Weddings-- Groomsmen gift ideas

One of the more complicated details of planning a wedding is attendant gifts.
1)You have to get them something that's nice and is something they'd like/use.
2)You either have to get everyone the same thing, or spend about the same amount of money.
3)Depending on your budget, you might not be able to do 1 or 2.
So here are some suggestions, in a variety of price ranges, for groomsmen and best man gifts.

Guys, take my word for it, you will win BIG points if you tell your future spouse that you will handle buying the attendant gifts for the guys all by yourself. (Unless you're planning on giving them their ties or something, but what fun is that?)
Simply put, it's hard to buy GOOD gifts for people you don't know very well. And, generally, the groom will be spending less time with wedding related things so he'll have time.

If you look at all the bridal magazines and things, apparently pocket knives are very popular gifts for groomsmen. Fortunately, we carry a bunch of those, to give you a wide enough selection that you can find the right knife for the right person.
My favorite knife to get, if you're going for a nice basic knife that's ornamental as well as functional is a Buck knife. Specifically, the Buck Gent knife. They're entirely made of stainless steel, which means that the handles cam be engraved as well. (Heimerdinger Cutlery does complimentary engraving on items purchased from us, but it's only available in typewriter font. I believe that Things Remembered will engrave items not purchased there, for those in need of something more elaborate) If you want something equally affordable, but more visually interesting, I'd go with something from Columbia River Knife and Tool (CRKT). The K.I.S.S. (Keep It Surely Simple) and the P.E.C.K. (Precision Engineered Compact Knife) are interesting, affordable, and have names that make them hilarious attendant gifts.

We also have more traditional looking knives (Case) and more modern ones (Gerber or Spyderco). I particularly like the Spyderco Cricket for the Best Man, if you want to spend a little more.
Opinel has good basic utility knives that are nice gifts for guys who love to lose knives. They're inexpensive and have locking blades available in both carbon and stainless steel.


If you want to kick it up a notch from a knife, we also have a variety of multi-tools.

Maybe your guys aren't into sharp things or tools. For personal grooming we have variety of manicure sets (very manly, with some sturdy scissors and toenail clippers), mustache scissors, and nose hair trimmers. Well, maybe that last one isn't a great idea.


In terms of shaving materials, we carry items from Col. Ichabod Conk and Caswell Massey. Here's what I had to say about it before, when we first started carrying them. Not only do we have a wide variety of shave soaps from both, but we also have other products. Caswell Massey has has a wide variety of regular soaps(Can I mention that the rose soap smells absolutely wonderful? I love using it.)and aftershave stuff. You can get the same soap that George Washington and JFK enjoyed.

Another option would be a nice razor, one that will last a lifetime. We have straight razors with blades disposable and non, though generally a safety razor would probably be a safer bet. There are some lovely options in both traditional and more modern styles.


We also carry items from Jon Hart Design. The Jon Hart Design collection includes over 150 custom items for travel, home, business, fashion, and just plain fun. Things range from luggage tags to actual luggage (probably that would be overkill, though). These products are hand-crafted in Texas and are available in a variety of colors in coated canvas trimmed with the finest natural leather trim, in beautiful choices of all leather, in Denim trimmed in Acorn leather, or in Texas Mink with leather trim. All of the items can be monogrammed, with four styles available.

So, does anybody have any suggestions? Can you think of something else that would make a great groomsman gift?
I'll be posting female attendant gift ideas soon.

Clean websites are our friends

Ok, the website is now safe again! Our host has reassured us that all is clear. We'll be getting in contact with Google ASAP to let them know things are better so the warning can be removed.

I've got some upcoming wedding-stuff posts (it is that season), but due to my own wedding in slightly over a month, things might be a bit slow around here.

In the meantime, let me remind you that Heimerdinger Cutlery has a wedding/gift registry. Not only do we keep track of things in the store, but we also make it shoppable on line. If you're planning on getting married next year, I'd say go ahead and register. If you wait until anywhere near the actual wedding date, you'll have no time. And who knows, people might get you something off the registry for a holiday or birthday gift.

