The crank finally landed on my doorstep on Fri.

Normally I am very patient about these things (maybe too patient, if you ask my wife ;)) I don't like to be the guy who is somebody's pain in the ass. But this took too many calls and bothering too many people to 'make it happen', only because I was getting to may broken promises over too long a period of time.
Anyway, it's my machinist that was probably inconvenienced the most, having my block take up space in the corner of his shop, waiting for the crank. But all's well that ends well, so he'll get the crank on Monday and hopefully he's be happy with the quality.