BEST MADE PROJECTS

The Origin of the American Longbow

The Best Made American Longbow is built in a style that originated with the medieval English Longbow. Developed by the Welsh and proliferated by the English, the longbow was most commonly made from yew wood. Staves were cut so that the back of the bow comprised sapwood, which is flexible and springy, and the belly of the bow was heartwood, which has high compressive strength.   

The American iteration of the longbow was pioneered by legendary archer Howard Hill and Harry Eicholtz. The 1930’s saw huge strides in fiberglass technology due to the material’s use in military aviation. Eicholtz worked to apply the new fiberglass weaving and plastics technologies to archery equipment. He developed a lamination technique that coupled the spring and durability of fiberglass with the resilient power of a wood or bamboo core. By applying fiberglass to the belly and back of the bow limbs, he effectively increased the bow’s speed and energy transfer, creating a more powerful bow at a lesser draw weight. 

Hill traveled from his Opa Locka machine shop in 1940 and worked with Eicholtz to adapt fiberglass technology to his preferred style of bow, the string-follow longbow. The bow that Hill designed had a refined taper, center-fire grip, and fiberglass lamination, which became the defining characteristics of the American longbow lineage. In production since the 1940’s, the American longbow has proven its timelessness and performance, having earned the favor of some of the greatest shooters and hunters in the history of archery.   

The Best Made American Longbow features a locally-sourced hickory core, bubinga riser, and black fiberglass laminates. The bow measures 66” and has string-follow, true to its heritage. Available in 25, 35, and 45lb draw weights. 

View more of the Best Made American Longbow

10 Days in Japan: Day 7

Since we landed on the island of Yakushima we've based ourselves (and our abundance of camera gear) at a ryokan called Souyoutei. I've had no problem making this island home: every night ends with a cold Asahi beer, and a hot soak in the onsen (the natural hot spring, built into a cave overlooking the crashing East China sea).

Above is the irori (a sunken indoor hearth) in the dining area of our ryokan. The irori is an open, indoor campfire. Every meal of the day is seated around the irori: meals are cooked over it, it warms the room, high-grade Japanese charcoal insures no smoke, and no ventilation is needed. So far the irori is my favorite feature of the Japanese home; a familiar concept to an outdoorsman like myself, but such an utterly foreign fixture to the western home.

Stay tuned for Day 8 as we navigate local politics to host a Best Made bonfire for the locals of Yakushima. 

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 6

We spent the first day of our catalog shoot on a windswept beach of boulders, desperately trying to keep a campfire ablaze. By late afternoon we retreated from our location into the jungle, and as luck usually has it, we got the best shots of the day on the walk home. Pictured above is our talented Tokyo-based photographer Tetsuya Ito, getting dialed in for a long exposure photograph in the low-level light of late afternoon. It's these unplanned locations, the places we were never "meant" to be, that inspire me the most. Stay tuned for Day 7, and more tales from our adventure to the remote Japanese island of Yakushima. 

All my best, Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 5

This morning I learned how to make a nail. The photo above shows me and one of Sanjo's greatest blacksmiths (now retired) hard at work making nails. The blacksmith holds my hand, and with all my force I am pounding out a toothpick-sized piece of molten steel into a fine point. My tranquil demeanor belies the terror inside. I am trying so hard not to smash his 90 year old hands: maybe some of the most gifted hands in these parts.  

The old blacksmith (his hands in tact) eventually let me loose, and for awhile I was lost in the rhythm of the forge. At that temperature, steel takes on the characteristics of a tough old piece of leather. When your mallet makes contact the steel just gives, and feeling that steel give, and watching it take the shape you want it to, is more gratifying than I could have ever believed.

Stay tuned for Day 6 as we depart for the south of Japan to shoot our next catalog. The adventure's just about to begin!

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 4

I'm in Japan. I've traveled halfway around the world to be here and I'm standing in the corner of a dark, dingy factory watching hot carbon steel cool on a bed of bricks. Just minutes ago those were cold, characterless pieces of steel, and now they are knives. In the course of the coming weeks those knives will be touched by many skilled hands in this small factory. The knives will be tempered, sharpened, polished, and sharpened some more. A wood handle will be attached to those knives, they'll be boxed up, and shipped out. People will pay handsomely for these knives (they are some of Japan's finest), and with any luck they will continue to make the knives better. Through years of use, and care, what was once faceless and impersonal will have soul.

