Has Orca Coatings changed?

[JSR]

I only worry about the smell... do you think cooking the dishwasher tablet for an hour can produce some odour??

Our cooker's close to the back door - we can always chuck it outside if it proves troublesome! At the moment, my test mugs are in someone's dishwasher so I'll wait a bit before I progress to this test. After all, if they fade after a couple of regular dishwasher cycles then there's no point doing any further tests.

[Andrew]

Yeah, I should have added a disclaimer that the test procedure has nothing to with me should any damage or health issues arrise.

I've got a couple of mugs here if anyone wants extra to test. Rhino coated and another without a name which I regularly use. I think it's safe to say that RN is the benchmark for all others.

[Paul]

i love to try this rn one. I also need the orca to compare with coralgraphs and xpress

[bms]

If the mug is produced in Europe I'm absolutely ok with that, but that I don't know for sure. Martin just said it is not made in China. That doesn't mean it's produced in Europe. Maybe it is, but that is not what he was saying

Hi Panda,

The name we give to a mug is just a name. We call this mug a 'european' mug to differentiate it from other mugs, such as Sparta, Windsor, 11oz and many other names for different shaped mugs. Our mugs are not made in China and I wouldn't want anyone to infer a name of a mug implies it is made in any particular country (it doesn't). I'm not going to give the country of manufacture as this is commercially sensitive information given the open nature of a forum such as this, but suffice to say that the vast majority of mugs do come from China with varying degrees of quality. There are a couple of main UK sublimation suppliers that source their mugs from outside China.

As for dishwasher testing, this has been done and JSR/ Andrew and others are aware of an independent test document that has been done on RN (also called duraglaze by one company) and Orca coated mugs. Also other members on here have performed many tests. There is a thread on here somewhere showing mugs at different stages of dererioration following dishwashing compared to an RN coated mug. It strikes me that by doing all these tests yourselves you are simply reinventing what has already been done and discussed many times before.

Speaking to many sublimation suppliers and end users, the benchmark is generally accepted as being the RN coated mugs, but this coating is more expensive and this is reflected in the mug prices. Other coatings such as Orca and Rhino have come onto the market more recently and are a pretty good hard coating, but even the co-owner of Orca admits that RN is still the benchmark.

When it comes to mugs there are 2 fundamental factors - the quality of the mug and the quality of the coating applied to the mug. If you are happy with the mug you are using then that's fine and in recent years various mug manufacturers have improved their quality.

Obviously I can be accused of being biased in my opinion/ view re dishwashing/ dishwasher proof of mugs as we supply RN coated mugs, but given the choice of having a mug coated in RN v something else, then it is RN all the way for me with many years of knowledge and increasing proof of longevity of coating withstanding many years of dishwashing.

[Ian M]

Windsor mugs don't come from Windsor, Durham mugs don't come from Durham & Cambridge mugs don't come from Cambridge as they are just name of the style of mug much like the Europen mug.

As for things being made in the country you think they are made well think again. If you bought a new Honda, Toyota or a Nissan there is a very good chance you are buying a car that was made in the UK & not Japan. It really doesn't matter where something is made when you buy it because all what we all want is quality first & foremost.

It pays to remember we do live in a Global Economy now where major companies have plants & offices in many different countries spread all over the world.

[Andrew]

I think testing keeps coming back up due to new coatings that arrive on the market with little known about them. Too much is down to interpretation on coatings as to what is dishwasher safe/proof as there is no datum point. Self testing shouldn't have to be done but a new coating arrives with no info or proof as to what it will withstand.

I don't know of any European source of subli mugs. Thailand supplies a few of the mug suppliers and is quite a big player on ceramics. I currently get mine from South Korea. I'd guess at China still being the largest but which mug is best for an individual is down to required standard of both mug and coating.

[Paul]

I had some from Thailand and they where not to bad. had them of ebay. I still got couple of TAMS that where made in england color change ones...

[JSR]

The reason for testing as far as I'm concerned is that no supplier of mugs offers any documented evidence of dishwasher safe properties of their mugs. Doesn't matter what they say the coating is. If I've not tested it for myself, I can't tell my customer that it's dishwasher safe.

I've had mugs from suppliers before who have claimed the mugs to be dishwasher safe when they turned out not to be. Doesn't matter who claims what mug is RN coated, Duraglaze, Orca, Rhino, or whatever. There is no proof of what coating is used on what mug and no documented evidence to back up any claim.

This is the primary reason I've stuck with Orca over the last year. Orca mugs that I've bought have been stamped "Orca" and have come from one supplier, and I have tested those mugs for myself. I am confident in the product. I'm not confident in any other, so I test in order to give myself that confidence.

In an ideal world, every box of mugs would come with a certificate of what coating is used together with documented evidence of the tests that have been undertaken. But that doesn't happen.

[JSR]

Windsor mugs don't come from Windsor, Durham mugs don't come from Durham & Cambridge mugs don't come from Cambridge as they are just name of the style of mug much like the Europen mug.

I don't know, I think the water's a little muddy on this one. Windsor, Durham, and Cambridge mugs are all styles of mug. But the term "European Mug" gives the distinct impression that the mug, and everything done with it, is made in Europe. After all, isn't the style of these mugs "Durham" just like all the other Durham mugs? Using the term "European" clearly suggests that it's a European mug.

Personally, it makes no odds to me. So long as Durham mugs look like Durham mugs and they're straight and they have a good coating, where they come from is of little significance. But I did think "European Mugs" meant "Mugs made and coated in Europe".

[Panda]

JSR, I totally agree with you. The name "European Mug" together with the claim "not made in China" intentionally misleading.