Thoughts

Grandma's trying to save this little guy even though she's not sure what it is.

I don't think it's any secret that without online press this company wouldn't be close to where it is.  Not taking away from the importance of our amazing customers but how did you find us?  I've been meaning to add a Press section for quite awhile and finally found the time yesterday.  While doing so I was reminded of our first bit of press from Michael at A Continuous Lean over two years ago (probably a year before the surge of machined bottle openers hit that required a kick start).  Simple and to the point we are ever grateful to our real introduction to the online market. Check out our Press page and let us know if anything is missing.

Thanks to the folks at Smith Journal for the amazing write up!  Buy your copy today.

Watch in HD at vimeo.com

Thanks to everyone that entered!  I enjoyed seeing your submissions so much that I might have to make this happen twice a year.

We don't have a large staff but thought you might like to know what we're walking around with.  My dad is still carrying his original Minimalist key shackle (note the square head on the pin because he just likes to customize his pieces) and had the Mini attached until he recently became partial to Pocket Brass  Personally, I'm a fan of the M II....mine is the first one from the Limited Edition. The Minimalist M II Pocket Brass M II - Limited Editon

Last week I was looking through my grandfathers Machinery Handbook (14th edition...the handbook is up to 28th now).  What I discovered is that I know the tiniest fragment of the machining trade.  In the last couple of years my dad has been able to teach me enough to produce some nice goods that I'm proud to ship and encourage you to pass on for generations but if someone dropped off a set of prints I would be like a deer in headlights.  I found a cabinet full of old parts that my dad and grandfather produced over the years and it blew me away, especially when you consider that it was all done manually (will add photos of those to the flickr page soon).  Kudos to all of you that understand what d=h+D; in which D= cxc over h and know how to apply it and help keep our world plugging along.

   

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.” Two mockingbirds were trying to chase off an innocent roadrunner.  Then I realized they were trying to protect an innocent nest of somethings from the dastardly roadrunner.  Don't believe the cartoon hype.

A few years ago if you would have asked me what I wanted for my birthday I probably would have rattled off a few things that I needed at the time. The last thing I would have said would be "manually machined aluminum and brass peg game" but that's exactly what I received from my dad.  I was absolutely blown away by it and, to this day, is one of the best gifts I've ever received.  I'm sorry to say that this piece isn't for sale but check out our one of a kind and tops/games sections for great gift giving ideas.

    Find our belts here

    I'm not a fan of shaving, in fact, I rarely do it.  Something about running a razor across my jugular just doesn't thrill me.  So when the nice folks over at Hudson Made sent me a bar of their shave soap to test out I was in a quandary.  I could let the bar sit there and go to waste or I could go buy a razor and test it out.  I chose the latter and now I'm big on shaving.  I have no idea how this magical little bar turns into this perfect shave foam but it does.  I'm sure I come across as the town idiot for not understanding the chemistry behind it.  If you're like the majority of the adult male population and you like to shave your face, grab a bar.

  Around 30 years ago (so I'm told) my uncle made one of these classic peg games for his two brothers (my dad and other uncle) and his father (my grandfather).  I can't imagine how many times I've played it in the last 30 years and it's become a fixture next to the fireplace.  So much so that when I took it out to the shop the other day it was only a matter of hours before my grandmother was asking "where it went off to".  We will now be offering manually machined versions in various metals but they may be few and far between.  They can be time consuming to make and then we have to test them for around three hours so they can easily kill a couple of days.  Find them in the Tops | Games section.