About Us
Our Mission
Best Made Company is dedicated to equipping customers with quality tools and dependable information that they can use and pass down for generations. We seek to empower people to get outside, use their hands and in doing so embark on a life of fulfilling projects and lasting experiences.
Our History
Our company was founded in 2009 by Peter Buchanan-Smith who saw a need for a better axe: an evocative tool that played an indispensable role in his life working on cattle farms and paddling and portaging the lakes of Northern Canada. Peter knew that a well made axe — the oldest and most invaluable tool known to mankind — could not only function as a lifeline in the wilderness, but at home it could be a magnificent window into that wilderness and inspire people to reconnect with their hands, craft, and nature.
The Axe
The Axe
A Best Made axe is a tool for survival and productivity and at its heart it's a symbol of many admirable virtues. We paint our axes as a measure of respect for this tool and all that it represents. The tradition of adorning tools is a long and storied one, upon which we are proud to have cast a bold and fresh coat of paint. By Spring 2010 Best Made limited edition axes were featured prominently in an exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery in London and in magazines and newspapers the world over. A year later Best Made partnered with one of America's oldest and most esteemed axe makers, and launched The Best Made American Felling Axe: our first proprietary and unadorned axe design, made for the discriminating consumer, priced and fabricated to compete with the best.
Beyond the Axe
Beyond the Axe
In the Fall of 2010, with the axe as our perch, we embarked on a new line of products, which included wearable goods, bags, a first aid kit, and our popular limited edition map series: the foundations were thus laid to a more ambitious and sustainable mission. Working closely with esteemed designers and manufacturers the world over we continue to expand our catalog with the same care and precision that goes into the making of every new product we offer.
The Workshop
The Workshop
Our workshop in lower-Manhattan is the nerve center of the Best Made world and it is not only where we base our operations, but it's where our customers can come to visit and get inspired. Everything we sell passes through our hands here and we invite you to come in and meet the Best Made crew and get to know these products much as we have. To make an appointment please email us.
Read more about us:
- The New York Times (6/30/10)