Craftsmanship of the Stone Cup
Greetings backers!
Forgive us for the delay in response!
In reading your concerns about the ‘unfinished’ inner walls of the stone cup, we’d like to clarify a few things!
First, our main focus is preservation. The stone cup is all about preserving the most natural flavors of whatever liquid you’re drinking. When we got to the polishing process, we specifically avoided using chemicals on the inside of the cup. Combined with the liquid being consumed, it would diminish the overall flavor quality. Hence, the intentional unfinished, rough and groove-patterned interior aesthetics of the cup.
Second, if we were to introduce chemicals to the cup’s internal walls, it would seal the inner-pores of the stone. This greatly inhibits its thermo-regulative properties. By preventing those chemicals from entering the interior, it has elongated the temperature duration of the liquid by two to three times that of a glass or a plastic cup. In short, it can hold a desired temperature longer than that of other cups.
Third, the Stone Cups are machine washable. Imagine with me that you’re cooking a pizza or some other food at high temperatures. If any stone is used in creating the food (be it a pizza peel, stone container, bowl, etc.) the intense temperature itself will sterilize all bacteria and/or pathogens from cross contamination… making it safe to use the stone equipment over and over again without washing it. Afterwards, the only way the stone is then cleaned (or at least should be cleaned) is by rag and water. Now, we understand that cooking solids and drinking liquids are two different situations. With that in mind, we intentionally milled every cup to be machine washable. This allows the cup to be correctly sterilized, properly preventing cross contamination of harmful substances/residues all without compromising or diverting from our main focus; preservation of flavor quality.
In summary, each cup is milled to preserve flavor (the reason it has that unfinished look in the inside), maintain its thermo-regulative properties (allowing hot and cool liquids to remain at their desired temperatures for longer spans of time), and prevent cross-contamination (by being machine washable).
Hopefully this has helped explained why the cups look the way they do, feel the way they do and behave the way they do.
Also! ROURKE HOME is a quickly growing company that now has a fully operational customer service team who does NOT respond to Kickstarter inquiries, but always responds to direct customer emails. This is a brand new system and it works.
If you have any questions or inquiries, please reach out to us via our customer service email address:
Contact@rourke.co
-ROURKE HOME
Jeffrey Shev
Superbacker
2 days ago
Previous comments more than sum up what I have to say. Still, I will chime in. Yes, I agree what you have to say is, as our Vice President would say, Mularkey ie; the rough cutting will facilitate holding heat. Your update makes no mention of the fact that the cup only holds 4-5 Ounces and not the 8oz you specified in the campaign description. This alone constitutes fraud. Lastly, what happened to the promised leather sleeve? OK. what do you have to say ROURKE? (silence) Just as I thought...
Jitan Vaghela
Superbacker
2 days ago
i agree with below, it looks like a half finished product.. actually making it more difficult to clean.. which kinda negates the above reasoning .. was looking forward to getting the pint ones, but will have a look to see if someone else is going to make them.. this just sounds like a poor excuse for a rush job.. also no leave ... hell i don't care if it takes longer than promised for a decent product... i'm waiting 2 years on another KS product.. i do care if the quality is shite
Jacob Schill 2 days ago
You are adding insult to injury. This message is crap, polished to a much smoother shine than the interior of the cups.
Any rudimentary understanding of thermodynamics and surface cleanliness blows these claims out of the water. A finer inner surface could have been supplied by something as simple as a faster mill bit speed and slower track across the surface. Or even just using a reaming tool. Instead you cut corners and then did an even worse job of trying to cover the mistake up.
Please continue to use the O'Rourke name on future endeavors, so I can be sure to steer clear of them.
Dane Hillard 3 days ago
Any word about the leather sleeves? Received my cups but no sleeve to be found.
Cg2 3 days ago
Sean O'Rourke: https://www.youtube.com/watch…
850 N. University Avenue
Provo, Utah
tel. 216-645-1009
orourke.sm@gmail.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/sean.orourke.587…
https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisceowouldliketobeyourintern
https://angel.co/sean-o-rourke
CEO of this other project, you can see him on the video: https://vimeo.com/106682150
Apparently Sean is a Guru of the crowdfunding: https://www.ivoox.com/the-secrets-to-a-100-000-hardware-crowdfunding-comeback-audios-mp3_rf_6767848_1.html.