Stay tuned for tomorrow as I learn to forge my first nail...  

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 3

On the bullet train from Tokyo Station to Sanjo, it dawned on me: on land, I have never moved this fast. If you stack these daily revelations up, Japan turns out to be a land of tiny miracles. And today I add my new friend Mizuno san, the 80 plus year old blacksmith (above), to that list.

Before any business was to be discussed, Mizuno san sat me down with his two sons, and together we indulged in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, and ate delicate pink baked goods. Machinery from the factory floor thumped and screeched, fairytale snow flakes landed silently outside the window, and Mizuno san enlightened us on the folklore of Japanese axe making. After tea we adjourned to the old blacksmith's office: an underlit corner of his tiny factory, furnished with an angry little coal forge, a gangly spring hammer, and a legion of hand-made tools & tongs. In less than 10 minutes Mizuno san held a glowing billet of sculpted steel before my camera lens: behold an axe! Another blessed miracle to add to my list.

Stay tuned, stay sharp! Tomorrow the tiny miracles don't let up as I commune with my first Japanese knife maker.

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 2

I'll try and keep this my only food-devoted dispatch. At this rate, every day in Japan is a food day. I must stay focused on the knives, the axes, and above all the adventures! But before I do, please pour me another glass of Soju, and hand me that plate of Tonkatsu!

Tonkatsu are the melt-in-your-mouth breaded and deep fried pork cutlets seen above, and they make sushi look like the tiniest tip of Japanese cuisine's iceberg. So many meals are a series of small plates (seen above), just enough to waken the taste buds, never enough to ruin the appetite. As a curious eater, I have quickly embraced this method. Meals, like so many experiences here, are not just delicious, but above all they are thoughtful. Design is always at play in Japan, and I hope to unravel that for you as the days unfold.

Stay tuned tomorrow as I leave Tokyo and venture to northern Japan, to the land of a thousand axe makers...

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

10 Days in Japan: Day 1

Aside from being Japanese in a past life, my reason for a Japan visit is three-fold. This April we are opening a small "shop-in-shop" in Tokyo. There are rumors of a great axe maker in Sanjo. And last but not least we will base our next Catalog / Adventure on the Japanese island of Yakushima. What more can you ask? Let's get started...

Day 1: The first day of any westerner's trip to Japan is usually spent regaining some sense of equilibrium. A walking tour of some of Tokyo's best small factories was my cure. Above is a picturesque scene from a tiny husband & wife's box factory in old Tokyo. Their work is done just as you see it: seated on the floor, lost in concentration. One rickety flight above the machinery is their living quarters. Nowhere is space at more of a premium than Tokyo, and theirs' was a seamless and inspired marriage between workshop and home.    

Any equilibrium I regained Day 1 was quickly mislaid by the generous pourings of the smooth (but wicked) Soju at the home of legendary Tokyo photographer Rinko Kawauchi. This meeting was organized on a whim, and I can only thank my best friend and cultural fixer, Yumi Sakuma for making this — the first of many wonderful surprises — come true. Japan is everything I'd hoped for, and more.

Stay tuned for more factories, more adventures, more chance encounters, and always more Soju.

All my best,

Peter Buchanan-Smith Founder Best Made Co.

Ugly Ducklings

Ever since I started restoring axes about five years ago I've had the opportunity to restore quite a few. But my favorites to restore are the dirtiest, nastiest, most rusted and neglected axes I can find. Most collectors (and I do consider myself to be a collector) would pass these tools over for those in better condition. But the shiny, unused vintage collector axes, which have a beauty all their own, never really appealed to me. For me, seeing the transformation from rock-bottom neglect to beautiful utility is much more exciting.

I've taken to calling these axes 'Ugly Ducklings.' Just like in the children's story, they've been cast off and deemed outcasts. But within them lies the beauty, and in some cases, the bloodlines, of a great axe. One of my favorite 'ducklings' is show above. It was purchased for about $10, and it was badly rusted with deep pitting in the steel. After a vinegar bath to remove the surface rust I found the letters 'SHER' on one side of the poll. It was a Kelly Woodslasher! The rest of the letters had been eaten away by rust long ago, but I was certain of its maker. The Kelly Axe Co. had a long history as one of the premier axe makers in America, and with the Kelly heritage this axe was certainly worthy of both restoration and use. 