If you need some ideas for what to register for, or ideas for what to get someone, here's an earlier post I did about that.

Uhoh!

We're having some technical problems with the website, so bear with us. Our host is having hacking problems, and it would be best to avoid the site for a while.

Though probably if you can't look at the website, you can't get at the blog, but oh well. Just in case, now you know! Don't click on any links to the website until I post an all clear.

We'll still be there to take phone orders, or answer any questions you might have.
Local calls: (502)-897-9552
Toll free number/Fax: (888)-267-9572

Hopefully things will be back on track soon.

Preparation

It's not too soon to think about getting ready for the Kentucky Derby, at least if you live in Louisville it isn't.

Derby time is busy time for our sharpening department, so you'll want to drop off your knives early. We want to be sure that everyone has nice sharp knives for all the cooking they'll be doing.

My favorite part of the Festival is always Thunder Over Louisville, which is the largest annual pyrotechnic display in North America. It is absolutely amazing to attend. The Air Show is good, too, and apparently is very highly rated.

News! Get it while its... freezing.

Hey folks, just wanted to be sure you knew that we had recovered from the ice storm with no problems.

News!
We're starting the process to redesign our website. Any suggestions? Recommendations? You can either comment or send an email us directly. We really are interested in any feedback you have, so please let us know if there's anything you either really hate/love and if there's anything in particular that you'd like to see.
Here's the first website, here's the current one.

That's the really big news for you internet people, but there are a few things coming up that might be of interest to people who live around here.

March 10th, Carl will be at the Taste of Home Cooking School's Spring Sensations at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Unfortunately they say it's sold out, but if you're already going, drop in and say hi!


On April 11th, we'll be at the Huntin the Beast Outdoor Expo at the Meade County Fairgrounds, in Brandenburg, KY. There will be seminars on all sorts of things: fishing, introducing kids to hunting, gear and preparation, and bowfishing (which can't be shooting fish with arrows, can it?). There will be a big deer contest and a turkey calling contest, you'll have to check out their website for the complete information about prizes and the rest of this. Anyway, Heimerdinger Cutlery will be there as an exhibitor. Admission is only $8.00, so you don't have any excuse for not showing up if you're nearby.

Power struggles

Hey folks, just thought I'd let you know that the power is out at the store. This means that we're a bit behind on processing orders. Never fear, Carl's going to try to run things off of a generator tomorrow (my parents are thawing pipes with it tonight), so we might be able to get things running.

Anyway, just thought we'd let you know that we're not just ignoring you and we will get to you as soon as possible.

I hope you have less ice than we do.

History Lesson

I'm snowed in today, so I have plenty of time to write a post for you guys. I thought you might be interested in a little bit about the history of the cutlery. Maybe you've already checked out Uncle Carl's version from our original website or the newer version on the current website, ore you remember the tidbits I've mentioned before, but I thought I'd combine it all and give you my version.

August E. Heimerdinger was our founder, and my great-great-great grandfather. Heimerdinger's first appeared in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, sometime around 1861. That's the first on-paper mention my grandfather found of the store, which at that point was located at 110 Jefferson Street. There, he made scissors and butcher knives, and repaired sewing machines. August was born in Germany, and had just a ton of children from two different wives.

Family legend has it that August moved into a shop next to a woodworker by the name of Hillerich. Mr. Hillerich had a steam engine that he used used to run his woodworking tools. Old man August wanted to run his grinding wheels but didn't have a steam engine, and so the two of them worked out an arrangement. They cut a hole in the wall and ran a flat belt through the wall so that August could run his grinding wheels. That company became Hillerich and Bradsby, who is best known for making Louisville Slugger baseball bats.