While working at Rourke, according to his linkedin profile (https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-scoffield-7a5b7578), it might also be a good idea to contact Alex Scoffield: https://www.facebook.com/ahscoffield, who coincidentally, likes geefi a lot (runned by his fb friend Eli Ostreicher, just to say "be careful with geefi")
ALL THIS INFORMATION IN PUBLIC ON THE INTERNET. It's just about searching.
Chris Macgregor 3 days ago
Credit where credit's due - this is pretty impressive BS :) You've clearly had a good think about what would sound like logical explanations for why they're not finished (rather than the reality of cost, time or, technical difficulty) but unfortunately you've made the classic liars' mistake of trying to over-complicate to obfuscate...
The "most natural flavors", "seal the inner-pores", "inhibits its thermo-regulative properties", "elongated the temperature duration of the liquid", "preservation of flavor quality" are all not only hilariously unscientific but also wonderfully over-written phrases - it actually reminds me of the Friends episode where Joey uses a thesaurus for a job application :D
Admittedly I'm not a stone polishing expert, but I am a mechanical and materials engineer working in the pharmaceutical industry, so the idea that by not polishing a surface you can reduce cross-contamination is wonderful news! I'll inform everybody immediately, and we can stop making our sterile surfaces out of polished stainless steel, and start using rough-cut stone! It's also great to hear that you can sterilise this rough stone using a dishwasher! All this time we've been autoclaving at 121 degrees celsius, whereas we should have been using a dishwasher running at 50 :P
In all seriousness though, this is probably the most amusing explanation for a half-finished product I've seen in a long time, so thank you for that. My cups are doing sterling work as astonishingly expensive herb pots, and they shall serve as a useful reminder in the years to come about the perils of crowdfunding :)
For a more scientific analysis of this update - @Dave Steele +1, nice work!
Sarge 3 days ago
I, like other backers, have no point of reference in regards to inconsistent cup sizes, receiving stone shards instead of cups, lack of leather sleeves, or rough cup interiors due to incompetent milling practices. I believe this is attributed to a lack of honest dealing from ROURKE in fulfilling his half of the project.
Perhaps I am not savvy enough to understand the KS Stone Cup equation, and lack the capacity to understand the situation at hand. I thought it went something like this, project created, backers pledge funds, funding level met, funds committed to project, fulfillment of pledge.
While I appreciate there is a passing of time from a project being funded to a pledge being honored, I also have a reasonable expectation a backer would be informed of deviations from projected timelines and pledge fulfillment. To date, I have not seen any evidence of that notification, much the same as the fabled cups.
For me the cups are as mythical as the fabled Chimera, though I hope to see and hold one before I shed this mortal coil. Being the rational being I am, I wouldn't bet my life on it. I think I might have a better chance of passing beyond the veil to join The Ancients, whereupon I can sip Ambrosia, served in perfect artisan-milled stone cups, sourced from metamorphic rock!
The update provided by Rourke appears to me a mocking gesture directed at the backers, or better yet, a small, irregular, roughly milled stone pseudo-cup heaved at the backers faces with high velocity, from a short distance. Other explanations do not suffice or make sense to me. I do not grok.
I accept the nature and terms of crowd-sourced funding and the thought of helping innovative, ambitious, and passionate people making their mark in the world. Doesn’t always work out, but fear of failure should not mute the desire to support.
Lastly, I have doubts whether the creator’s last name is Rourke, for that surname is one of honor and great deeds, and not one of a flaccid charlatan.
Justin Barrett 3 days ago
1) Still haven't received my cups
2) Almost all of this is bull. I'm a scientist. I studied geology and chemistry. Just about all the excuses above are crap. I'm not the first to cry foul, but come on. Do you take us for idiots? The unfinished insides has nothing to do with the thermal qualities, the ability of the cup to be used in a dishwasher, nor will it affect taste. And on the last one, leaving it unfinished will ruin the taste and allow microbes to grow.
