Custom bottle openers now available

Openers for CoolMaterial in progress.

Thanks to Michael @ A Continuous Lean.  I have respect for the site so it was an amazing surprise to wake up and see my video posted this week.

Gramps made this tool box from an old sewing machine or something.  My dad couldn’t remember the details.  This toolbox has been sitting in the same spot for decades but I had no idea that my grandfather made it.

J. L. Lawson & Co. Part I from Anthony Lawson on Vimeo.

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We got our first bit of press this week.  Thanks to Sasha for an amazing write up.

shipping

Just added…

The thing about the desert is you end up with a lot of free time.

We had a few roadrunner in the yard today. Pops said that the babies were looking for food from mama. Times are tough for everyone.

I’ve been a frequent visitor of Joshua Tree since I was seven years old. That’s the year my grandparents relocated out there. Something that I will never forget is the cholla bush and the glass eye. My sister and I would always want to go out into the “gully”…I have no idea why it was called that, it just was. It was a bit of desert behind the house that seemed like miles when we were kids but as an adult it seems the “gully” has shrank to pretty much nothing. The main thing my grandfather would say is “watch out for cholla”. Cholla. Somehow it’s magnetized to your shoe and pierces through the sole like it doesn’t even exist. We would do our best to avoid it but somehow we always ended up with an invisible predator lodged in our foot and we knew that it was time for the Glass Eye to come out. A tool that my grandfather created solely for the purpose of removing cholla thorns from his grandchildrens feet. We would try to ignore the pain for as long as we could so we wouldn’t have to endure the dreaded eye (because with the eye comes some kind of cutting/prodding/poking device) but ultimately we would give in and let gramps go to work. About a month ago I asked my dad if grandpa’s glass eye was still around…within 30 seconds my dad handed it to me. I thought it was odd that he would have my grandfathers cholla removing tool so accessible in the shop. It took me about 30 more seconds to realize that the dreaded glass eye is a very common magnifying device that he used to examine parts for. I’m not sure why I never made the connection, I guess I just wanted to hang on to that bit of childhood for as long as I could.

A.L.