The pitting and markings these Ugly Ducklings carry have a beauty all their own worthy of preserving, and I like the contrast of the craggy, pitted steel, and the shiny surface of the sharpened bit. With a little love and a sharpening stone, I've simply added the next chapter as caretaker, and with any luck it won't be the last. 

Nick Zdon is Best Made's resident axe and restoration expert. He has taught numerous axe restoration workshops and taught many people how to bring old axes back to life. He can be reached at nick@bestmadeco.com for questions and comments regarding axes and restoration projects.

There are a good number of beverages that can be enjoyed in our Steadfast and Seamless enamelware. But one of our favorites, by far, is Swedish Coffee. It's an almost alchemical process of using a beaten egg to settle the grounds in a pot of coffee. It's been enjoyed at community centers and campfires alike for a good many years. Our good friend Cee Dub was kind enough to share his recipe with us. 

Swedish Coffee Recipe courtesy of our friend C. W. “Butch” Welch

2  quarts water ½  cup regular grind coffee 1  egg, well beaten in a cup of cold water  1  cup cold water

Heat the water. Add the coffee grounds to one half of the egg/water mixture. When the water boils, slowly add the egg/water/coffee slurry to the pot and stir gently. Watch closely and remove from heat when the coffee returns to a boil. Let steep a few minutes, then add the remaining cup of cold water to settle the grounds. Serve in enamelware mugs, with bacon and flapjacks.

The McCall Smokejumper Base, McCall Idaho

If drawing little to no distinction between work and play is an art, then the smokejumper is an artist. There are few lives that combine such extreme adventure with demanding, grueling, dangerous work. The notion of propelling men from planes into forest fires was first proposed in 1934 and promptly dismissed. By 1940 the demented notion prevailed and the first jump was made into the Nez Perce National Forest. Since then the frequency and scale of forest fires increases at an alarming rate, more men and women jump to save them, more lives are taken, and so the battle to save our public lands would be a losing one if it were not for these brave few.

On a recent trip to Idaho we stopped in to say hello to the McCall Smokejumpers. The McCall Smokejumper base is home to some 70 active jumpers, and is one of the largest and most active smokejumper bases in the US. Needless to say the smokejumpers we met were young, fit, and focussed. Our tour of the base took place during the height of the fire season, and the energy among the crew was clear as day. The McCall facilities themselves are impressive, and the skills that are required to be a smokejumper even more so. The McCall base even has its own sewing room where each smokejumper is expected to repair and fabricate (often from scratch) their parachutes, packs, and other soft gear. 

The McCall base offers regular tours by active smokejumpers. To learn more visit the McCall Smokejumper Base website.

Other useful Links:

How to be a National Forest Service smokejumper

How to be a BLM smokejumper

Smokejumper status report

McCall Jumplist

Young Men and Fire

Stats:

Cast iron cookware saw its heyday in America’s late 19th century and on into the middle of the 20th. High quality ore from Ohio and Pennsylvania was cast into skillets, dutch ovens, waffle irons, and a whole lot else. These pieces were finished by hand, their cooking surfaces were machined smooth and the iron’s rough cast texture was removed. This removal of metal also made for lighter pans that were easier to use, were faster to season, and more non-stick. This finishing process is a thing of the past, and is one of the main benefits for collecting and using vintage cast iron. 

There are many ‘recipes’ for how to season a cast iron pan. Many of these recipes have been handed down from generation to generation. Our process, which we’ve tested extensively, yields excellent results provided you use the right oil, and don’t rush the process. 

What you need:

Freshly cast iron pan cookware It’s important that the pan be as cleaned down to the bare iron if possible. All prior seasoning should be removed with a lye solution, and any rust must be removed with vinegar, or electrolysis. 

Flaxseed oil The choice of oil is very important. It’s necessary to choose an oil that will polymerize, harden, and adhere to the pan. Flaxseed oil is a common choice, but we’ve also gotten satisfactory results from shortening (Crisco). 

Oven Your home oven will heat the oil that’s been applied to the pan and cause it to harden and darken. This is the part of the process that can’t be rushed, it takes some time. 

The process:

You should always heat cast iron with something in it, even if it’s only a bit of cooking oil. You can damage the seasoning by overheating it. Avoid cooking acidic foods such as tomatoes or citrus in the pan for long periods of time. They’ll react with the seasoning and the iron and impart an unpleasant flavor.

