|  |  | No exposed hardware, seams, or adhesive |
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| | | Both leather and metal articles are designed to be non-rotatable |
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| | | Structurally reinforced, so there’s no movement either perpendicular or parallel to the rod |
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| | | Permanent adhesion of all leather so no parts to separate |
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| | | | Welding accomplished inside of the bell, not onto the bell, resulting in one contiguous piece |
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| | | | Numbers are permanently stamped into both metal and leather articles |
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| | | | * Full set - $300.00 - We regret to inform you of our price increase. It was made necessary after evaluating the manufacturer's recent changes and consequent drop in quality on the lace we normally use. Our increase reflects a new lace priced at three times the original amount per roll. The new lace, however, is somewhat thicker, more finely finished and takes on marks less readily than most laces. |
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| | | The story of The Article Shop begins with our search for an article set for our Malinois, Raphael, and unfolds through the chronology of our efforts in fixing problems we’ve encountered with other people’s articles sets. We were disturbed by such things as rotating ends, leather peeling or curling, stick-on or irregular numbers peeling off, and the general utilitarian look of the craftsmanship. We spent a full year working on our design: we consulted with welders, leather specialists, professional trainers and owners, and we listened to customer comments. We put articles on trial experimentation in order to refine both the design and the process to be the best that could possibly be made. |
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| | | Our articles are designed to be non-rotatable, and we’ve overlapped many safety measures into this concept. For example, the leather lace we use on the grip (“bite area”) is completely bonded to leather which we have adhered to the hardwood dowel. We found a process to weave the lace through the first layer of leather on the bell, and actually fuse it to the screw itself, so the ends were not left to unravel. During this last year of testing, we even discovered a way to reinforce the bell so that it cannot rock side-to-side, or perpendicular, to the rod, as other articles often do. Finally, we are able to permanently laminate another layer of leather on top, thereby securing the non-rotatable factor in combination with the tension on the lace, and even add the further insurance of tacking the leather to the dowel! By the time we have ground, burnished, and polished our articles, we feel each is an individual work of art. |
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| | | Our metal articles are also constructed with durability in mind. Whereas most often the bell is simply screwed to the dowel, ours are welded inside the bell, not attached to the inside surface. We cut a hole in the bell, and re-fuse the rod to the bell surface with a solid aluminum weld, the same material the bell is made out of. After an elaborate grinding process, the bell is once again smooth, and we can grind and round the edges, finally finishing with an overall polishing to smooth the surfaces. We feel, too, that the stamping of permanent numbers into the metal is a valuable step which further increases the quality of our articles. |
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| | | We have decided to describe the above process to you the customer because we feel that these design decisions, plus a few clever solutions in the manufacturing process, are what make our articles unique. If you cannot meet us at upcoming shows and do a fitting with our “bite set”, you will at least get a sense of the quality we put into each and every step along the way. Thank you so much for getting to know our product! We hope you find our site useful, but we also hope to meet and visit with you at a show (see under UPCOMING SHOWS for times to size articles with our bite set). |
