BEST MADE PROJECTS

The Best Made Lensatic Cruiser Compass Handbook (Part 1) The...

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:34:00 -0400

The Best Made Lensatic Cruiser Compass Handbook (Part 1)

The following is an excerpt from the handbook to The Best Made Lensatic Cruiser Compass.

The Best Made Cruiser is a style of compass termed a “Lensatic Compass” that is historically considered to be the most accurate and ideal for both layman and professional use. Among other exciting features your compass is equipped with a lensatic or prismatic sight, which will allow the user to read a bearing off the compass while simultaneously aligning the compass with their destination and or objective. The lensatic style is optimized for explorers, geologists, speleologists, archaeologists, ornithologists, the military, and most famously for foresters who “cruise” timberlands engaged in precision survey work. This compass is a tool that will enable you to determine your location in the field, direction to landmarks or destinations, estimate distances, and find points of interest (marked boundary lines, USGS markers, trail heads, buried treasure, etc.). Your compass is a delicate precision instrument and must be cared for and used accordingly.

The Best Made Cruiser consists of a metal housing and lid with a glass window and a sighting or lubbing line etched into it. The spherically ground glass prism is mounted in a robust hinged housing unit that is flipped 180° and moved up or down which allows the user to focus on bearings. You can sight your objective by simultaneously observing the dial through the observation slit and the lubbing line in the glass window. The dial, lubbing line, and destination will simultaneously appear in your field of vision when you hold the compass level, and with some practice you will soon be able to determine the direction of travel. The compass has an integrated spirit level and can be mounted on a tripod by means of the threaded fitting in the base which will help serve as theodolite for simple terrain surveys. As a lensatic compass it offers considerable advantages over lesser models whereby parallax errors are more likely to occur. Excellent damping of the dial system ensures rapid and precise reading to a fraction of a degree.

In the following days we will outline more specific techniques to using the Cruiser including how to take bearings, determining your position in the field, and understanding magnetic declination.

Purchase The Lensatic Cruiser Compass

Our Flag, How to Fold it Properly Step OneBegin by holding the...

Wed, 23 May 2012 11:46:00 -0400

Our Flag, How to Fold it Properly

Step One
Begin by holding the flag horizontally waist-high between two people.

Step Two
Fold the flag in half along its length, stripes over stars.

Step Three
Fold the flag along its length a second time, this time stars over stripes.

Step Four
The person holding the striped end of the flag should fold the left corner diagonally to the right, making a triangle as shown.

Step Five
Now take the right corner and fold towards the star field (also called the union), making another triangle as shown.

Step Six
Continue folding the flag into a series of triangles, until you are left with a single triangle. Tuck any excess material neatly into the folds. Store your flag in a dry place free of dirt, where it will not become soiled or damaged.

Purchase the Annin American Flag at Best Made.

Our FlagHouse Document 165, 90th Congress, 1st Session...

Tue, 22 May 2012 17:35:00 -0400

Our Flag
House Document 165, 90th Congress, 1st Session (Excerpt)

The flag of the United States of America, when it is displayed with another flag against a wall from crossed staffs, should be on the right, the flag’s own right, and its staff should be in front of the staff of the other flag.

This regulation, and more information and history about the flag of the United States of America, can be found here.

Purchase the Annin American Flag at Best Made.

Spring Interlude, SalamanderBy Charlotte X.C. Sullivan

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:20:51 -0400

Spring Interlude, Salamander
By Charlotte X.C. Sullivan

The Star Spangled Banner Pictured above is the the first stanza...

Mon, 21 May 2012 12:48:00 -0400

The Star Spangled Banner

Pictured above is the the first stanza of The Star Spangled Banner as it was written by Francis Scott Key on September 13-14th, 1814, while prisoner aboard a British warship during the bombardment of Fort McHenry. However, it wasn’t until 1931 that the song was officially made the American national anthem.

Purchase the Annin American Flag at Best Made.

