This is TMAP — product

About a year ago I discovered the magic of a tool called the hori hori. In Japanese it means "dig dig". By now you should be able to infer that it is an Ancient Canadian papyrus calligraphy tool.

But it can also be used for gardening. It can tear up soil, slice through roots, and the concave side is great for scooping, like a spade. It's extremely versatile and remarkably simple.

Soon after I discovered its existence, my friend Aaron told me how he had fallen in love with his, and we talked about it for a while. Because the design is so simple, I said I'd make one for him. I've seen several in stores, usually selling for around $35. Most appear to be pressed steel with a crude edge ground into them and a plain wooden handle. You really don't need much to make a good hori hori. But I want to make the perfect one.

The one in the pictures, doing its job, is the prototype, and the hands belong to Aaron. The tool is made out of 1/8" stainless steel. I spent a while grinding out the backside and grinding down the blade edges. I was surprised to find that the heat generated by grinding was enough to dramatically warp the steel. I put it in the forge and knocked it flat, then let it air cool, believing that the stainless steel would remain hard through this process.

I was wrong. In fact, this blade is now very soft. The handle is on it, and it's kind of too late to quench harden it. The tool is far from perfect here, but it's good enough to use. This is a huge success because I learned a lot of lessons. For my next attempt, I will:

• Consider using a high carbon steel.
• Deliberately harden and temper it according to the type of steel I use.
• Use slightly deeper scallops.
• Add 1" to the handle and remove the bumps on the end.
• Subtract 1/2" from the blade, because an additional inch on this tool would be too much!
• Use a thicker material for the handle.
• Add a large lanyard/wall hanging hole.

Prototyping is an invaluable process. So many things come up when you attempt to finalize a design. No amount of design speculation can make up for testing a finished prototype.

And yes, once I perfect a hori hori, I will be selling it through TMAP. Let me know if you're interested, and I'll push it down the pipeline a little faster. Expect a price point in the $60 - $100 range, depending on the features I include, and how many steps I can streamline or remove from fabrication.

 

On a recent trip to Argentina I was reading through Inc. Magazine. It's a pretty amazing source of information for the entrepreneur. I was genuinely surprised by the breadth and applicability. I had been sure it would be a moderately useful Business-Bro publication. In fact I read it cover to cover. That could mean I'm a business-bro, but I doubt it.

While my brain was on fire with ideas, I did some work on narrowing down what drives the TMAP brand. Asimov was an inspiration.

We seek to carry products that satisfy these rules. The first two are inflexible requirements except in the complexity of their evaluation. The rest are merely goals to seek.

 

Requirements:

1. Ethical
Although we understand the question of ethics is hazy, we stand against injustice. We sell products that do not unduly strain the world or the minds in it. This is the most important measure of work, and we need to hold each other accountable to this.

2. Effective

Products, like professionals, should do the jobs they set out to do. This is the second most important measure of work.

 

Goals:

3. Lasting

A product that lasts your lifetime often increases in value as time passes, and its cost per use falls. Longevity is a very attractive feature for a useful product, and should be a priority, so long as it does not interfere with a product's effectiveness.

4. Maintainable

A product that can be maintained over its lifetime serves its owner in many ways. Every time that product is repaired it is improved, like the callus that improves your hand. A scar on a good product reveals the story of that product, educates you, and establishes a relationship with it.

5. Repeatable

To sell a one-off, like an antique, undermines the idea of being a retailer.

6. Beautiful

The lowest priority, except when one of the problems being solved by the product is an aesthetic one.

Some unfortunate but temporary news about Whitelines. The warehouse containing all of the US stock burned down last month, and all of it was lost. The small good news is that we have a stock of the items we carry. They'll be scrambling to rebuild their stock, but it's going to be a while.

Some awesome news is that TMAP has a new buyer. Josh is completely on board with the TMAP mission. He lives in Tacoma and is connected to a lot of brilliantly creative people there. He'll be in charge of finding new products that align well with TMAP's goals.

He'll also be contributing occasionally on the blog now.