I haven never mentioned it to anyone on the web but I had a similar experience with Mr. Orlen about 6 years ago. He told me the job would take 4 to 6 weeks (chokes opened and rust blue). It took almost a year. The problem was not the quality of his work which was GREAT, or even the wait, it was simply to total lack of communication via email or phone. If he would have told me it would take a year, I probably would have still used him due to his excellent reputation. Hell, I would still use him as I feel this is not an honesty issue as I believe him to be an honest guy who gets behind now and again. The irony is, I have emailed him since with other jobs I needed done and he never bothered to get back to me. Bummer for me, as now I use other smiths with whom I'm satisfied.