The Honor Series

It all started with respect for the craft. This is the trade of my forefathers. Both of my grandfathers were craftsmen from a different time. Both served in World War II.

Young men, one fairly new to this whole new world. But they, like many of us still here, were fighters. I carry both of their names, and with them, a responsibility to the craft.

I’ll never claim to understand anyone's struggle, but I see it, I hear it, and in some small way I give back through a craft. My time at the workbench is well spent, channeling the right effort into combat leather for good men.

When M.T. gifted me something from his past, I felt the weight of it. And when he told me I was generous and a true craftsman, I felt that too.

I carried what he gave me on a motorcycle ride last night through a cleared section of the Navy Yard in his honor. When you’ve turned every nut and bolt on your own Harley, you earn the confidence to roll on the throttle for a bit. Ease back as the carburetor coughs, trust the progressive shocks and brakes, then point the bike toward home and get back to the workbench.

Every patch, every coin, and everything the fighters I have the privilege to craft for have given me stays with me. None of it is forgotten.

I’ll never know what it means to serve in that capacity, and I don’t pretend to. I’m simply grateful to share this craft and to build alongside good people.

Horse & Oak