Lortone going out of business; also HF tumbler discontinued

[waterboysh]

In case the image goes away, I ran it through an online text extractor. So might not be 100% accurate.

March 6, 2024


To Our Community,


We can't really believe that we are writing these words, but we will soon be closing the doors of Lortone, inc.,

as I have finally decided to retire.


Lortone's last day of production will be Friday, March 29th, 2024. Effective immediately we will no longer

be taking any new orders. While we are trying to complete as many outstanding orders as possible, with

whatever inventory we have, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to fill all outstanding orders.


From the beginning operating out of the old Lortone building in Seattle, to our relocation in our current

building, we are proud of our employees and the ability to be part of the wonderful world of lapidary for over

45 years. We feel a deep sadness and disappointment in having to close and let down our wonderful staff and

customers. It has been an incredible labor of love, and it is saddening and heartbreaking to make this

announcement after all this time.


To be completely transparent with you - my health isn't what it once was. After over 30 years of working

tirelessly, the constant stress from the challenges of the last 4 years following the pandemic has led us to

reevaluate how we wish to spend the next part of our lives. My desire to change direction and spend more

time with my family and close friends is the reason for retirement.


To all our amazing community who have gotten us to this point, Thank you for ALL the support over the

years. Lortone has been a part of my life since 1978 when it was purchased by my father, and it has been a

major endeavor of my life for the last few decades. I have immensely enjoyed the wonderful camaraderie and

the valuable friendships created along the way. Personally, I will miss all of it.


Please support us in these last few weeks. We are eternally grateful to our crew for all they've done. We

know the demand for Lortone products remains high and are working toward finding someone to take over

the business going forward. Stay tuned for more information as we finalize plans. Stay tuned for more

information as we finalize plans. If you have any questions, please reach out to us by email at

[e-mail].


Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Doug and Kathleen Guthrie

Lortone, Inc 12130 Cyrus Way, Mukilteo, WA 98275 Email: [e-mail]

[waterboysh]

Dear [redacted]

Thank you for contacting Harbor Freight Tools.


I apologize for the confusion. The Chicago Electric Dual

Drum Rotary Rock Tumblers (item #67632) are being

discontinued. They are currently offered as an In-Store

only item and will likely not be restocked.


Again, thank you for taking the time to contact us. If you

need further assistance, please let us know.


Best regards,


Morgan D.

Contact Center Associate

[waterboysh]

To clarify, neither of these I received directly. They were posted on the rock tumbling subreddit by other users.

[hplcman]

Oh man. I just made a comment the other day about the lack of availability of lapidary equipment and was hoping that it was due to increased interest in this hobby but feared that it was because we're going to be seeing these companies start going out of business. Lortone going out of business hits hard. I have a 33B and a QT66 and I love those things. I think someone should start a post on alternate suppliers of replacement parts and tips on barrel repair and alternate motors and stuff.

[dillonf]

Man, tumblers are going to have to make their own machines - between businesses closing and machine shortages . . .

[Rockoonz]

Dang.
I met Doug years ago when they moved some of their rubber parts molds to the company I worked at, I did product development for sales as one of my many hats back then. He had some great stories of growing up with all the old timers who are gone. He left a career in aerospace to take over the company, as I recall. I hope they find someone to keep it going.
Unfortunately it's hard to compete with the Chinese, and I can see that they are getting comfortable enough in their monopoly in this niche that they no longer have to undercut the US competition to drive them out of business. Their prices will rise as well, "we'll sell you the rope to hang yourselves" and all.

[iamchris]

Dang. Highland Park picked a great time to jump in on the tumbling side of things. This is no good - we need more competition in the market. The prices are already ridiculous.

Anyone else surprised they have no buyers?

[waterboysh]

Mar 14, 2024 12:07:03 GMT -5 iamchris said:

Dang. Highland Park picked a great time to jump in on the tumbling side of things. This is no good - we need more competition in the market. The prices are already ridiculous.

I've done a little bit of looking around and I think Highland Park stands to greatly benefit from this. Their tumblers look like they are very solidly built and the fact they are DC direct drive motors means lower power consumption, the motor doesn't get as hot, and there are no belts to replace. I have no idea if the Lortone barrels fit on their tumblers, but if they do it would be very smart of them to advertise that fact on their products' pages.

[mgroothuis]

I can't help but be confident that someone will pick up where they left off and continue the brand. They have a strong distribution network, loyal customers, quality product, expert recommendations, etc. Obviously it's not as simple as turnkey, but with some restructuring, it seems like a no-brainer.

[chris1956]

I spoke with Val at Minnesota Lapidary Supply today.  I don't mean to push any one company, but he still has a good supply of belts, bearings and other parts for the Lortone tumblers if anyone needs them (since there have been some comments about not being able to find them anywhere).   He seems to stock a lot more spare parts than other companies do.  He doesn't have all spare parts but he is working at, and seems confident that, he can find other replacement parts for the Lortone tumblers.   Although it may take time before he can get it all arranged. 

He also seemed confident/hopeful that somebody will purchace Lortone and keep it going.    Hopefully, if someone purchases it, they won't send the manufacturing to China (my thought).  

