BEST MADE PROJECTS

First featured in the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of...

Wed, 15 May 2013 14:42:45 -0400

First featured in the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition of 1876, enamelware was touted to combine “all the advantages of glass with the strength of metal”. Since then enamel tin and steel have long been favored by outdoorsmen and cowboys because it is light, durable and easy to clean. Our bowls are dishwasher safe and can even be brandished over an open fire.

Seamless & Steadfast Enamel Steel Bowls (Set of Two & Six)

Some say the ditty bag got its name from from the word “dittis”...

Fri, 10 May 2013 15:18:08 -0400

Some say the ditty bag got its name from from the word “dittis” (a derivation of the Saxon word “dite” meaning “tidy”), others say that because a sailor would spend great lengths at sea he needed two of each item (hence it derived from “the ditto bag”).

We are proud to announce the opening of our headquarters, and...

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:28:28 -0400

We are proud to announce the opening of our headquarters, and shop at 36 White Street, New York. Hold our products, meet the Best Made team, talk shop, get expert advice, try on a cruiser, behold just how sharp our blades are…

Open every Wednesday to Sunday from noon to 7PM

We set out to design the best made steel toolbox, and along the...

Wed, 08 May 2013 16:00:29 -0400

We set out to design the best made steel toolbox, and along the way we made a breakthrough: in order to access the bottom hold of any standard toolbox, you have to unlatch and open the lid, and then remove the top tray, and in the heat of the moment setting a heavy tray of tools aside, let alone finding a clear spot to put it down, is a pain. So working closely with a legendary American metal fabricator we designed a toolbox that would do away with this extra step: with the front loading door you can access all your tools without having to grapple with the top tray.

Front Loading Toolbox

This week marks the opening of our new Headquarters, Shop, and...

Wed, 08 May 2013 14:06:15 -0400

This week marks the opening of our new Headquarters, Shop, and Workshop Space on White Street in New York City (more on that very soon) and we are kicking it off in true Best Made fashion with two workshops to celebrate the new space:

Workshops at White Street: Axe Restoration

Workshops at White Street: Field Medicine

Join Robert Gorski, MD for an afternoon covering the principles...

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:45:54 -0400

Join Robert Gorski, MD for an afternoon covering the principles of what do to do when bad things happen in the outdoors. This workshop will include a streamlined approach to field wound closure based on Dr. Gorksi’s experience repairing thousands of lacerations and fractures, including a live demonstration of suturing (on pig’s hooves!).

Join Workshops at White Street: Field Medicine

From Minnesota, to Chicago, to Belfast, and on down to Texas,...

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:31:42 -0400

From Minnesota, to Chicago, to Belfast, and on down to Texas, our famous axe restoration workshop has been around the world, and now we’re excited to bring it all back home. With our resident axe expert Nick Zdon at the helm, this workshop is guaranteed to be the most immersive we’ve offered: in 3 hours you’ll learn to sharpen, hang, and fully restore an axe with total fluency and grace. Participants just need to bring their wits and an old axe (the rustier the better). We will provide the materials, tools, know-how, and of course the whiskey.

Join Workshops at White Street: Axe Restoration

The lost tunnels of the Southern Pacific Railroad, by Jeremy Blakeslee

Mon, 06 May 2013 17:08:43 -0400

Wrights Station, 100 year comparison

Nestled amid the Santa Cruz Mountains, a stones throw from Silicon Valley but well-hidden by the redwood forests, you can find the remains of a historic rail corridor, built by the Southern Pacific Railroad in the 1880s. I set out to see what remained of these historic towns and the forgotten infrastructure that once connected them.

The steep topography of the Mountains made it challenging to move lumber, people, freight, and mail from San Jose to Santa Cruz. Six tunnels, reaching an overall length of 14,400 feet, were constructed to tackle the terrain, and as the rail line huffed and puffed through the tunnels, it also breathed into existence the historic towns of Los Gatos, Alma, Wright’s, Laurel, Glenwood, Zayante, Olympia, Felton, and Rincon.

Visiting these old towns often delivers an abandoned rail portal, or in Glenwood, for example, you’ll find both a portal which has become a local water supply, and a tarnished plaque dedicated in the 1950s to commemorate a community slowly passing into oblivion.

Where these rail towns once thrived, the redwood forest has largely reclaimed the land. Birds, deer, poison oak and insects have slowly reclaimed what belongs to the earth. When you listen carefully you can hear the whisper in the distance of cars speeding along the dangerous curves of highway 17, derisively called Bloody Alley or simply Killer 17 due to its poor safety record. It has not only taken the lives of many speeding motorists but, eventually, the rail road and the towns that sprung up to serve them. Now, there is no longer any need to stop (or even slow down) along the way, unless you’d like to seek out a historic tunnel to help you travel back in time through our country’s history.

