Small Batch of "Shorty" Bodies Available Now!

Hi all,

I get a lot of requests for "shorty" bodies for the Alpha. Typically they are special-order-only but I've decided to make a small run of 10 pcs for each finish: blasted & polished, stone washed, and full brushed. The shorty body is about 1" shorter than a full size light. It also requires a special battery. Details are on my site. Please read everything before you order! There are some important details you need to know.

Oh and these are "body only," not complete lights.

LIMITED EDITION: Splash Anodized Pocket Clips

One of the CandlePower Forums members has taken anodizing titanium to a new level. I use heat to build the refractive oxide layer, but he uses electricity. This means a lot more control over the colors and where those colors get applied. You can see the work he's been doing here. This stuff is so amazing I sent him 20 pocket clips to be anodized. There are 10 with a "Prometheus Blue" splash anodize and another 10 that I left up to his creative initiative...and they are stunning. See below:

Only 10 of each are available and will be sold first come first serve. If you are interested please email me directly: jason@darksucks.com Clips are $50 each or you can trade in your old clip for $35 if you mail yours back to me.

Please keep in mind that these clips also fit Surefire 6 series lights and clones! Click here to see the current fitment list.

Cheers! Jason

NEW: Titanium Key Fobs For Sale !

I thought this would be a fun little widget so I had my waterjet shop cut some key fobs out of the same material my Ti clips are made from. For sale now and only $15 through the end of August. Free shipping! After that they are going up to $20 each so get em while they are hot. Check these out on my site! 

Titanium! Nuf said. 

Ce n' est pas une zipper pull

Recently someone asked me why the heck you'd need a titanium zipper pull when all zippers already come with pulls attached?

My first answer...you don't need them, you want them...just follow the swinging pocket watch with your eyes. Second answer: rather than a 9,000 word treatise on zipper pulls I decided to post the following 9 photos.

Let's begin with # 1 shall we?

Does this really need a caption? 

More photos after the jump. Don't worry, you won't even have to read "much" more text or look at my grungy Carhart jacket again :)  

Fun with coatings, part 2: Titanium Nitride (TiN)

I've been working with Advanced Coating Technologies to create some special edition lights that are coated with a Physical Vapor Deposition (PVD) process. These coatings are used on extreme applications like carbide tools for milling and turning. The coatings are microns thick, but incredibly hard. Think of it this way, tungsten carbide is one of the hardest man-made metals in existence. They use PVD to protect this material. No joke right?

Ohhh yeah. 

This is my first sample that is coated in Titanium Nitride (TiN). Need a little more bling in your flashlight? I have no idea if this will be popular or not...but it's still pretty awesome. I'll be getting samples in Diamond Like Carbon (DLC) and Titanium Carbon Nitride (TiCN). These will turn out black and deep grey, respectively. Stay tuned, I hope to have samples in the next couple of weeks.

The light pictured above is one-of-a-kind and is now for sale on my website. Check it out here.

Flame Colored Pocket Clips

Is this cool or what? I've done some flame coloring of Ti before so it occurred to me that I should play around with these pocket clips. They are so small it's hard to accomplish but I've never seen anyone do this with a Ti clip before. The colors go great with the natural warmth of the nickel coloring. I'm more about photos than blabbering on these days so here you go.

Reminds me of a peacock! 

This looks pretty awesome if you ask me! I've decided to offer this option for $5.00 with the purchase of any clip. Since these are done by hand, each one is a little different and a unique work in it's own right. As such, I don't take requests for a specific appearance...you just get what you get. I know, it's a little risky. Feeling crazy though?

Don't forget to click for a larger image! 

Disaster relief donation: 10 sales = $200

Hi all,

Thanks to everyone who bought a light this month. I promised to donate $20 from each sale to disaster relief in Japan following this post. Times like these remind me that in an emergency, dark sucks in a very serious way. It also made me feel very comfortable sitting in front of my computer, editing photos, turning up the heat, and sipping freshly ground coffee. So, I decided if I was selling people the gift of light, then it would make sense for some of that money to those who had no electricity, no water, and no home.