The Art of Making Sound: Martin Guitars, Nazareth PAby Jeff...

Tue, 15 May 2012 10:33:04 -0400

The Art of Making Sound: Martin Guitars, Nazareth PA
by Jeff Stark

Martin guitars in Nazareth, PA opens its doors to anyone that simply walks in. Last week I did exactly that and was amazed. Walking through the guided tour of Martin I saw an incredible sense of detail, extreme levels of craftsmanship and the strongest sense of pride. My tour guide took me through the entire process of a Martin guitar coming to life and it was simply beautiful. Here for your viewing pleasure is a selection of images from my time at Martin.

God Save the Queen By Nate Bressler Keeping bees healthy, wise...

Thu, 10 May 2012 09:49:32 -0400

God Save the Queen
By Nate Bressler

Keeping bees healthy, wise and of course wealthy, with the nectars of Topanga canyon, can at times be tricky. Beyond the typical varroa mite, colony collapse, foulbrood and of course minimal rain supplied by the California desert, we wage an entirely different war against the highly aggressive beast dominating our California bee population.

Like cowboys of the old west we are intent on bringing European order to the African bee invasion that’s eradicated the centuries old colonies. Since entering the state in 1994 they have managed to occupy solely from central California through Baja Mexico. And these girls are as defensive as they come. They’ll sting ya twice on a cold day just so you know they’re thinking of ya!

So this is our mission, to locate and exterminate the African queens that lay 1500 ass kickers a day and replace her with the laid back siesta lovin’ Italian mother. “Easier said than done” with, appropriately named, hive number 2 we spent seven months before a foreign queen was accepted. Just entering the bee yard would be enough to have 3,000 pissed off Africans at your throat.

For now we’re 95% queen right but with the addition of the swarms we catch monthly the inquisition will roll on! With a little luck we should get close to a thousand pounds of honey and that’d be just fine with us. Until then may the education continue and stings become less and less frequent.

Long live the precious pollinators!

Photograph: the new Italian queen with her nurses at hive number two, Topanga Canyon, by Nate Bressler

Nate Bressler, a former archaeologist, is a photographer, surfer, and beekeeper based on a small farm in Topanga Canyon, California. Nate photographs frequently for national magazines such as Outside, Men’s Journal, and the LA Times Magazine. He is a best friend and regular contributor to Best Made Company.

Coast to Coast, Part IIBy Jeremy Blakeslee Mile 1871Longleaf, LA...

Tue, 08 May 2012 11:26:11 -0400

Coast to Coast, Part II
By Jeremy Blakeslee

Mile 1871
Longleaf, LA — Lumber Mill

The Southern Lumber Heritage Museum let me photograph off limits areas in exchange for the photographs. The saw mill, powerhouse, planar mill and machine shop are all still intact complete with belt driven everything; a rare collection and glimpse into the history of the lumber industry.

Mile 3300
Magdalena, NM — Kelly Mine (silver)

All that remains of this historic mine site is the head frame above the mine shaft. It can be hard to imagine that this was once a town of 3000 people, or that there is a labyrinth of shafts and corridors below the surface.

Jeremy Blakeslee has been exploring and documenting America’s industrial past for fifteen years, beginning with his first love, the former Bethlehem Steel Plant in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He’s traveled over several continents photographing architecture, machinery, and the ruins of indigenous cultures, but has an affinity for America.

From the Archives: To Catch a Fish “They’re either...

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:29:46 -0400

From the Archives: To Catch a Fish

“They’re either shallow, deep, or somewhere in between.” — E.L. “Buck” Perry responding to a question on where to find the best fish on a lake.

Note: The information contained in this book is by far more studied and scientific than the quote above, but we love it so we shared it anyway.

Lumberland Recipes: Best Made Brisket Beef is almost always on...