To clean, deglaze the pan with a bit of water while it is still hot. Let the pan cool and use your hands or a plastic scrub pad to remove any stubborn bits of food. A bit of kosher salt can also be used to soak up excess oil, and to act as a mild abrasive. Many folks advocate for not using any soap at all, but we’ve found a small amount of dish soap won’t harm a well seasoned pan. But do avoid using harsh abrasives and cleaning detergents. Wipe thoroughly dry, or heat on the stove top to dry, and store in a safe, dry place. 

With proper seasoning (don’t rush it) and proper care a vintage cast iron pan will last for generations to come. 

It used to be that the options available for heavy duty, high grade, powerful flashlights were limited. Old incandescent bulb technology eventually gave way to xenon and then LED technology; and alkaline batteries gave way to lithium. This means that today the newest flashlights are smaller and brighter by several orders of magnitude than those of just ten years ago. 

The chart above compares the maximum and minimum lumen output for five Foursevens flashlights, each using LED emitters. While lumens measure overall brightness it's useful to note that other factors can greatly influence illumination characteristics. However, when you realize that just a handful of years ago comparably sized flashlights would have output just 10-15 maximum lumens you can see how fast the industry has improved and why it hasn't looked back. 

Since 2008, Foursevens has been one of the industry leaders in high-performance LED flashlights. Visit foursevens.com for more information. 

Learn more about the Foursevens flashlights shown above at bestmadeco.com

Special Announcement: Free Shipping February 

Thoughtfully curated by Best Made, published by the esteemed New York Review of Books, the Best Made Reading List is a seasonal five-volume offering of tall tales, rip-roaring adventure, and savvy narration. We have chosen these volumes because they are nothing short of the Best Made stories: rare, underrated gems that are sure to be new discoveries and fine additions to our sophisticated customers' libraries. So pull up a chair and bask in the glow of our selection for Winter 2014.

Clandestine in Chile – Gabriel García Márquez

After a dozen years in exile, Miguel Littin returned to Chile in 1985 to surreptitiously film the heavy hand levied on the daily life of Chile’s people by dictator Augusto Pinochet.  Successfully returning from his mission, Littin recounted his fascinating reportage to Nobel Prize winning author Gabriel Garcia Marquez who expertly set down Littin’s account.  Pinochet was not pleased, he promptly burned the first 15,000 copies he got his hands on; the truth hurts.

 The Hall of Uselessness – Simon Leys

"Everyone knows the usefulness of what is useful, but few know the usefulness of what is useless." -Zhuang Zi

In this collection of essays, author Simon Leys adeptly expounds upon a diverse range of topics from literature, China, academia, the sea, and quixotism.  Some reflections are brief enough to be digested in the time it takes to imbibe two fingers of whiskey, others require a longer evening - all humorously challenge established intellectual norms.

Defeat – Philippe-Paul De Ségur

Few military campaigns (save the Charge of the Light Brigade) are marked in the annals of history as epically disastrous as Napoleon’s campaign to conquer Russia in 1812 that culminated in the total destruction his Grand Armée.  Chronicled by Philippe-Paul de Ségur, Napoleon’s aide-de-camp, we follow along, painfully aware of the impending ruinous winter retreat from Moscow, witnessing a first-hand account of the dire consequence of hubris.

The Adventures of Sinbad – Gyula Krúdy

In the pantheon of supernatural lovers, Sinbad lives securely in his company with Casanova and Don Juan.  His physiogical condition, however, remains in question throughout the novel as Krúdy’s style corrodes the foundation of reality.  Enjoy the mystic seduction of Sinbad as he visits past lovers, ethereally traversing a world obsessed with courting, flattery, and love.

The Crisis of the European 1680-1715 – Paul Hazard

As the swelling ideas of the Renaissance began to coalesce in Europe nearly 500 years ago, a crisis was born that gave birth to the Enlightenment.  Hazard deftly catalogs and contextualizes this altering landscape that upended the foundation of the Establishment.  The result recast the bedrock for much of today’s intellectual, philosophical, and scientific thought.

Between 1888 and 1913 native New Yorker Romeyn Beck Hough painstakingly assembled what still remains the most comprehensive collections of American wood samples ever known. In this facsimile of Hough’s original 14 volumes, 350 specimens of trees are presented in alphabetical order, and represented by three different cross-section cuts.  The Woodbook: http://bit.ly/LguYk4

Best Made January Workshops: Master & Beginner Axe Restorations

Questions about an axe restoration? Email Nick at contact@bestmadeco.com