[hypodactylus]

Mar 14, 2024 12:12:32 GMT -5 waterboysh said:

Mar 14, 2024 12:07:03 GMT -5 iamchris said:

Dang. Highland Park picked a great time to jump in on the tumbling side of things. This is no good - we need more competition in the market. The prices are already ridiculous.

I've done a little bit of looking around and I think Highland Park stands to greatly benefit from this. Their tumblers look like they are very solidly built and the fact they are DC direct drive motors means lower power consumption, the motor doesn't get as hot, and there are no belts to replace. I have no idea if the Lortone barrels fit on their tumblers, but if they do it would be very smart of them to advertise that fact on their products' pages.

I use my Lortone 3A barrels on my Highland Park 3lb tumbler; they fit/work just fine.

[khara]

What. Is going on with tumblers! Well, actually I can guess.. I’ll refrain from my made in China diatribe.

[cinnamints]

Oh NO. That's a longtime load-bearing pillar of lapidary equipment, hard to imagine the world of rocks & gems without them.

One of my saws is the little vintage Skilcraft 940 4" grinder/trimsaw Gem Maker, and everyone who has seen it asked if Lortone made it as essentially a rebadged LU-4. "Did Lortone make those?" is one of the best things to hear or read about a combo machine.

It's really interesting to me that rotary tumbling is a central point of conversation everywhere this is being discussed. Didn't realize it was experiencing such a resurgence because it always seemed like the polished material was difficult to use.

[Rockoonz]

Mar 14, 2024 15:27:33 GMT -5 chris1956 said:

I spoke with Val at Minnesota Lapidary Supply today.  I don't mean to push any one company, but he still has a good supply of belts, bearings and other parts for the Lortone tumblers if anyone needs them (since there have been some comments about not being able to find them anywhere).   He seems to stock a lot more spare parts than other companies do.  He doesn't have all spare parts but he is working at, and seems confident that, he can find other replacement parts for the Lortone tumblers.   Although it may take time before he can get it all arranged. 

He also seemed confident/hopeful that somebody will purchace Lortone and keep it going.    Hopefully, if someone purchases it, they won't send the manufacturing to China (my thought).  

It would be good if the copywright on the name isn't allowed to lapse, that's how we got HP China when someone forgot to renew it and the Rowlands jumped right on it. The Chinese competition hurt Lortone pretty bad, and so much of it clearly directed at them. What Covington mainstay item will be released next, probably at break even or loss to force them to discontinue it, like Lortones saws?

[roQhound]

I wouldn't be surprised if Highland Park anticipated this. Their new tumblers look pretty good and the owner commented on one of my FB posts recently that they have a larger tumbler on the way, too (like the QT12). They stand to pick up a good share of Lortone users if their machines can use the Lortone barrels.

[hplcman]

Mar 15, 2024 15:40:17 GMT -5 roQhound said:

I wouldn't be surprised if Highland Park anticipated this. Their new tumblers look pretty good and the owner commented on one of my FB posts recently that they have a larger tumbler on the way, too (like the QT12). They stand to pick up a good share of Lortone users if their machines can use the Lortone barrels.

They would definitely be filling in a gap in rotary tumbling that people have really gotten used to.  I love my QT66 and how versatile it is.  You can tumble 2-6lb barrels on there, or slap on a 12-lb barrel for the big runs.  It's a wonderful machine.

[geoff59]

Another well known lapidary supplier (not Minnesota LS) told me just a couple of days ago that when they last heard from the Lortone folks, which was more recently than the date on that notice, they were told that they thought they had found a buyer for the business. I guess we wait and see what happens. I went ahead and purchased a 3rd QT66, as I had been thinking of doing so anyway. As for a “new” Lortone, we can all keep our fingers crossed. Hopefully Lortone won’t become a Chinese produced product. And lastly, that if there is no buyer and their production does end, I would agree with the general comment already made that rest of the industry will likely produce at least some Lortone parts, bearings and belts for starters, probably more besides. There ARE a lot of Lortone machines out 

[ThomasT]

Unfortunately, in a lot of cases that 'Made in USA' is going to cost apparently more than the market can bear these days.

[OregonBorn]

Yeah, MK/Barranca-Diamond is gone and now Lortone is gone. Joining Scott-Murray and Framton, and many others. There is some descent Chinese lap stuff out there, but you have to wade through a lot of crap to get there. I bought a HF double roller tumbler made in china, but it is pure crap. No loss HF not selling them any more. The barrels were the only thing worth anything on that unit. It is by far the worst of all the tumblers I have had, custom, Scott-Murray, Loretone, DP, etc.

[OregonBorn]

KN and some others sell the Rebel 17 Rock Tumbler. 17 lb. capacity, sealed bearings, oversized shafts and rollers, and a thick rubber liner to keep it quiet. $269 (price fixed by the manufacturer/importer). Cody at Moon Valley in Boise sells them with free shipping. KN does not have free shipping. No, I have no vested interest in them nor have I owned or run one. I have 4 old Lortones, a large Scott Murray and several DP vibe tumblers. I am set for tumbler action.