Tue, 01 May 2012 11:57:08 -0400

Lumberland Recipes: Best Made Brisket

Beef is almost always on the menu in some form at Lumberland, and we’re especially proud of our brisket. Brisket can be a tough piece of meat, and we cook it slow and wet. Now, there are any number of ways to cook a brisket, and we’re sure there are some folks from Texas and St Louis that might have some rather strong objections to our method. But this ain’t Texas, or St Louis. This is Lumberland.

Best Made Brisket
(serves 4 hungry folks who have been cutting and chopping wood all day):

What you will need:
A hardwood fire
4-5 lb beef brisket
8 slices of bacon
3 beers (we prefer Sierra Nevada Pale Ale)
1 cup BBQ sauce (we like Bone Suckin’ Sauce)
2 large onions, sliced
6 cloves garlic, diced or mashed
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon each: salt, pepper, seasoning
12” dutch oven

Depending on the size of your brisket, you may need to cut it in half for it to fit comfortably in your dutch oven. Mix together 1/2 cup brown sugar with a tablespoon each of salt, pepper, and whatever other seasoning you’d like (we like cayenne!) Rub all sides of your brisket with this mixture and set aside. Cook up the bacon in the dutch oven, pulling the bacon out before it gets too crispy. With the rendered bacon grease in the bottom, get your dutch nice and hot for searing the meat—but not too hot lest you start a grease fire. Sear the brisket for 3-4 minutes on each side and pull it out.

Now throw in the onions and garlic to soften in the dutch for 5-10 minutes. Place your brisket on top of the onions (stack the two brisket halves if needed), fat side up and place the pre-cooked bacon on top. Pour all the beers (reserving a little for yourself of course) along with the remaining BBQ sauce and brown sugar over the meat and cover the dutch with the lid.

Cook the brisket in the dutch at a low temperature—around 225 F. Clear the center of the fire pit by moving the burning logs and coals to the perimeter of the pit creating a ring of fire. Leave a few coals in the center and place that dutch oven down, down, down, in to that burning ring of fire. Place a few pieces of burning logs or coals on top of the dutch oven to give it heat from all directions. The brisket will need to cook like this for a couple of hours. Tend the fire to keep it slow and low. Resist the urge to build the fire up too high.

Unlike a nice cut of steak, it’s ok, and desirable, to cook brisket all the way through and beyond. Our method for checking for doneness is the same as advocated by the famous Cee Dubs; if it smells done, it probably is done, if it smells burnt, it probably is burnt, and if you don’t smell nothin’ it probably ain’t done yet.

When you, and your nose, have decided the brisket is done, remove the dutch oven from the fire, but do not uncover it yet! Rebuild your fire in the center of the fire ring, get it blazing hot and replace the grill grate. Once the fire is really going, finish the brisket by grilling again over the open fire to give the brisket a nice crisp and flavorful crust.

Remove the brisket from the grill and let it rest for 15 minutes before carving against the grain and serving with a spoonful of the delicious fixings left in the dutch. Kick back with another beer and revel in the silence that comes when everyone’s mouth is too full to talk.

Smile, by Lord Baden-Powell Want of laughter means want of...

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:26:46 -0400

Smile, by Lord Baden-Powell

Want of laughter means want of health. Laugh as much as you can: it does you good; so whenever you can get a good laugh on. And make other people laugh too, when possible, as it does them good.

If you are in pain or trouble make yourself smile at it: if you remember to do this, and force yourself, you will find it really does make a great difference.

(from Scouting for Boys, by BP 1908)

Pictured above: Lord Baden-Powell

The Best Made Ditty Bag: Origins “There are two things...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:41:30 -0400

The Best Made Ditty Bag: Origins

“There are two things that you don’t need in the Navy: a wife and a car. If the Navy thought you needed them they would have put them in your Ditty Bag.” - Co. Commander Gunners Mate First Class DeLapp

Through maritime history the item perhaps most familiar to any sailor was his ditty bag. Long stints at sea, and life spent in tight quarters meant that he was constrained to a handful of personal effects and tools, all of which were stored in his ditty. Originally the ditty would have been the first test of an apprentice sailmaker or seaman: before he could be trusted with the fabrication of a sail, he had to prove his mettle by making his own ditty bag out of sailcloth.