(your) donation confirmation

I know Japan is a wealthy country and will recover nicely from this catastrophe. I didn't think that should stop me (and us) from helping out though. Even though the country is modernized that doesn't mean people aren't cold, hungry, hurting, and waiting for help. This is also why I donated to the Red Cross. I trust them to direct the money to where it's needed most. In the end, my customers made it possible to donate $200 and I thank you greatly for the honor of crafting a light for you and helping others in a time of need.

My most humble appreciation,

Jason

New flashlight finish: tumbled

Hey all, just a quick post. Check out my latest finish: tumbled. This is more of a satin finish as opposed to the matte of the bead blasted. Head and tail are still polished. I have five more blasted lights available and five tumbled lights.

click the image for a 1024 x 768 version

They are not listed on the website yet so if you want to reserve one please contact me directly! I'm building them out today and they should be ready to ship tomorrow. These will be the last of the pre-production lights. Cheers!

Pre-Production Lights for Sale...NOW!

Hey everyone, I'm excited to announce that my retail site is up and running and I have a few lights for sale! About two weeks ago I started selling some lights on Candle Power Forums. I wanted to give that community first dibs on the limited number of lights I have in stock, because that community is the reason I'm doing this project in the first place. I have about 8 lights in stock and ready to ship. I have 10 more that are waiting for drivers that should arrive in a week or so. These are pre-production and that is explained on the front page of the store.

The light side or the dark side, you choose. 

As luck/fate/chance would have it, the next day the forum crashed because of some serious technical problem and would be down for an indefinite period of time. That prompted me to put all my effort into finishing my commerce site so I could sell lights to the public. As luck/fate/chance would have it I sent out an announcement to my email list (did you sign up?) two days ago that said, "my store is open!"...and that the same day CPF came back online. I don't know what it all means, but I'm open for business and super excited to send YOU a light! 

Product Testers: Your lights are in the mail!

I'm excited to say there are five lights in the mail on their way to the first batch of product field testers. A couple of months ago I sent out an email to some friends and family and asked them to volunteer as product testers. It's taken a while to get things going but I finally got them in the mail on Friday!

Raw machined bodies with sand blasted head and tailcap

I keep referring to this whole exercise as an experiment or research project, and this is one of my first official research milestones. Each tester gets the light for two weeks. Then they have to send it on to the next tester on the list. I included a notebook with each package and I hope that people will right down a few thoughts, ideas, and experiences they have during the review period. I'll also be conducting more formal phone interviews to delve deeper into how people relate to the dark.

Testers! If you have any questions during the course of your review, please post them here. 

Thanks! 

Jason

First sales are just around the corner...

Hi folks,

I'm a little behind on the blog. Partly working faster than expected last week and partly slowed down by a sore throat this week. I spent most of the weekend working on a very simple site that will be a companion to the blog...the online store!

A screen shot from the new landing page

I'm not a graphic designer at all, so I always shoot for "inoffensive" as opposed to "really good" or something like that. So, excuse the graphic design. When I have a fist full of dollars I'll get some professional help. I've got some "pre production" lights that I just got back from the plating company. More explanation will follow.

I'll be assembling them this week and offering them for sale. A portion of those lights are also getting sent out to my first round of "test users" so stay tuned!

Ask a question, get an answer!

FREE LIGHT GIVEAWAY

Hi folks, I created a sticky on the left side of the page as a place for people to ask questions. Pretty simple really but don't hesitate to fire away. Then I won't have to sit here and wonder what to write for my next post.

Over here.

<-------------------------------------------

Okay, this is a previous post that I'm bumping to the top...and may continue to do so. But I'm sweetening the pot...with a contest! I was listening to this Freakonomics podcast and it gave me an idea. Call it a lottery if you want, cause that's what it is. Here is how this works.

1. Post a question in the "questions" section.
2. If it's a good enough question I'll turn it into a stand-alone blog post.
3. Once I get ten questions that turn into blog posts, I'll randomly choose one of those questions (and its author) out of a hat and they will get a free flashlight + charger + battery. I haven't set pricing yet but you can expect the retail price to be north of $200 bucks. 
4. This offer will be open for 30 days and will close on March 1, 2011.
5. If I don't get 10 post-ables in 30 days, then...I'll re-think this whole thing.