascus" blade for their Book Version Oathkeeper. Soooo it should be possible now

Jash wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:21 pm

Deimos wrote: Thu Aug 15, 2019 3:15 pm The steel is "damasked" (damascus pattern) but in red, and a swordmaker already told me that damascus steel only comes in one color (tho' he fully understood the desire to have it in red as he makes mostly fantasy swords)

A few Chinese Forges have been making red "Damascus" katana blades for years now. Also, Valyrian Steel has come out with a red "Damascus" blade for their Book Version Oathkeeper. Soooo it should be possible now

You know, it was a swordmaker (in Australia, I think) that told me that, and it came up in conversation when I mentioned the Barrow blades.
He knew exactly what I was talking about --even sending me the quote from the book--, and then ( coincidence!) mentioned that a customer asked him about making Oathkeeper with the red Damascus blade. And that is when he said it couldn't be done, not in red anyway, altho' he was working (successfully) to get a kind of blue damascus effect. That was about 10 years ago, so as you say, things have changed.

And apparently this family of swordmakers has been coloring damascus blades for quite a while.
https://www.knifeblog.com/coloring-dama ... -its-done/

JJByers wrote: Tue Aug 06, 2019 7:01 am @Nasnandos

Hey Kit do you still have Deathless? I am thinking about tweaking my Noble Collection one to look........ A whole lot better than what we got lol. Or could you just recommend colors. In AUJ is the hilt more gold colored or would you say just dry brush some brass or gold paint on the hilt at first? Thank you!

No, United has that one. I have detailed photos of it, so I'll dig them out when I am back in the office next week.

Jash wrote: Sat Aug 17, 2019 4:21 pm A few Chinese Forges have been making red "Damascus" katana blades for years now. Also, Valyrian Steel has come out with a red "Damascus" blade for their Book Version Oathkeeper. Soooo it should be possible now

A process for red Damascus has been around since 2002. I know because it was first used on the black Damascus version of my Valermos sword, which ended up being black and red. We actually figured out how to do it by mistake, then it took forever to learn how to repeat it. Later it was used on some Shinwa katanas, then Honshu swords. The same process was used for the Valyrian Steel Oathkeeper that I worked on. The same factory made all of those blades.

Hey Kit,

Do you think Guthwine will be out this year? I’m assuming it’s going to released next year based on the fact that no spec sheet or anything has been released yet except that image UC posted to their Facebook recently.

Is there any chance of the bow line being reprised? I know you mentioned that bows were slow sellers in the past and that they had been put on hold but would love the Mirkwood or Rivendell long bows. I know those two are more unrealistic because of how little screen time they both got.

I’m still keeping my fingers crossed for the Mirkwood dagger but that got even less screen time. There’s so many pieces I’d love to see UC make. Like a new run of Legolas scabbards with the white finish and harness. Tauriel’s quiver or the Mirkwood quiver with the dagger included. A boy can dream

I don't think so. There was an undercut issue with the hand guard design, so that had to be modified, which I was not happy about. That delayed starting the tooling, so I think it will be Spring 2020 now.

Not much else new in the works, except a possible poly Eomer helm and steel Eomer spear head from ROTK.