Originally a ditty bag would most commonly store the tools of a sailor’s trade, typical contents might include: beeswax, varied needles, buttons of different types, pins, white tape, Dutch tape, thimble, whited brown thread, black thread, worsted blue and scraps of light duck, his marlinspike, a fid, a palm and needles, a bullock’s horn, and personal sundries. As wind was eventually replaced with gas and nuclear power, the sailor’s ditty would contain uniform and personal effects (see above diagram). Since its nautical origins, the ditty has been adopted as an effective all-purpose utility bag for other trades including space exploration, forest services, the boy scouts, sea scouts, etc.

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”).

Purchase The Best Made Ditty Bag.

New Release: The Best Made Ditty Bag The Best Made Ditty Bag:...

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 10:41:00 -0400

New Release: The Best Made Ditty Bag

The Best Made Ditty Bag: designed by Best Made in our lower Manhattan workshop, manufactured in the USA. Reinforced waxed canvas and solid brass grommets, secured by a rope lanyard that has been hand-spliced and whipped with red technical control line. Our ditty is teeming with maritime tradition but built for our customer’s exacting demands today.

Below is a detailed list of specifications which we hope will help to inform you and empower you to use this bag to its utmost, with confidence and gusto.

Material:
- Constructed from 10.10 oz Waxed Canvas. Produced by the Martin Company for the better part of a century, this tightly-woven cotton fabric is impregnated with Martexin® wax which provides resistance to inclement weather and produces a handsome patina over time. The wax consists of food and pharmaceutical waxes, making it completely non-hazardous. The Martin family has been making American textiles since 1838, and their waxed fabrics have outfitted countless outdoorsmen, soldiers, and farmers for generations.

Hardware:
- Solid bronze 3” corrosion-resistant snap hook (particularly good around seawater).
- #4 Brass Grommets, conforms to all US military specifications

Splicing:
-Each ditty bag is eye-spliced and finished by hand with traditional methods by seasoned New England rope workers. This labor-intensive step results in the strongest, most seamless finish available.

Rope:
-Woven in Europe’s western lowlands by rope makers with four centuries of experience, this 3-strand polyester rope has a soft touch and good grip, while having a breaking load of 1,000 kg. It is pre-stretched to prevent elongation, and with high UV-resistance, was typically used as halyard and sheet ropes on classic fishing boats.

Whipping:
-The classic 3-strand splice has been whipped by hand using a high-strength, low-stretch control line. Braided from Dyneema SK75 ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene, this is one of the strongest man-made fibers. Designed to maintain all properties, even when wet, this line also benefits from a high UV-resistance.

Stitching:
-Our Ditty is double stitched along the main seam with heavy nylon size 92 thread and reinforced along the base for reliable durability.

Purchase The Best Made Ditty Bag.

The Best Made Tin Type Above is a tintype photograph using the...

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 12:03:09 -0400

The Best Made Tin Type

Above is a tintype photograph using the mid-19th century wet plate collodion process. These images are truly unique, as each exposure yields only one plate (either on tin or glass), leaving no means to produce a copy.

This plate was produced by Andrew Jordan at the Center for Alternative Photography in NYC. And big tip of the hat to Adam Gralewski for producing this image.

To See A ParkBy Tyra Olstad Here’s a secret—when you visit a...

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:23:00 -0400

To See A Park
By Tyra Olstad

Here’s a secret—when you visit a National Park, from Yellowstone to Yosemite, Big Bend to Little Bighorn, instead of trying to see and do as much as possible, filling that urge to go! Do! Drive every road! Stop at every point! Prowl the Visitor Center, attend a ranger talk! Hike! Walk, trek, crawl-if-you-have-to along the trails, over the peaks, into the wilderness! Instead, wherever you go, when you get to a National Park, sit.

Sit.