Embarrassing! You should be ashamed. Not so much for the product you produced (though you should have some for that) but for this update. It's beyond condescending (which I'm sure you'll remind us means to talk down to someone)!
Dave Steele 3 days ago
You know... I had forgotten about this project. I got the cups, found then useless for intended task, shoved them in a corner, and just forgot.
Then I get an email notification about Rourke's Update posted today... and I remember all over again.
"we specifically avoided using chemicals on the inside of the cup... it would diminish the overall flavor quality".
I don't think anyone mentioned using chemicals on the inside of the cup, but ok. However, if you did use chemicals to polish the outside, rim, and top 1/4" to 1/2" of the interior, what happens when my lips hit the rim and the liquid passes over those sections? Also, you don't need chemicals to smooth or polish, it can be done mechanically.
"... would diminish the overall flavor quality. Hence, the intentional unfinished rough and groove-patterned interior aesthetics of the cup"
Huh? the porous nature of the cup, and grooves on the inside will make my drinks taste better? So having everything taste like coffee is a good thing? or... is the point to only ever drink one thing in each cup? My coffee gets a little stronger each month? Maybe in 10yrs I can just add boiling water to the cup and automagically make coffee?
"... seal the inner pores of the stone. This greatly inhibits its thermo-regulative properties." LMFAO
Speaking as an engineer that painfully sat through thermodynamics classes many moons ago... BS.
"We intentionally milled each cup to be machine washable. This allows the cup to be correctly sterilized... without compromising or diverting from our main focus; preservation of flavor quality". LMAFO, ROFLOL
1. You CANNOT sterilize in standard residential dishwashers - they don't get hot enough. In fact, the majority of residential dishwashers don't even heat the water, they use whatever water temp your hot water tank puts out. You have to go high-end to get inline heaters in a dishwasher (that still don't get hot enough to sterilize).
2. Preservation of flavor quality... what flavor? Dishsoap?
I could have accepted it had you come online and just admitted to a failed project and apologized for the lack of communication. But all you're doing is trying to string together enough big words so that it sounds like you know what you're talking about "...it has elongated the temperature duration of the liquid..." LOL
That update can only be described as insulting.
Christian Sirois 3 days ago
I haven't receive a single cup yet... That post doesn't help me.
Thierry Barnay 3 days ago
After reading all the comments from you guys, I felt embarrassed for the project creator, and I felt disappointed by the fact that no one was actually reading these comments. Therefore I contacted the company directly a few weeks back.
I recently received a very nice email from the customer support service. They acknowledged that my cups were not sent yet and they actually wrote back that these will be sent shortly. So this is good to me.
Now regards to the milling details, I expressed my concerns to the company after reading all the comments. And today they came back with an answer. Which is good, isn't it?
So instead of complaining, one should contact the company directly to get answers and resolution to issues, as it has worked for me.
Cheers
Dave Steele 3 days ago
hahahahahahhaha.... Sorry, I'm doing my best to be respectful and considerate and choose to laugh, rather than express my initial thoughts.
I have nothing new to add to this discussion that wasn't said by the other comments already posted.
Regan Somers 3 days ago
I getting to the point of not caring how the cups look I just want them it has been almost 9 months since they received the funds
Gaurav Komera 3 days ago
If only you were more attentive to the comments and feedback of your backers, you could've avoided all the embarrassment you've caused for yourself.
+1 to what Devonius Rex said. Please don't assume your backers know nothing. There are other ways to smoothing stones. There are ancient temples around the world carved out of a single huge piece of stone and are smoother than what you have sent us.
You failed to address the two other things you promised.
1. The volume of liquid the cups hold
2. The outer cover/pouch
Devonius Rex 3 days ago
And I don't care whether you use a sealant or polish or any chemical on the inside of the cup. The issue is that the milling is so rough. You can "polish" stone without chemicals - using machinery. Perhaps even "smoothing" might be a better term. That's what was expected from this product.
Cg2 3 days ago
What about the broken cups people are receiving.
Jon Schendt 3 days ago
How do you explain the cups only holding half of what was advertised? Or the fact that most people haven't received their "product" yet?