Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Antique Coffee Mills and Grinders

Good Day People !!

Today's Blog will focus an short overview of Antique Coffee Mill (sometimes also called Antique Coffee Grinders), that were Made in the USA, that we provide through usacraftsman.com . Antique Coffee Mills offered through USAcraftsman were manufactured in the USA, dating as far back to the late 1890's through early 1900's that were hand powered models (no electricity required). Back in the day, America was in the beginning of the industrial revolution. Innovative spirit was very high and thousands of patents were being sought after to create products. In addition, manufacturing companies were starting up and expanding rapidly. It was a perfect fit within the USA, all the resources were right here. The USA had natural resources (iron, copper, coal, etc..), technology (ability to create and implement), education system (create capable people), the infrastructure (shipping, rail, road system, power distribution, government to support commerce, etc..), banking systems (available capital and investing) and the people (willing to work and with a desire). Our forefathers had it right !! We can sure learn from history.... That's why we selected Antique Coffee Mills as a product offering by usacraftsman. Our Coffee Mills take a piece of great American history and functional for today. We wanted to offer a product that was 100% resourced and made in the USA. Not only was the Coffee Mill manufactured in the USA, but also all the resource "supply chain" from the iron mines through the entire process. The restoration process also is 100% USA produced. We can now own a 100% Made in the USA piece of history that is high quality, fully functional and very unique.

We are currently offering Coffee Mills from three great American Companies; Enterprise, John Wright Inc., and Landers, Frary and Clark. We are in process of restoring several more and hopefully we can finish them up within the next 5 weeks. There is a very limited supply and we continue to search for unique Coffee Mills across the USA. There are some on places like Ebay or Craig's List, but very, very few that actually have the original internal components or not restored. It is vital to use only professionally restored Coffee Mills because, back in the 1900's Lead paint was used. Our Mills go through a process to remove all Lead based paint and ensure the Coffee Mills are food safe.. Overall, the restoration process takes over 80 hours for each Coffee Mill and we detail each and every component, the finish and functionality. Each Mill is a work of art when finished, but are robust and capable to be used on a daily basis.

We want to regenerate the belief in "Made in the USA", we need to get back to innovation and lead the world as a manufacturing based country to get people back to work and leverage the economy. We as American's need to get back to offering true quality products that people want to purchase and last.... Here at usacraftsman, we are making our push to regain "Made in USA" !!

More to come....
Thanks for your time,
Chuck Kowalski

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Hand crafted unique products, gifts and collectibles

Good Day People!!

We are pleased to "kick off" a new American based small business that offers unique products. The products include professionally restored antique coffee mill and antique coffee grinders, accessories for wine enthusiasts, writing instruments (fountain, roller, ball point pens and mechanical pencils), Pepper Mills, custom fabricated wrought iron accessories and more. Each item is hand crafted by a select group of highly skilled people. All our products are 'Made in the USA' and our suppliers are selected from only USA based same businesses. We are committed to high quality with exceptional value.

As an introduction  (October 2010), here's a brief description of the current inventory we've produced over the last year in preparation to launch the new web-store at usacraftsman.com (please see the link below). We are offer shipping within the 48 states with purchase. We can work out low cost, secure shipping for other locals, please contact us and we'll work it out..

Our new web-store is located at:
usacraftsman.com

Antique Coffee Mill and Grinders
We currently have 5 (five) completed antique coffee mills to offer and more on the way. Each is fully restored and  functional. The Mills are beautiful and great decoration for kitchens or coffee shops. Here's an opportunity to own a piece of American history, dating back to the late 1890's and early 1900's, all originally made in the USA.(we also provide history on the Mills and Grinders with the purchase). In the future we've write a blog on the restoration process we use to ensure our Mills and Grinders are fully functional, look great, robust and food safe. Typically over 80 hours are spend restoring each Mill. We focus on detailing each and every component.You've find the restoring process very interesting, more to come on a future blog. Here's the Mills we are currently offering:
Enterprise No. 3 Dual Wheel
Enterprise No. 60 Large Single Wheel with Wrought Iron Stand
Enterprise No. 01 Hand Crank
John Wright Dual Wheel Small Mill
Landers, Frary and Clark Counter Mount Hand Crank (set up on a beautiful display stand)
More to come....

Writing Instruments
We have produced 75 high end writing instruments including Fountain/Roller Pen sets, Ball Point Pens and Mechanical Pencils. Each is carefully hand crafted and turned on a lathe. We use rare exotic woods, hand selected colorful acrylics and multiple hardwood inlays that create a scene. We use only the highest quality components to create each writing instrument, in addition we provide a started kit with refills (our fountain pens also include instruction in case you have not used one in the past, ink and cleaner).... You can view the writing instruments at the on line store (usacraftsman.com).. The writing instruments made great gifts, each one is unique (we do not duplicate any products)

Pepper Mills 
Larry Itoney creates beautiful Pepper or Salt Mills and Grinders. Larry is a highly skilled wood worker, with great artistic abilities. Larry works wonders with all type of wood and is magical on the Lathe. Larry has produced over 16 Mills, each is unique from various hardwoods. His Mills are made from exotic wood, laminated wood and America hardwoods. Each has a unique shape and finish, no two are alike. He also uses only the highest quality components and internal devices with stainless steel.

Winery Accessories
Chuck Kowalski and Larry Itoney create works of art for Wine Enthusiasts including One-Off wine bottle stoppers made from hardwoods, acrylics and very unique hand poured and lathe turned poly-resin (very hard crystal clear material) cased with themes (various jewels, charms, figurines, rare items, etc..). In addition we offer hand craved displays with matching bottle stops and wine bottle racks. We'll feature additional information on these artistic items in an up coming blog.

Personal Items and gifts
We also offer many other items like; custom hand dart sets, key chain, ice cream scoops, BBQ tool sets and Wrought Iron works of art( bath room accessories with towel holders, coat hooks, wall decor, toilet paper holders). With more coming soon. Each item is unique, no two are alike.

Collectibles
A gift for the person that has everything.... We offer very special, one-off items that were made in the USA, we search for the most unique and each piece has a story behind it... Currently we are offering what we call the "Jail House Tall Ship".... A true one-off creation with a story behind it,,, This items has years of work into it... And it is the only one of it[s kind.. I'll be writing a special blog on this item soon, but it is now available on the web-store at usacraftsman.com.

Thanks for taking the time to read this blog, we will be writing more daily... We would appreciate any feedback / comments  and we also appreciate checking out the new web-store at usacraftsman.com.

Sincerely
Vicki Kowalski, Chuck Kowalski and Larry Itoney

Here's some picture of our products