Ernest Wright and Son

I was seriously romanced by the beautiful Vimeo video I saw about Ernest Wright & Son, a micro company that still hand-​forges it’s scissors the traditional way. So, I ordered one pair of sewing shears, one pair of kitchen scissors, and one pair of all-​purpose scissors in August 2014, even though I knew that the company was delayed due to all the press, and the video having had gone viral. I was willing to cut them a lot of slack and just wait it out, feeling reassured by the periodic update emails that went out to all current customers about their situation.
Finally, four months after ordering, a small poly mailer arrived! I was puzzled, because I almost had forgotten by then that I had bought them, and when I realized what it was, I tore open the package with excitement. These were nice, of high quality hand forged steel that feels good in the hand. However, one of the pairs of scissors appeared to be incorrect. I sent them an email, but never received a reply. When I tried calling, I got an automated message that said they could not take calls due to their high volume of orders. No way to leave a message. So I tried to email them a second time, copying two different email addresses that I found for their website. No reply.
Finally, a few weeks later, I tried emailing again, and Nick finally replied. They had just been so overrun by all the attention that they just couldn’t keep up. Well, as it turns out, we uncovered that I had made some sort of mistake in my order, and Nick was very attentive to make sure I got what is thought I’d ordered, and to assist me in making the exchange.
Even with the delays and communication problems, I feel good about having ordered from this small company that is trying to carry on doing things the old fashioned way, not sacrificing quality craftsmanship for volume or over-​hiring too many inexperienced staff to handle the surge of orders that they’d have to stop and train. Growth is very hard on small businesses like this, and I wish them the best of luck navigating through it all.