How We Vet Every Maker Before They List on the Site

The first maker we ever tried to onboard sent us a beautiful knife in the mail. The fit and finish were perfect. The handle was gorgeous. The edge was hair-shaving sharp. And then we tried to re-sharpen it and the whole edge rolled on the first stroke. The steel wasn't heat-treated right. Back it went.

Every maker we consider for the marketplace now goes through six rounds: photos and video of the shop, a call with Daniel to walk through the process, a sample piece sent for physical review, a stress test appropriate to the product (a knife gets re-sharpened, a leather belt gets punched and flexed, a steel tool gets used), a check on US sourcing and supply chain, and a final product listing review before anything goes live.

If the work holds up and the maker is someone we would personally buy from, they list. If not, we pass.

We've turned away three of the last ten applicants. One outsourced welding to a second shop he didn't disclose. One sent a sample piece that arrived with a cracked weld he told us was "just a handling mark." One imported his raw materials from outside the US without saying so on his application. None of their products are on the site. You won't see them.

The ones that made it through are here because they earned it. That's the whole point.