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Re: Mini-review of JCD piecepack from Blue Panther

Hello to all: Ben's "pro" comments are welcome as are his "con" comments. I would like to clarify some points. All Blue Panther piecepacks are "made to order" and the box covers can have any engraved on it (we assume it is the name on the order - but we have put other names on as gifts - you can specify this when you order - no problem). All orders sent to Australia (or anywhere outside of North America) are now sent by airmail, and so should arrive relatively quickly. The US Post Office has stopped shipping items by boat unless you are a very, very large customer. The major difference between the birch piecepacks and the oak piecepacks is that the oak piecepack squares are 1/4" thick with squared edges while the birch piecepacks are 1/8" thick with rounded ends. The disks for each set are the same thickness (1/8"). Dice and pawns for both sets are the same material - hardwood - not birch plywood. As for the finished vs unfinished topcoat - disks and squares receive the same finish before they are made. This results in a more consistent appearance. The pawns and dice, however, being vertical or curved, do not tend to finish well - sprays or brushes do not seem to do a good job, resulting in unacceptable "globs" of finish near the bottom when they dry. The storage box should also have been finished on all sides, inside and out. The other thing to remember is that although we use birch plywood because it is generally consistent in appearance, it is impossible to completely match the surface appearance and grain of every piece in a set. To minimize differences, we make the entire birch set out of the same piece of plywood - which is about as uniform as can be done. The same is true for the disks and the oak squares - these are natural materials and will show some variation. We sort for the "obviously different" ones in this case. Care and feeding of your piecepacks - if you get foreign objects on any of the pieces, we use a product called "Mr Clean Magic Eraser" - it does a great job of removing any type of residue. Finish on the box - we used to use water-based finishes because they are friendlier to the environment. Water, of course, raises the grain on wood. Unfortunately, they also leave a rougher texture - and sanding them down tends to make the appearance uneven. However, we have very recently found an oil-based finish that bills itself as "greener" than the water-based ones. It certainly leaves a smoother texture, though. You can use a steel wool or very fine sand paper to reduce roughness of the finish on the box. We value the feedbaack from Ben and the piecepack community - and the best thing about our "just-in-time" manufacturing is that we can make improvements very quickly. If you are coming to Origins in Columbus, OH this year, visit our booth - we'd love to chat with you. 
Steve Jones
Blue Panther LLC Ben Finney writes:
Howdy all, 
Today I received my order from Blue Panther of two JCD piecepack sets
<URL:http://www.bluepantherllc.com/JCDPiecepack.htm>. I ordered one
each of Set 1 (original piecepack suits) and Set 3 (four seasons
suits). Both were in birch plywood.
Pros: 
* Steve from Blue Panther was very polite and helpful, even patient
  with some (still-unidentified) intermittent problem with email
transport between us. 
* Despite that, the order arrived promptly: less than 2 weeks from USA
to Australia by standard post, including manufacture time I assume. 
* The pieces are *gorgeous*. JCD's designs are crisp and distinctive,
  and the laser etching makes them spring out clearly from the warm
wood. 
* The size is right. From close-up shots taken by other fans, I
  overestimated the size of the pieces; they're smaller and thinner
  than I expected. Which, once I played with them, was a good thing:
  they're very well sized for game pieces. Yet they still have enough
weight to not feel flimsy. 
* The pawns have a distinctive "front" (the suit symbol against a dark
  background), while having the symbol again on the reverse side so a
pawn's suit can be identified from all sides. 
* The rounded corners of the tiles are very friendly to handle, I'm
  glad I chose this shape rather than the square-corner shape of the
oak sets. 
* The wooden box is generously sized: getting the pieces back in after
  a game is less "play the packing game" and more "toss everything in
  freely". Yet since the pieces aren't chunky, the box is still a
small manageable size. 
* The box lid is personalised with the name of the buyer. (I presume
  one can request a different personalisation if buying for someone
else.) 
* The box body, tiles, and coins are coated with some kind of finish
  that appears water resistant, giving confidence that they'll stand
up to environmental hazards of play.
Cons: 
* The box lid, pawns, and dice are (AFAICT) *not* coated like the
rest, leaving them unprotected from stains or liquid. 
* The wood surface on the box and tiles feels rough, and catches on
the fabric of our tablecloth; it may even shed splinters in time. 
* The laser etching caused mild discolouration in some areas adjacent
  to the graphic. I find this somewhat unattractive, but acceptable
  given the alternative of ink bleeding into the wood from some
printing process. 
* Dings and varnish blobs on a few of the tiles backs, rendering them
easily distinguishable to players. 
* Registration problems on the coins and dice. The tiles are well
  aligned on both sides; the coin backs are also fine, but the faces
  (number sides) of the coins and faces of the dice have erratic
  registration. This could be a problem for the coins, if games
require identical number faces to be indistinguishable. 
* Some of the die faces (the 2s on Set 1's dice; the 2s and 5s on Set
  3's dice) had graphics significantly smaller than the other faces on
the same die. This inconsistency is irritating. 
* The box lid fits snugly, like a puzzle piece, but not securely. It
  would need to be secured by a strap or the like if it were to be
  transported anywhere. (This isn't a flaw, more a design issue; it
works fine for what it is.) 

Overall, I'm pleased with this purchase: I have two solid, attractive
piecepacks for my game nights. If I could get some resolution on the
manufacturing issues, I would be very happy, and would then find it
necessary to buy some more sets as as a gift for friends :-) 
--
 &#92;       "It's easy to play any musical instrument: all you have to do |
  `&#92;       is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument |
_o__)                     will play itself."  -- Johann Sebastian Bach |
Ben Finney