Find a good bench or a rock or a tree or a spot on the soft earth itself and sit. Sit and watch, sit and listen, sit and think until you stop thinking and begin to absorb something of the wildness, the history, the beauty around you.

It’s a hard-earned secret. When I first discovered National Parks (America’s Wonderlands!) I was frantic to see everything, to be sure not to miss anything. I had to read the signs at every scenic overlook. Had to hike every path. Wider, farther, higher, longer, I had to go, gasping for more. It was even worse when I began working at parks. I wanted to see every inch of backcountry, witness every sunrise, sunset, storm. I wanted to know every rock and meet every bird, be able to name every species and tell every tale. I was always going, moving, looking; insatiable.

Last spring, when I took a job at Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado, I hated it at first. I was coming from a land of wide open skies and spare, subtle scenery and wasn’t used to or tolerable of dramatic chasms, much less scrub oak and serviceberry. I tried to acquaint myself with the new place the only way I knew how: perpetual motion. For weeks, I was always out walking—before work, after work, during work, driving, hiking, getting tips on what to do and what to see. On the weekends, I slipped and slid down primitive “routes” to the river, where I paused to marvel at the canyon’s sheer depth and verticality before turning and scrambling back up to the rim. Farther, deeper, darn it. I was going to learn to love that park.

Then one evening, after about a month of frenetic activity, I went out for my usual sunset walk and, a few miles out, realized how tired I was. A rock beckoned. I sat. I sat and watched light skitter through the sky and catch on craggy walls. Sat and watched birds swoop and dart overhead; sat and listened to their calls echo from below. Sat and listened to the river rush and burble on through the canyon into which it had cut.

Sat.

That was the secret. Suddenly I saw the place—really saw it, got it, believed in, and understood why it’s a national park, a national treasure. And I realized that my favorite park moments always involve sitting—one particular overlook at Petrified Forest, one bend of a trail at Badlands, out under the stars at Canyonlands, deep in a grove at Muir Woods—sitting. The trick is to sit. Not to talk or take photographs or read signs. Just to sit, actually see a place, give it a moment to reveal its mystery, its magic.

Sit.

Photo: Looking out from the Rim Rock Nature Trail in Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

Having spent years wandering around wild corners of the country looking for fossils, taking pictures, making maps, and accumulating stories, Tyra is currently finishing up a PhD in Geography and hoping to return to work with the National Park Service in the very near future.

Spring! (from The Field and Forest Handy Book, 1906) (Taken with...

Sun, 15 Apr 2012 12:12:54 -0400

Spring! (from The Field and Forest Handy Book, 1906) (Taken with instagram)

Happy Friday the 13th from Best Made Co. Pictured above is the...

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 13:19:52 -0400

Happy Friday the 13th from Best Made Co.

Pictured above is the cover of the 1894 annual report from the Thirteen Club, a club dedicated to disproving the myth of bad luck associated with the number 13. Note the broken hourglass and scythe. “Morituri Te Salutamus,” translates to “We who are about to die salute you.”

From the Best Made Archives: Beautiful Stones The sky is clear....

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 13:28:17 -0400

From the Best Made Archives: Beautiful Stones

The sky is clear. The sun is shining. With heads bowed as if in reverent prayer, we look for the glint of stones on the gravel road. The excitement and competition of discovery being the most precious of all.

Coast to Coast, Part Iby Jeremy Blakeslee One of the most...

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 12:49:00 -0400

Coast to Coast, Part I
by Jeremy Blakeslee

One of the most important things you can do is to spend time in the field; whatever the field is to you, it’s different for everyone. When I’m able to dedicate a few days, a week or even a month to my own work, I often produce the best images. It requires careful planning, research, and common sense to obtain these stretches of personal field work, but it’s well worth the effort.

These are photographs from a recent 5 week, 5571 mile journey into remnants of America’s industrial history, traveling from the east coast to the west coast of the United States starting in Buffalo, NY.

