JB DOWN, Boss is OUT, Snow is Falling! TFN

Another week in November has already almost passed us by– not without its surprises, however. We woke up on Monday with several inches of freshly fallen snow and no sign of an end. That’s the funny thing about the Appalachias, we don’t have snow as often as our northern neighbors but when it snows it SNOWS. Needless to say those shop heaters Jay lit up last week were well used and the production guys were thankful to arrive at a warm shop to start the week.

We were without our fearless leader to start the week– Coy took off with Gator Piss Co-Creator Greyson Weltyk for a quick trip to the PNW to meet up with good friends of the business William Henry Co. During their brief time in the Portland, Oregon base the two helped William Henry establish a Gator Piss production etching system. Refining their techniques and teaching them the little in’s and out’s of production etching. Utilizing almost exclusively damascus in their large scale production, William Henry have been long time customers and go through a ton of our material on a monthly basis. As an added purpose for the trip, Coy was able to showcase a handful of new material samples they may be incorporating in future production. Check out their work here!

Back at the shop the guys continued their refinement of the stainless production process.

Stainless at this scale can only be described as meticulous and challenging and although we are slowly finding the light at the end of the tunnel, it can be a real moral buster for a bunch of hard working, steel smashing blacksmiths. In an effort to give the guys a mental break and get back to something familiar, Jay had the team run a batch of carbon damascus this midweek. After years of producing our mainstay layouts the gents have found quite a rhythm, and returning to the familiarity was a needed reprieve. Expect a classic carbon layout drop sometime in the near future!

We have so many systems established around our weekly drops, one of the most important being the production of test blades. Each week we shoot a bar down to our friend Jordon Berthelot of JB Blades in Texas where he (miraculously) churns out another legendary piece showcasing the newest Baker layout, etches it up nice and sends it back up for photo and video. This week we encountered a challenging delay when the otherwise healthy renown knifemaker fell ill. The first time we’ve encountered this sort of thing, JB pushed through his sickness and got the test blades back to us in record time. With a little extra push from the drop team we thankfully wrapped up media and got our initial drop reel out with enough time to properly promote it before today's noon Baker App drop. We’ll use this as an opportunity to shout JB for pushing through a rough week to get us these test blades, both for our sake and yours! THANK YOU Jordon!

With a bulk of the week behind us and the boss back around, we’ll settle into a cozy shop, snow still on the ground outside and hustle some production to finish out a pretty strong week. This weekend we hope you part-timers will take some time to get in the shop, play with some steel and enjoy another brand new layout from the team. This one is gonna have you SHOOK!

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Inside the Media

Without Coy around the shop, Waylon and I challenged ourselves to come up with some media ideas to play upon his absence. When I suggested a few scenes drawing ties to the “Boss is out” concept, he took it to the shop staff. Little did we know our lighthearted staff would come up with a wealth of hilarious ideas. If you missed the reel we posted Tuesday it’s a must-see! You can catch the YouTube short here. 

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Sneak Peek 👀

Coy’s back from Portland and dropping Copper Fray—a new layout born in a canister. Powdered 1084 poured over bundled copper mesh, forged into a block, rolled out, and layered over a core. The copper forms tiny “finger frays” in the black steel—love it or hate it, you’ve never seen this before. Available in BOTH Wavy and Ripple patterns. App access opens tomorrow noon EST. Full drop Saturday 8pm EST.