Built directly over the the San Andreas Fault, the rail line was shuttered after the 1906 earthquake for two years, but hummed again after significant repairs, evident in the 1908 date on most of the rail portals. I’ve also read reports that the tunnels were sealed in the early 40’s as fears mounted of a possible Japanese invasion of California. Southern Pacific reportedly dynamited several tunnels to make them unusable to Axis forces wishing to access the interior of California. In 1954, the Western States Atomic Vault Company modified the 240-foot curved Zayante Tunnel to become a storage facility to protect precious government documents and artifacts from Nuclear attack; it still exists today in use by a file storage company.

Finding the tunnels can prove to be very difficult, but tracking down old U.S. Geological Survey maps of the area will reveal their locations. If you pay a visit to any of these historic rail portals please be sure to treat them like the archaeological and historic landmark sites that they are. Others will benefit from your respectful passing and the experience of seeing in pristine condition some of the last remaining relics of our industrial revolution.

The Ransome Tree Feller

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:21:00 -0400

Tales from the Cabin Fever Expo by Mike Piersa

Every spring, model engineers across America emerge from their basement workshops and show off their latest creations at the Cabin Fever Expo in York, PA. Home machinists, backyard foundrymen, and industrial artisans display miniature engines and machinery that often required hundreds of hours to create. The most enthralling models are those that recreate the long lost and legendary machines of the Victorian era. Jerry Pontius, of Deadwood, South Dakota, exhibited his operating model of the steam powered Ransome Tree Feller. In the 1870s, half a century before the modern chainsaw, this British built reciprocating saw was used around the world.

The machine and a crew of four men did the work of thirty axe wielding lumberjacks. It could fell a tree three feet in diameter in less than five minutes, cutting it almost at ground level and thus preserving large chunks of tree that otherwise “would be cut into chips if felled by the axe.” The saw ran off of steam supplied by a three horsepower boiler which must have burned scrap wood from the timbering operation. If not for this model, which could almost fit on the head of an axe, this once remarkable machine would have been forgotten, lost in time beyond the living memory of both the lumberman and engineer.

Project & Photos by Mike Piersa, Historian, National Museum of Industrial History, Bethlehem, PA.

Bio: Mike Piersa is an industrial historian whose vast knowledge base and hands-on philosophy has enabled him and his volunteer crews to preserve over 250 tons of steam-era machinery from mining, transportation, and manufacturing facilities across the northeast. Mike looks forward to every day, which could find him researching papers discovered in dusty attics, interviewing retired engineers, restoring century old machines, or being immersed in a cloud of steam from one of the many stationary engines he works with.

We teamed up with the most legendary European knife maker to...

Wed, 01 May 2013 12:07:26 -0400

We teamed up with the most legendary European knife maker to offer the 127 in a maple handle. These knives are made with a T12 carbon steel at the Laguiole forge in France, and also come to us in briar root and ebony.

We’re thrilled to announce that the first batch of our...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:53:44 -0400

We’re thrilled to announce that the first batch of our 2013 maple syrup is hot off the sugar shack, and available for purchase!

“Big Jug” of Organic Maple Syrup, http://bit.ly/15QunNN

photo by North Family Farm

Today we’re proud to announce the release of our Seamless...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 18:59:21 -0400

Today we’re proud to announce the release of our Seamless & Steadfast enamel steel plates, and the next iteration of what’s becoming a full line of Best Made enamelware: for camp, home, and everywhere in between…http://bit.ly/YQsCJi

“Glasses compounded from silica, ﬂint, and soda ash are...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:38:00 -0400

“Glasses compounded from silica, ﬂint, and soda ash are melted together to form ﬁt or fondant. This ﬁt is mixed with water and applied to the metal base. The wet enamel is allowed to dry and then ﬁred at 1450 degrees in a furnace…” The beauty of enamelware is that it’s virtually indestructible and hassle-free, but we have a few tips to offer, and more importantly some quality information on this legendary and overlooked process.

Download the Best Made Enamelware Handbook

Our best bud Nate Bressler checks in from the eastern Sierras on...

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 12:06:22 -0400

Our best bud Nate Bressler checks in from the eastern Sierras on a recent backcountry ski trip.

photograph by pascal shirley

Collapsible Bucksaw Instructions

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 16:32:46 -0400

Collapsible Bucksaw Instructions

Photo

Sat, 20 Apr 2013 13:49:21 -0400

Lumberland is a small town in upstate New York, and home to our...

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:57:35 -0400

Lumberland is a small town in upstate New York, and home to our camp: our closest place of refuge from the city, a laboratory for our products, and somewhere to sleep under the stars.

Built for three seasons of wear and tear, and decades of...

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 11:30:23 -0400

Built for three seasons of wear and tear, and decades of immunity from the elements. // Light Waxed Cruiser, This week at Best Made

Alaska: The Last Frontier Photos by Ports Bishop

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 12:19:53 -0400

Alaska: The Last Frontier

Photos by Ports Bishop

Engraved graduations, blackened by hand on American rock...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 12:10:25 -0400

Engraved graduations, blackened by hand on American rock maple. #measuretwice #cutonce