After his death, his son W.C. Heimerdinger took control of the business. He added a full line of butcher supplies; branching out into barber and beauty supplies during the 1920's. The Droescher company, in Germany, manufactured scissors and grinding wheels for the store during this time period.
W.C. also held at least 5 patents, for various things from safety knives and razors to a machine for making shears. The most interesting, to me anyway, was a machine designed to sharpen razors, specifically what were then considered to be disposable razorblades. This got the attention of a certain Mister Gillette, whose company still sells razors today. The lawsuit he brought against W.C. was eventually settled, and the sharpeners were fairly widely produced. Just a few years ago, someone found one in an old shop. They thought we might like to have it; now it resides in my grandparents' basement, still able to sharpen razorblades even though it was designed over a century ago.

W.C.'s son, W.G. Heimerdinger, took over the business around 1920, though if W.C. was anything like my grandfather, he stuck around for years even though he had "retired." In 1922, W.G. incorporated the business and discontinued the scissor manufacturing. At that time he began manufacturing grass shears, pruning shears, hedge shears, mule shears, and sheep shears, which were sold through the Sears catalog. W.G. also held several patents, including the original patent on grass shears. My favorite is for an ice cream scoop, though I don't know that it was ever widely manufactured. Along with all of this, W.G.decided to start another division of Heimerdinger's and moved into hardware.

The manufacturing part of the business ended in the mid 1950’s, although we still re-manufacture and sharpen scissors, knives, and many other types of edged tools. The hardware part of the business ended during the mid 1960’s. (Remember all those bolts I told you about? Yeah, they've been sitting around for that long. Purely amazing.)

My grandfather attended what was then Speed Sceintific School, now the Speed School of Engineering. He finished his bachelors of engineering in two and a half years, interrupted by a stint in the Army during WWII. Henry w. Heimerdinger entered into the business in 1947, during the hardware phase. Throughout our history, the business has always sold many types of scissors as well as kitchen and pocket knives. This always interested my grandfather, so he spun a separate company off of W.C. Heimerdinger in 1969, forming Heimerdinger Cutlery Inc.
Around this time, Henry's older brother, Billy, took over the barber/beauty supply end of the business. You didn't think they'd gotten tired of naming everyone William ___ had you? Nope, in that generation the tradition held strong. After the death of his father, Billy left to pursue another line of business, eventually ending up down in sunny Florida.
While my grandfather never held any patents, he did have considerable ingenuity. He designed the grinding wheels that we use today to sharpen items that people bring into the store. Up until this past year, even after "retiring" in 1991, he still came into the store once or twice a week to putter around in the shop, sharpening knives and taking apart scissors.


In 1983, Heimerdinger Cutlery moved from downtown Louisville out to Shelbyville Road, just before I was born. As previously mentioned, my grandfather "retired" in 1991, leaving the business in the hands of the firth general, my uncle Carl E. Heimerdinger.
In 1993, my aunt, Glenna Fahle Heimerdinger, joined the company as Vice President. She took over a lot of the accounting-type stuff, which she did part-time while raising my cousin, Nicole (who has always been a full-time occupation).

You might ask where I fit into things. My father, David, was Henry's younger son (Carl's younger brother). While the engineering genes were strong with him, the desire to stay with the business wasn't. With Uncle Carl, my father grew up working at the store; starting at the youngest age with sweeping up and going on to being left in charge while my grandparents were on vacation. From what I hear, they only had to call an ambulance once before my grandparents came home. My father now has a career doing safety engineering, but he still remembers all the things one learns from working in a cutlery. (I'll have to do a post on that one...)
Anyway, I'm the oldest of the three of us in the sixth generation. (My brother doesn't like blood, so it's good that he never worked at the store). I started working at the store on the weekends, during my junior and senior year of high school. I worked closer to full time during the summers-- then, and later during college. And as you know, I started doing this blog a little over a year ago.


That brings us up to present. Hope that helped you kill a few minutes pleasantly on this grey, icky, freezing day.
Also, you better appreciate those pictures, because I had to climb up on a ladder to take them.