Mile 0
Buffalo, NY — Elevator Alley
The lesser known yet terribly beautiful grain silos in Buffalo’s first ward.

Mile 355
Yonkers, NY — Glenwood Powerstation
Built as part of the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad in 1906 to electrify rails for trains going in and out of the then new Grand Central Terminal in New York City.

Mile 595
Scranton, PA — Abandoned coal mine
Warning: Abandoned mines, especially coal mines, are extremely dangerous. Deadly gasses, black damp and unsafe timbers and hidden shafts yield conditions you should never enter without the proper training, people and equipment, I cannot express this enough.

Black damp is a lack of oxygen produced when coal is exposed to air, releasing carbon dioxide and mixing with existing water vapor. Encountering it rapidly overcomes the body disabling normal functions requiring oxygen. It builds up in unventilated areas of the mine and If the airflow in the mine changes due to weather or barometric conditions it can and will flow into areas of the mine you are, or were, making escape impossible.

Overcoming these obstacles however, reveals a forgotten world underground including (in this location) hoisting engines and rail cars that will likely never see the light of day again.

Jeremy Blakeslee has been exploring and documenting America’s industrial past for fifteen years, beginning with his first love, the former Bethlehem Steel Plant in Southeastern Pennsylvania. He’s traveled over several continents photographing architecture, machinery, and the ruins of indigenous cultures, but has an affinity for America.

“I feel a special calling to preserve the history and heroism of the mechanical beasts of burden that carried America into and through the industrial revolution. These often dangerous and less traveled spaces; the forgotten mines, steel mills, rail systems, and cities, still have a story to tell us about ourselves.” —Jeremy Blakeslee

Chasing the RobinBy Nick Zdon The best parts of spring are hard...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 11:04:57 -0400

Chasing the Robin
By Nick Zdon

The best parts of spring are hard to see. They like to hide. They are certainly there to be seen, but it takes a little effort to draw them out. Everyone knows the robin as the harbingers of warmer temperatures and spring rains, but not everyone sees the white spots hidden amongst its tail feathers. These are certainly the best parts of spring. One on the left side of the tail and one on the right. Perfectly placed, as if by the deliberate hand of an artist.

The robins don’t exhibit these white spots as brazenly as their glowing red breasts, and to see them one must entice the robins in to flight. This is can be done by sneaking up on the robin as quietly as possible. Crouch low to the ground to avoid detection and to take in the fertile scent of the freshly exposed earth. Get as close as you dare, then stop and wait. Watch for the dots. Place yourself between the robin and newly risen sun. From the robin’s point of view the fresh bright rays will distort the outline of your body as they warm your back. If the robin begins to move away from you slowly advance to close the gap. Continue to play this game until the robin becomes startled and flies away. Hopefully you’ll be close enough, and observant enough, to notice the clean white spots hidden amongst the tail feathers. The best parts of spring.

A second technique is best attempted in the morning, and it is more aggressive than the first but will still yield satisfying results. With this tact, begin by standing very still. Still enough to feel the cool breeze issue itself through your light jacket. Then with a sudden burst of speed run very quickly towards the robin. Be sure that your feet do not lose their purchase on the slippery, dewy morning grass. This sudden advance will surely startle the bird into flight, exposing the white spots hidden amongst the tail feathers. It’s best to resist the urge to shout or yell at the robin as you advance. Your sudden movements back and forth across the lawn will no doubt elicit enough awkward attention and sideways glances from the jogging and dog-walking public. Yelling will only draw more critical and unnecessary attention.

Often times it is possible to play this game of advance and retreat with the same robin for hours. Thus, if you find yourself tuckered out and needing a break from the game, rest assured that there will be more chances to play with the robins tomorrow. Know that the white spots are still there, hidden amongst the tail feathers, waiting for you to find them.

Nick Zdon is the head the Minnesota Outpost, and our resident axe and restoration expert. He has taught many individuals how to bring an old axe back to life. He has contributed many stories to Best Made Projects, and is currently loving springtime in Minnesota.